Tumacacori National Historic Site

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Tumacacori Mission was established by Father Kino, a Jesuit priest, in 1671. It was to serve the Oodham Indians which the Spanish called Pima Indians. It is the oldest mission in Arizona. The church was begun in 1800. It is made of adobe bricks. We traveled about 50 miles south in the Sonoran Desert to arrive here. Nogales Mexico is about 20 miles south from here. Coming back, we were stopped by the Border Patrol. They asked, "Are you American citizens? Is your dog an American citizen?"

Desert Trails RV Park, Tucson, AZ

From our campground, we have a path

into the desert. "Indian Path" is a mile. Rufus loves the hike if he doesn't step on a cholla! There is also a dog run at our RV Park which he loves. I am "training" him in agility! We had 100 folks at Thanksgiving dinner and 23 choices of desserts! A noisy, fun, filling time was had by all!

Finishing Nomad Project

We created a rock wall by moving rock in our pickup over to the area, unloading them, and beginning the moving process again. Barbara, our Prescott, AZ, Nomad, was the genius on this project. Willie, the maintenance supervisor, was a great help to all of us. Alice and Bob McCune

have led over 40 Nomad missions and assisted us in obtaining our Leadership Certificate.

Tuscon Metropolitan Ministries

The new 12 children unit that we

cleaned for the inspection.

Shahela as "Little Red Riding Hood" for Halloween!

We NOMADS are here to serve this organization for three weeks. What have we done so far?

1. We've cleaned a unit just constructed for twelve children under Children's Protective Services; a unit on each end for six children each with two apartments in the middle for the house parents. Some siblings can live in one side; sometimes just six various children. That took us two days.

2. Always, Barbara paints a dumpster container! It is a three sided concrete block structure...now we have to paint the metal gate. That will take another morning.

3. Three of us women went to Mission Vista to create files for each apartment there for weatherization possibilities. Refugees from Bhutan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Mexico live there with their children. TMM supports these people for two years as they adjust to America. It is low income housing and they pay rent and the utilities. They all have jobs which we listed on the files.

4. Earl has sheetrocked a bathroom and will paint a kitchen in the activity center. Filters, fire alarms etc. have been replaced in every apartment.

5. Finally, we three women have sorted clothes at the Restore which serves refugee families of TMM who receive vouchers. Earl has a new silk shirt and I have a new pair of pants!!!

TMM is a ministry to 36 children who live with 6 house mothers in units. The director of this program says that it takes three months for a child to adjust. So many house mothers and staff have been here for over fifteen years. There is also low income housing here for mothers (mostly rehabilitating drug addicts) and their children where they are taught all the necessary skills to operate in the world within two years. The children are precious and just love Rufus!!!!

The director, Don, is such a visionary and EVERY building on this campus is already paid for.

WE went to "Men Who Stare at Goats" Friday night - George Clooney was fantastic; the movie was OK. Then the highlight was dinner at Mimi's.

Today we visited a fancy-dancy RV resort close to Nogales. Not for Earl and me...just too sterile and everyone lived so close together but great for people who live there...lots of activities, discussion groups and charitable work to do.

We will travel there Wednesday as we have been selected to be leaders for NOMADS so will be trained by a retired Methodist minister who lives there.

Tuesday night we are going to a dinner theatre. Our leaders went to the theatre Saturday morning and watched The Metropolitan Opera - a three hour production live from New York! So much to do in Tucson! We just love it here. Enough for now! More later...

We miss ALL of you!!!

Grand Canyon

This is Bright Angel trail which takes you to the canyon which is almost a mile deep. You cannot hike down and back up in a day - it takes too much water, strength and stamina and the park suggests two days at least. You can stay at Phantom Canyon at the bottom. You can also take a mule ride down and then back up the next day.

I am still learning how to use this program so nothing is in order here! Upon arrival at the park, we saw a desert pig-havlina, I believe. We went up the four flights of the watchtower, designed by Mary Coulter, to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. We then visited Tusayan Ruins, the westernmost village of Anasazi. The photo is the remaining part of their kiva. They grew corn, ate the native animals and plants and built cisterns for water. Very intelligent people.

We have gone to many ranger talks which we love. Today, the desert plants spoke to us! Junipers with parasite mistletoe, pinyon pine which gives us pine nuts, ponderosa pine, rabbit brush, barberry, and fern plants. Small leaves on all to survive this harsh climate. Animals we have seen include elk, deer, rock chipmunks, ravens, and today we saw a condor soaring in the sky!!!!! 73 here now.

Oh my, such an amazing place. On to Phoenix.

Coral Sands State Park, Utah

What a pleasant surprise! We randomly decided that on our way to the Grand Canyon we would stop at Coral Sands State Park. You pay $16 for a nice campsite but NO hookups! But, in return, you walk on the sand and see this!!!! Our favorite place in southern Utah so far!!

The next blog will be at the Grand Canyon where we are now camped at Trailer Village (unique name???) We boarded a shuttle bus to Yavapai Point and walked to the Village Center (2 miles) along the rim. We walked down Angel Bright trail for aways. This afternoon we are doing one of my favorite things-IMAX! Then we will go out for a hamburger - a rare treat for travelers on a budget.

P.S. I remember, when in New York, walking at least 40 blocks to see the IMAX Mt. Everest film!

Capitol Reef National Park

Using Chris's gift of walking sticks, we hiked to

Hickman Bridge this morning-two miles round trip.

Capitol Reef is a 100 mile stretch of Wingate sandstone formations located in southern Utah. It is named "Capitol" because there are domes in the park that resemble the Capitol dome in Washington, D.C. The "reef" is coined that because it is a barrier.

The bighorn sheep walked right across the road while we were following the Scenic Drive.

We finished the day with my favorite activity: we hiked through Grand Wash. I love the washes in Borrego Springs and this was the most spectacular wash I've seen.

Now on to Grand Canyon!!!