Papillion : " How do I look "

 

So we've gone in search of a new life, maybe a slower life, maybe one that's all our own, I don't know....but I do know this, like most people we needed / wanted to slow down the way our years were shooting by and by making so many cha cha changes we've done that. As I reflect it feels like MP's early Kenai King was caught years ago and it was just May 20th, 7 months ago.

Things are certainly slower in Arizona. Alaska is a young place and of course the snowbird migration is for us older folks of which we're still on kinda the young side of. Certain things you just can't get away from and the ageing process is one of them . Just the other day we met a new friend named Edith when we left the condo for our walk and heard a not so distant " hello, hello , hello" . MP spotted her on the ground first and took off running. She had slipped on some water, maybe even frozen and was scared and bleeding from the back of her scalp pretty well. We got her up and slowly walked her to her condo where we waited for the EMS and tried to comfort her. She was dizzy...One night in the hospital with some internal bleeding from a small skull fracture behind her ear. She brought us chocolate yesterday. This pic from the church across the street tells the tale....

Of course we're disappointed to miss Mexico for the first time in 20 years. But if that's all we're missing with what millions of people are going through I can't complain, and won't....I'll just carry on and find the things we love about Mexico that are right here in our neighborhood like my Sunday  Menudo and these gorgeous Chili Relanos with authentic Sinaloa style sauce. The Green there is to die for, At our favorite Mazatlan place Tacos Martin they make the avocado sauce real creamy with avo's and leche and it so good. But here it's more saucey with pepper's , tomatillo's , cilantro and onions etc....I think like it better. We're on our 3rd in 10 days .

And how about our lunch view. We go here often and will from here on out. Madera canyon rises from the desert only 10 mile away and the elevation is stunning, 7,000 feet where we eat after each hike. The desert kinda lacks dynamic colors ( I'm not complaining, it's beautiful ) but with elevation in Arizona come Aspen and other leaved trees that are just now saying it's fall...weird. 

From about 2000 feet lower than where I took the Pacifico pic I took this one looking across the desert back towards our house. That flat area is about the biggest Copper mine I could imagine... and I grew up seeing the Berkley Pit before it filled up with water having been closed. The huge trucks that traversed around and around to the top looked like tonka toys.

I tell people a sign of senior comfort is when you go to the store and get really, really expensive binoculars to watch birds....well we ain't done that but we do enjoy seeing and searching out the birds. We finally got our first really red Cardinals and the Jays here are familiar but not like we're used to....But Madera Canyon offers enough alpine area that Stellar's Jay's are included in the book, our favorite bird, ,,,,so far. 

Tourism...ahhhh...intersting sites !

Well there 's a ton of that around here and as many monasteries that we've seen I got he feeling there's way more to come. Growing up Catholic I knew they were a tenacious bunch, I can only imagine how hard it was to be the first to spread the word starting as far back as the 1600's in this severe country....It must have been one of those things we've all bumped into when you realize, you just gotta want to do it.

As cool as the these old churches are ( and still doing mass ) I 'm kinda drawn to this....the era when the midddle class had money and time to stop along the way. It's something that Alaska is to new for but how could a guy not stop at a place like this for a cool one...just one ? 

Now if you want to get lost in the desert here's the formula.... Our friends Bob and Dana Gerstaluer are here. Like us they hike everyday. BUT....don't let MP be involved in the navigation part of it... Turned around one time in Nevada ( temporarily ) she found a Deer trail for us .....mmmmm....One time in Portland as we raced to the airport behind schedule she read the map and said ' exit 92 south' and I replied that couldn't be right because PDX is to the north and she famously said " sometimes you gotta go south to go north ".....mmmmm.....well, that wasn't one of those times.

 

That hike is the surprisingly gorgeous Saguaro National Park... Those cactus are amazing. The few times it rains they store enough water to last for months, as much as 200 gallons I hear. 

My friend Bob and I started together building the SBS Supply store in Soldotna in the fall of 1977. When the construction economy fell in the mid 1980's he went south and I was saved by the guide industry. Those first winters in Alaska were exciting. We had a co worker named Jack who was also the job site night watchman. He lived in a cabover camper on the job that had propane heat. One night at 1:00 a.m. when it was -30 there was a knock on our Apartment door and it was Jack with ice sickles hanging from his beard , he had run out of his 3rd bottle of propane.  Here's a pic of Roberto and our crew in 1977 taking a break from concrete in August 1977.

From left to right. Bruce Passe, me, Mark Passe, Jack McHone, Bob, Mert Gertin, Craig Passe.

I'm feeling for all my Alaska friends. Chris said it blew up to 100 mph on the Hillside of Anchorage yesterday and it looks like the severe weather will continue...and of course with the longest day just last Monday there's a lot of dark. I put together this matrix to show the effect. For years my northern USA customers would say things like ' our winters in _______ are just like yours" and I think ' you don't have a clue' ....it's the dark. I've put Alaska in our same time zone so you can see the difference easily. 

Anchorage sunrise 8:14    sunset 1:47

Hamilton Mt,         8:20    sunset 4:51

Green Valley AZ    7:22    sunset 5:24

So ....we'll just keep grinding away on this migration route we've chosen. I'm going fishing around the New Year so we should have slimey photo's for the first time in a long time.

MP and I wish ALL of you a Merry Christmas and good riddance to 2020...stay healthy and love a lot...the world needs it right now.