Kisses, Abandoned Mines, Flying Lizards, Baby Bighorn, VIP and Great Colors. What a Day!

Valentine Day has come & gone and we are no worse off for the eating of endless chocolate. Our lips are just a little bit chapped though......if you know what I mean!

A couple of days after Valentine Day we joined several of our co-workers and drove out to Anniversary Mine for a hike through The Narrows. Wandering Wingers Dave & Maxine were staying out at Stewarts Point so they decided to join us as we explored the area around the mine and slot canyon. We drove into the park to Mile Marker 16, then drove about 2 miles along one of the Approved Back Country Roads to a large wash.

We Snuck this Pic over the fence blocking
the entrance to the closed mine

The wash is several hundred feet wide and about 40-50' deep. We drove down into the wash and then followed the wash further into the park. There are several old mines in and around the wash as well as being bordered by active mine sites on both sides. Here's a peek at the inside of one mine I 'borrowed' from Dave's blog.

So if I go in here, do I end up over there?

Several of the group checked out the entrance to mine as well as 2 small tunnels outside the entrance to the mine, probably used as a rail- or walk- way along the face of wash. Farther down the wash it narrows into a slot canyon, which everyone was interested to hike. We had gone out early, so we had the slot canyon to ourselves on the way in.


And when we got to the far side we saw a small group of big horn sheep, including several babies. I'm glad we went early as we had 2 groups already hiking the narrows as we left and several groups hiking towards the narrows as we drove out of the wash.




Joan is always keeping her eyes open and checking out the surroundings. Looking up into one of the mesquite trees she noticed something unusual. Flying lizards? No, more like lunch. A *** lizard impaled on a mesquite thorn; more than likely placed there by a shrike.






Speaking of lunch, our group split up after leaving the mine; some of them had to go to work; others to recuperate from the morning's activities. We were all feeling a little sketchy after the hike.




We invited Dave & Maxine to join us for lunch. There is a smal chiiniese restaurant in nearby Logandale called VIP that we have enjoyed several times that we thought they would enjoy. And we were right (found out subsequently they revisited VIP a couple days later).  After that we stopped by their boondocking site to chill out and watch the late afternoon color.

Aside from our normal day to day activities, I've been very busy working with a realtor back in Florida. While we were in Florida at Christmas we visited friends and family, had our physicals, visited our rentals and met with our financial advisor (you have to do that kind of thing even though it's no fun). He suggested we consider selling one of our properties.

The house Joan & I lived in prior to going full time still has a mortgage and due to the current housing market is still worth quite a bit less than the original purchase price. We've been fortunate that we've had it rented the entire time we've been on the road; however the rent we've been able to get doesn't cover the mortgage, escrow, HOA & management fees. I don't see the market changing any time soon so we decided it was time to cut our losses and try to sell the house. So if you're interested in a nice townhouse in central Florida overlooking the 9th green at a great golf course, let me know.

Next on the list.......Income Tax......yuck!

That's it for now. Stayed Tuned. More to Come.

PS...Thanks for reading. As of last week stats indicate we've had over 40,000 page views. Who'd a thunk it?