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| Pat (purple shirt) climbing in Fay Canyon |
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| Devils Bridge |
After one of the coldest winters in MD, I was looking for
someplace warmer. Even Montana was warmer than MD in December, January and February.
Sedona AZ looked promising, with highs consistently in the 60’s. So, we booked
a condo for a week in mid-February. We flew BWI-PHX and drove to Sedona on
Valentines Day, and it was warm and beautiful. The weather went downhill from
there. Winter finally showed up in the western portion of the country, and we
were treated to several days of wind and rain followed by sleet and snow.
The
weekend of Feb 14-16 was a three-day weekend with Presidents’ Day on Feb 16.
The biggest drawback to beautiful Sedona is the traffic and parking. A three-day weekend just made these problems a lot worse. By necessity we skipped
the most popular hikes and found a few under the radar hikes.
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| Pat on West Fork Trail |
After a snowy night, we threw caution to the wind and headed
for one of the most popular hikes, West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon. I guess the
snow kept the crowds down and we found parking at the trail head (after paying
the $15 entrance fee). The round-trip trail is 7 miles long and crosses the
creek 26 times! After the initial bridge, all other crossings involve rock
hopping and good balance. With the assistance of hiking poles, we managed to
stay mostly dry.
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| Ice Formations |
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| Icey West Fork stream |
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| Old car in Seligman AZ |
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| Hiking trail near Kingman AZ |
We left Sedona and drove to Kingman AZ, to visit Pat’s
brother, Phil and his wife Connie. We hiked and dined with them. After a couple
days of family time, we drove to Las Vegas and flew back to MD.
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| Barrel Cactus |
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| Dinner with Phil and Connie |
After this trip, I had a heart valve replaced at John
Hopkins Hospital. The operation went very well and I recovered quickly. We
started house shopping, and decided on a single-family home in Westminster, MD.
This is about an hour’s drive from our condo in Odenton. We settled on our house
on April 10. We got a buy contract on our condo on April 5.
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| Dinner with the Potter families in Frederick MD |
Before all of this got set in motion, we had reserved 2 timeshares
weeks in the mountains of NC. The timing was not great, considering everything
that has to be done to buy and sell a house, but on the other hand, we could
sure use a break from the stress of buying, selling and moving.
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| Whitewater Falls in NC |
So, we started our trip to NC with an overnight stop at
Shirley’s house in Dayton, VA. We went to dinner and then visited her husband
Bill, who was in a long-term rehab facility. We saw Bill in between hospital stays for an obstructed bowel. From there we drove to Sapphire Valley, NC. We
ended up at the same resort where we stayed in Jan 2023. This is where a bear
gave birth to her cubs under our porch while we were there three years ago.
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| Whiteside Mt near Highlands, NC |
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| Dry Falls of the Cullasaja River |
We thought we had explored the area pretty well the last two
times we were in this area, but we managed to find some hidden waterfalls and
hiking areas within the Nantahala National Forest, in addition to revisiting our
favorite places.
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| Rainbow falls in Gorges SP |
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| Greenland Falls in Panthertown Valley, NC |
From here we moved on to Burnsville, NC and spent the night
with Floyd and Lauren in their weekend mountain home. We took a walking tour of the town
and had dinner at the Old Wray Inn. Next, we drove up to Banner Elk, NC and
checked into another timeshare. We stayed there six nights, doing day hikes in
and around the Blue Ridge. Our bad luck with the Blue Ridge Parkway continued
as a large section of the Parkway was closed for repair. The last time we went to Gatlinburg,
TN the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed due to snow and ice. Of course, the best
hikes are only accessible from the Parkway, so we had to look for alternative hiking
destinations.
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| Trillium in Ashville Botanical Gardens |
We started the drive back on Easter Saturday, and finished
on a rainy Easter Sunday. Now we just have to pack everything up for our move
on April 22.
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| Our new home in Westminster, MD |
