Gold in the Hills

We took a drive today to the eastern end of the Valley of the Sun and visited Apache Junction and the beautiful Superstition Mountains where the gold mining ghost town of Goldfields is located. It was a very busy day with murder and mayhem, adventuring and gold mining, and hangings, which I'll talk about another time.

Superstitious Mountain with Cholla cactus in the foreground

The highlight of the trip for me was our tour of the Goldfield gold mine. Our guide was very knowledgable, funny and a real character. We were all (even Elly) supplied with billy clubs which we were told were to chase away the bats (there wasn't a bat in sight though as far as I could tell)

Charlie and Max at the entry to the mine

Charlie was very nervous about going down into the mine but we convinced her that they would't let anyone go there if it wasn't safe.

Inside the lantern lit tunnel. That little Vulcan-like boy was part of our group.

This huge boulder had broken through the roof of the shaft.

Our guide explained that one of those carts he's standing beside carried a ton of ore up to the surface.


He took guesses as to what this contraption is - most people said it was a stove. Actually this solid metal structure is the mine toilet!. Some lucky person called the honeydipper had the job of sifting through the contents at the end of the shift to see if anyone was trying to smuggle pieces of gold out for himself. They'd have to pay me more than $2.00 a day for that job!!


When we resurfaced from the mine, the kids went panning for gold and actually found enough gold and garnets to fill 1-inch long vials.

Here's Quincey, Max and Elly - Max is using tweezers to pick out his treasure from the bottom of the pan.

And that was our gold mining adventure - one of several we had today. All in all, a very good day.

Swim Time

We finally got the water temperature up above 85 degrees - clear up to 90! so there was nothing to do but jump in and have fun.

Elly enjoyed the pool much more this year than last year and was able to play independently on the wide submerged steps. There was one incident where she walked off the edge and floundered, but Charlie and I managed to save her. She was right back in again a few minutes later. Thank goodness the kids wear their life jackets.

Charlie is our little bathing beauty, enjoying lounging on the air mattress floatie.

Here's some fun action videos.

Max's upright swimming style:



And Elly's bubble blowing

We Got Trees

We got trees...and not just any trees...lovely tropical trees...six Queen palms, one Pineapple palm, and one Mediterranean palm...all looking so lush and lovely at our Arizona home. We've ordered two more to be delivered next week to round out the yard.

These are the six Queens along our back fence...three short and three tall.

The gap in the middle where the shadow of our house forms a triangle is hiding our lime tree, which will be transplanted to the side of the house and another tall Queen palm planted in its place.

This is our Mediterranean palm, located inside the pool area by the deep end.

The beautiful Pineapple palm sits close to the corner of the front of our lawn. It looks a lot like the pineapple cactus (not it's real name) plants in front.

Charlie and the Pineapple palm.

We're really pleased with the new trees. They provide back yard privacy and a tropial look to our pool area. Can hardly wait for the two remaining trees next week. We're also considering getting a saguaro cactus for the back yard.

This is so different from landscaping in northern Alberta. Fun times.

A New Experience in Flying

We travelled by air today for the first time since the Christmas terrorist attempt. It was an interesting experience.

We were at the airport a full two hours before our flight was due to leave. Usually this guarantees us a quick processing through the check in counter. Not so today. The line-ups were long and slow moving. An airline employee regularly patrolled the lineup telling people that they were not allowed any carry-on luggage except for small purses and/or computer case. That sent lots of people into a tizzy, not wanting to part with their small carry-on size luggage and checking it. (The following pictures were taken with my Blackberry because my camera was in my checked luggage).

Elly had the princess seat on top of our stack of three large suitcases.


Meanwhile, Max and Charlie entertained themselves with games on their new ipod clutches - a very wise investment by Santa.

When we finally got our luggage checked and boarding passes approved, we were told we'd have to turn off our cell phones before heading through security. Fine, but they didn't tell us we could turn them on again once we were in the boarding area. Many of us did anyway.

Going through security was an adventure. Shoes and jackets off, of course, and scanned. Since we weren't allowed carry-on luggage you'd think it'd be a quick process to get through security. Not so. They hand checked every purse that went through - they opened and inspected my daily doses of vitamins and supplements, and opened up each compartment in my purse and wallet. Nothing went untouched. That wasn't too bad if you don't mind a bit of invasion of privacy. And I can understand the extra vigilance (can you say paranoia) in light of the latest terrorist threat. But did they really need to wake up the little 2-year old Elly, lift her out of her stroller and pat her down??? Really??? Every single passenger was treated to a pat down. I wish I had the nerve to take pictures of it. I went through ahead of Sara, Quincey and the kids and had a ringside seat to the kids being checked. It was so cute. The security guards were very nice to the kids, joking with them and making them laugh, all the while making sure they weren't smuggling contraband on their small persons. Luckily, they thought it was an adventure too.

We'll be going through the same process nine days from now, but at least we'll be prepared for it. My advice to you is, if you're excessively ticklish or modest, try taking a train or driving to your next vacation destination.

And that's how I see it.

Family and Friends

The best way to start the New Year is with family and friends.

Lloyd and I had the opportunity to host a New Year's Eve party in our Lethbridge home this year. Not having any of our own children and grandchildren there was different for us, but we had other family members to share the evening with.

Like nieces Gail McCready and Tania Fisher. It's been fun for me to become reacquainted with Gail and her husband and children earlier this year. We were pleased she and Mike came to our party. We've seen Tania fairly often this year. It's been a difficult year for her since her son Mackenzie passed away last Dec. 30. She's become a stronger woman because of her struggles.

Lloyd's sister Joyce and her husband Duane - old faithfuls. Joyce used to host the New Year's Extravaganza when they had so much room in Raymond. And in the corner, a newcomer to the family group, Tania's fiance, Ron. It was fun getting to know him...and to see how happy he's made Tania.

Ron (terrible picture) and Tania enjoying a rousing game of Whooza (or something like that)...a great game for learning more about your fellow players.

Siblings Joyce and Lloyd. Lloyd's other sister Cheryl was there too but I didn't get a picture of her. Sorry Cheryl.

Oh, there's Cheryl's purple arm. Guess that's all I have of her. The couple is Mike and Gail McCready...not a good picture of Mike. They're the parents of 5 little girls, including a set of the cutest twins ever. So glad they could join us...they brought the game we all had so much fun playing. Gail is Cheryl's daughter.

Our evening was spent in true MacKenzie fashion - way more food than anyone needed, games and fun.

Tomorrow I'm off to Arizona until the 13th. I'll blog from there as much as I can.

Pretty To Look At....but...

We've had a couple days of snowfall here in Lethbridge - and it's still coming down. I went out yesterday and took some pictures of the snow on the trees in our front yard.

I love the red berries against the superwhite snow. Looks very festive.


A little bit of editing turns the trees into works of art.


Although nature does a wonderful job of artistry on her own.

While we admire the beauty of the snow, there's a definite downside to it. We're supposed to drive home tomorrow - 5 hours in good weather. We may have to wait over another day.

Amy and Curtis and kids started out from Edmonton today to come down for New Years, but they had to turn back because the highway was so bad.

Mary and Greg and kids left Lethbridge yesterday to head back to Oliver, BC. Their 10-hour trip through the mountain passes was made treacherous by falling snow. They made it home safely though and called this morning to tell us that the highway they drove on yesterday was closed today for avalanche control! So glad they got home safely when they did.

We take the good with the bad in this country, enjoying the beauty and trying to avoid the dangers.

Happy New Year!

Festive Pretzel Rods

I decided to let a couple of the granddaughters try their hand at decorating pretzel rods today. I had never done it before so we were all learning by trial and error.

Charlie and Kenzie started out very serious, carefully painting their rods with melted white candy wafers.

They coated the melted candy with coconut, colored sprinkles, crushed candy canes and red sugar.

Elly had to try her hand at it too. She wants to be part of the big girls' fun. I gave her the broken pretzels and dipped them in the white for her and she had fun stirring up the sprinkles with them.

At times the girls were at cross purposes, with left-handed Kenzie reaching over right-handed Charlie in order to roll the pretzels in her choice of topping.

And Ellie just admired her own handiwork.

It was a bit challenging for the little girls to use both hands together - they weren't sure which hand to hold the pretzel in and which one to paint with. They soon figured it out though.

And were proud to show off their creations.

Elly ended up with as much candy and sprinkles on her face and hands as on her pretzel rods.

The girls got very giddy and giggly as they got more confident about what they were doing.

Just look at Elly's face - she feels very big and grown-up working with her big sister and cousin.

The finished product on display.