If there is one thing you can count on in northern Arizona in Spring, it is that it will be very windy. It sure has been, here in Williams. All night Thursday night, strong winds rocked our motorhome and rattled the slide room covers. We are sitting on a hill overlooking town, here at Canyon Gateway RV Park, and while the view is great, there is no shelter from the wind.
About mid-morning yesterday, the wind dropped off, and it turned into a pleasant day. Cool, but pleasant. In the afternoon, we all piled into Greg and Jan’s truck and spent a couple of hours touring Bearizona, a drive-through wildlife park that just opened last year. This was our first experience at one of these parks, so I really don’t have anything to judge it against, but Greg and Jan have been to a couple around the country, and said it was good. I’ll have a feature on Bearizona in the next issue of the Gypsy Journal, but meanwhile, here are a few pictures.
At one point, this big bear ambled up and sniffed the front tire on the truck. I was glad we didn’t have a flat tire about then!
After the driving tour, we stopped at the walk through part to admire the bear cubs and other little critters.
They have a petting zoo, and Miss Terry found herself a pal! Greg said she should take it home, but Terry looked at me and said one old goat in our Winnebago is enough!
When we left Bearizona, we drove around, checking out all of the classic cars in town for a car show this weekend, then we stopped at Pine Country Restaurant for dinner and more delicious pie.
Across the street, they were offering horse drawn carriage rides. This is a Percheron, which is a very big draft horse. They average between five and six feet tall, and weigh anywhere from 2,000 to 2,600 pounds! I bet it takes a very big shovel to clean up after a Percheron!
Back at our motorhome, I got an e-mail reply from my son Travis, who lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which was pretty much destroyed by the tornadoes this week, with 45 people killed at last count. He and his girlfriend are safe, but the next street over was leveled. Here is a You Tube video of the destruction in Tuscaloosa.
After I heard from Travis, I made a new post to my self-publishing blog, titled Marketing Beyond Bookstores. Then I spent the evening working on the schedule for our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Journal rally. The schedule is still shaping up, but it looks like we’ll have another excellent lineup of seminars to choose from.
Today we’re leaving Williams, and will drive a little over 200 miles to the Las Vegas Thousand Trails preserve. It’s supposed to be another windy day, so we’ll take it slow and easy, and if the wind gets too bad, we’ll get off the road and sit it out.
And yes, to those who are wondering, we’re going to drive over the new bridge at the Hoover Dam. Everybody tells me that with its high walls, it’s no big deal. But then again, there are a lot of people who tell me that spinach and broccoli are good too, so I’ll withhold judgment for now. If you hear the sound of loud sniveling coming from the Southwest, you’ll know what I think! 🙂
Thought For The Day – They say wine improves with age! As I enter my golden years, I say age improves with wine!
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Nick Russell
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We just went across the bridge this month. There is no real view of anything from the bridge but watch out for the wind warning signs as you approach the bridge. The wind wasn’t blowing when we went across but you might be aware of it. There is a view area that you can drive and walk to but you have to go across the dam to get to it.
We’ll be driving about 80 miles today, up to the Owens Valley, expecting strong cross winds. Suzy is a good driver, and she does know when to sit aside for a while. I hope Bearizona was better than Bear Country up in South Dakota. We weren’t at all impressed.
Thank Heavens your son is fine, what a mess. Enjoyed the pictures of the animal park. Be super careful if the winds come up. you can do the bridge just fine, do not hold your breath though,or close your eyes. You can always have Miss Terry drive the bridge.Mike drives the bridges and I hide my eyes.
I hope you enjoy the Thousand Trails campground in Las Vegas better than we did. As you will find out, it is so packed, there is virtually no maneuvering room. Next time, we’ll go to the SKP Park in Pahrumph. Happy Trails!!
If your not paying attention, you won’t even know your going across the bridge. My husband came over it a couple of weeks ago with the Winnebago. and sense you have to be in the left lane, he was half way a over before he knew it. You will do fine. If you went over the Mackinaw Bridge you will have no problem with this one. I think that my time of this comment of a little off. As you are probably in Vegas now. 🙂