Arizona

Camping in a Shoot Out

 in Arizona / camping  tagged Arizona / ATV riding / Black Canyon Trail / Phoenix / primitive camping / Table Mesa Recreation Area / target shooting / travel by

We noticed some people target shooting as we looked for a camping spot in  Arizona’s Table Mesa BLM Recreation Area.  Unlike other BLM camping we’ve used, these primitive campsites were grouped which seemed a good idea to prevent bullet riddled campers.  I could almost smell the testosterone wafting off rough and ready campsites and wicked rigs.  Between that and the steady barrage of gunfire, we weren’t sure we’d stay long.  If our poor dog had had a vote, we wouldn’t have stayed at all. The sunset was killer, but the firing continued far into the night.  Bullets rattled in bursts, […]

Tucson RRRocks!..?

 in Arizona / Snowbirding  tagged Arizona / crystals / fossils / Quartzsite / rocks / travel / Tucson Gem and Mineral Show by

I love rocks. I’m not a geologist or much of an investor, but I seldom discourage my inner child from hauling home earthly finds. Strange then that after less than an hour of perusing acres and acres of magnificent specimens at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, I wanted out…now. I can’t say exactly what caused me to react that way except it was too much. Months later I wonder if my distress came from seeing dazzling masterpieces, miraculously forged over millions of years, so crammed together as to become commonplace. Oh look, another massive treasure crystal extravaganza, yawn. Some […]

Hi Jolly Who?

 in camping / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Arizona / camels / Great American Desert / Hadji Ali / Hi Jolly / Jefferson Davis / Quartzsite / travel by

A sign pointing the way to Hi Jolly Monument caught my eye in Quartzsite, Arizona, so I checked Google and found that yes, I wanted to see Hi Jolly Monument.  Hi Jolly, AKA Hadji Ali, was a camel driver recruited from Syria to help run Jefferson Davis’ experimental transportation project.  Who knew that the US imported 74 camels to haul freight across the “Great American Desert in the 1850s?” If only the Civil War hadn’t trampled the effort, the Southwest might be crawling with camels today, and camels are cool! At least some of the Corps’ camels were freed to […]