North Again?

Well, a lot has happened in the past month.  2025 is starting off pretty big.  We had a great time in the Show Low, Pine Top and Lakeside area.  Katy and I stayed in a one room cabin with the pups and it was fun, but after a few days we missed having our own stuff and our bed.  

The area is cool and we had fun exploring Greer which was like driving down to the Metolius.  We went up to the ski hill the same day.  There were 1 or 2 runs open of man made snow and about 400 cars worth of people sharing the hill.  Not our jam.  The Pinetop Brewing Co was a fun stop, they have great beers and good food.  Beer brewed at 7,000’.  

We took a tour of Petrified Forest NP and really like it.  It is a mixture of Blue Basin, The Painted Hills and the Badlands with a spattering of Fossilized Trees.  It’s worth getting out and taking the short loops in the park.  The wind was gusting to 50mph the day we were there, but we still had a good time.  Some of the trees still have so much detail and you can see bark and rings.  The trees were saturated with minerals from volcanic eruptions which turned them to stone.  It’s definitely worth the stop if you are on the 40 east of Flagstaff.  Another cool thing to experience is the Salt River Canyon depending on which way you drive to Show Low.  It’s quite the view and a big elevation loss and gain.  I’m glad we didn’t have the trailer.   One more Show Low Recommendation, stop by The House.  It has a vibe like The Bite in Tumalo.  

We returned to Sierra Vista and work picked up for both of us.  Katy is working. 5-6 days a week between the school district and Tombstone Brewing Co.  I have also had a bunch of jobs and that feels good after a few stale months.  We had the front axle replaced on our trailer for the second time, it was covered by Dexter which is a bonus.  

We’ve done a bit more exploring around here and visited Sonoita again to have lunch at the Copper Brothel Brewery.  After that we stopped at Rune Winery and met 3 RV couples while we were there.  We were invited to sit and chat with two couples and it was cool to share stories.  The wine was good and it’s worth a stop.  That day we also saw a ton of animals.  Mule deer, Cous Deer and Pronghorn.  

Since 1/8/25 we have had two snow days down here in the valley.  We are at 4,800’ and the mountains are almost 10k.  They still have snow on them.  It’s pretty unique being this close to the border and experiencing snow.  

In a weird twist of plans, we canceled our summer in Maine.  We then focused on Colorado for the summer and sent out a few feelers.  In the end we accepted a position in Valdez Alaska and are moving to the Last Frontier.  I think we will be northbound in April and would return in the fall of 26’ if Alaska doesn’t keep a tight grip on us.  In the last four plus years, we had a hard time leaving Polson MT and it was really difficult to drive away from AK last fall.  We definitely left a piece of our hearts up there.  We need to go back and find them.  

Of course, we will take visitors.  Otherwise we will be on social or just a text or phone call away.  See you on the flip side!