OUR ROOM WITH A VIEW...AND WHAT A VIEW!!!

  Last night was pretty nice outside and the moon was almost full, which may account for my "outfit" as you will soon see. I couldn't resist trying my hand at trying to capture this beautiful desert evening....

...I took this standing right at our camper..not a bad view, eh? And then I saw the moon coming out just above those mountains, so I tried to capture that also...

I am soooooo happy with the photos that our little Kodak digital camera takes. Sometimes I shoot out of our truck windows "on the fly" so to speak , and they still come out better than I could ever hope for.  I do not have any excuses for my attire in this next photo..it is my evening "uniform" for camping. Hey, a girl has to be comfortable in her own skin..(maybe I am just a teeny bit TOO comfortable).....

...Obviously I was a tad bit excited by our view...

We have been told about the roaming wild burros here, but they are never around during the daylight hours. You certainly can tell they were here after dark, but they never "relieve" themselves in anyones campsite..it is always on the fringes of the campground. I was beginning to think this was all a big hoax for the Winter Snowbirds, as we are called here, but about 2AM this morning we were awakened by some pretty loud "braying" not far from our spot. We both woke up and I just laughed, turned over and continued snoring.

  This morning we took our walk out into the desert. There are trails to follow, but iF you are on an ATV you must stay on the designated trails. In this photo you can see we are just starting out from our park...

...and Dennis is putting our location on his GPS, just in case....Should I be just a little nervous?? We continued on until our park was out of sight. I forgot to mention that if you are walking the trail, you can GET off into the brush and walk anywhere you want...and of course, Dennis thought we should do that...We did find some really neat cactus all around us....

In this next photo, the Saguaro cactus had to be at least 30' tall, (according to Dennis)....all I know is that it is the biggest one I have seen yet!!

Notice that Den is standing a distance away from it....We continued on our walk until we had walked about 1 1/2 miles into the desert, according to the GPS, so we turned back in the direction of the RV park and headed that way. Keep in mind, we still didn't have the park in view and I was beginning to wonder just how far we had to go. It did make me more calm to see all the burro hoof tracks winding going our way. I knew at least THEY knew where the campground was!! We did make it back, and ended walking almost 3 miles.

 After lunch, which we ate outside on our little patio, I took my camera out around the park. I wanted a few more pictures so you could see just how neat it is..Up by the laundry building there is a huge circle of stones. It has some significance which I have yet to find out. The circle has an opening of the stones like a pie slice and inside that opening is a figure...Here is the circle...

....the building is the laundry and bathrooms. They try to keep everything "desert compatible"..And the next shot is the "figure"...

It is a little disconserting, isn't it? I really need to ask just what it means. I know just who to ask, too. There is a resident "Native American" who stays here at the park. We haven't met her yet, but she does demonstrations of Indian cooking sometimes at this little wikiup (not sure if that is what to call it), but it consists of a roof made from sticks and place to cook...and here it is....

We haven't had the experience of her cooking yet, but we were told she does sell fresh Indian bread so I really need to check this out.
I mentioned the Casino that is just a walk down the lane from our park...I strolled up there to get a photo...and Dennis checked my pockets for quarters first...Now, did he really think I was going to actually go in and GAMBLE??? He probably remembered the habit I developed when we were in Deadwood, SD , not to mention Las Vegas! Here is the Golden Hasan Casino/gas station/convenience store...in all of it's glory!...

I do think that is one attraction for RV'ers here...
Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve and we were wishing we could have a campfire, Unfortunately they are not allowed at your campsite...But.... Walla!...the RV Park owners are having a " community campfire" for all of us...and it just happens to be right across from our camper!! Here is the site of our New Year's bonfire....

OK, not as good as one of our own, but what a backdrop for a group campfire. Rest assured I will take plenty of photos for the blog.
I think I have covered our day pretty well. We need a few groceries tomorrow morning, so we will drive into Ajo and hit the IGA (so nostalgic). I have some huge shrimp for my chef to grill on New Year's Day, and I am thinking some fried greasy chicken from town will make a good New Year's Eve dinner tomorrow night. I will blog somemore ..if not tomorrow, I will get back at it Friday with pics of our bonfire!! Lots more to come.....