It's a Go for Show Low

 Our last hurrah for our summer journey was a stop at Fool Hollow State Park in Show Low, Arizona.  We met up with long time friends, Sherry and Gary MacFarlane and Norm Voight as well as Don's sister Sandy, her husband, Jerry and Don's sister Doris and her husband, Gary.  I could lie and say it was a week for fun and games, but it mostly involved eating and figuring out what we were going to make for the next meal!  We did manage to squeeze in some short hikes in the park and games of dominoes or the card game called Golf.

The Sherwood rig on the left, us in the middle and the Whites on the right.                                                                                  


                                         Norm's truck & trailer and Gary & Sherry's coach on the right.

We moved the meals from site to site since we were all close together.  Somehow, we always had room for a mid-afternoon snack of chips, salsa and dips.  Here we are by Sandy & Jerry's 5th wheel.

In the evening, we moved over to Gary and Sherry's site.  The first 4 days were warm enough for shorts during the day and light jackets at night.

It got dark by 6 PM in the tall pines, but that didn't stop us from partaking some fantastic cobbler that Jerry made in his Dutch oven.  Even Mollie (the dog) was waiting patiently for a little bit of that delicious dessert!

Pat and Joy Wilcox stopped by for a visit one afternoon.  They were formerly camp hosts here for 5 years and we got to know them quite well after camping up here several years in a row.   We had a chance to visit with other long time friends, Jim and Sherian Vanderkolk.  Don and Gary MacFarlane have been friends with Jim for over 50 years.

 On Thursday, the rain and clouds came in, turning the weather much colder.  Even Don changed from his Levi shorts to long pants and a jacket!  That afternoon, our nephew, Greg, his wife, Lori and daughter Cassidy drove up to Show Low.  Greg is Sandy and Jerry's son.  Cassidy decided to help Jerry prepare another batch of cobbler while Norm "supervised".   That night, it was peach cobbler, another hit with all 12 of us.

Greg, Doris and Sherry sample some of Sherry's Jalepeno Poppers.  I think she made them at least 3 times while we were up there.  

Boy were they ever good!

Jerry, Norm and Gary kept warm by donning heavier jackets while they contemplated having another popper.

It took two grills on Thursday night to make enough food for all of us. The menu consisted of grilled vegetables, steaks, fried potatoes, sweet potatoes, chips, poppers, and peach cobbler for dessert.  Our group has a lot of good cooks!  We were lucky....it had rained off and on all day and stopped about an hour before supper.  Right after we ate it started to sprinkle again.  At least I got to eat my steak without being rained on!

One of the highlights was getting a picture of a bald eagle in the park.  Don, Jerry and Norm had driven into town and saw it on their way back into the campground.  They found Sandy and me (we had been taking a walk) and told us to hurry up and get in the truck.  I had no idea of why there was such a rush, but I was glad I had my Nikon camera with the long ranges lens hanging off my shoulder.

 I sure love this camera that is able to take 4 pictures per second!  It came in handy as this majestic bird took off in flight.

Boy, those 5 months went by fast as usual.  We were blessed to be able to re-connect with friends and family along the way again this year.