Arizona scenic drive

Thats one of the mountains... and a view for sale...

What else is there to expect from a scenic drive in Arizona other than the grand view of the canyons? Lakes… or are they oasis in this high desert?

One of the many beautifully sculpted faces

Just 1hr drive away from our hotel at Chandler is the scenic drive thru Tonto National Park. We didnt wanna do another full day drive out anywhere, just a short invigorating one… so this is it. Hopefully we’ll get a short hike along some trails…

Our comfortable ride up on the scenic route

Driving along I88, a curvy uphill road towards Roosevelt dam… ( we didnt actually get to Roosevelt dam). We stop at the launching area for Dolly the Steamboat.. thats a boat not a Chinese feast! BTW, theres a marina and some very short trails among the cactuses…

Another way to ride the scenic route.

We were not the only ones looking for a nice scenic drive thru the mountains. Recreation comes in many forms. Riding must be fun around here… but colder… I guess if dress appropriately, its no biggie…

From a scenic viewpoint stop. Thats dolly making her rounds.

Lakes are not usualy natural in these areas.. me thinks. A series of dams trapping the water from the mountains, and then regulating the flow and forming a lake for recreation and is also a reservoir for the people. Sometimes, dams are electric generators and thats another plus for green renewable energy.

Er... something that I found under a shelter...

Air in the park is certainly fresher… I wonder why.. Its great for hiking and even just hanging out around here clears the lungs from the usual city contaminants. .. Everybody should do this more often. Around here, people really do enjoy using the park and facilities. The amazing thing is that park users are really considerate to the natural environment and do their part to not pollute … just the occasional trash among the bushes.. There are some idiots in every society… I guess.

Flowering non-desert plant...

Some greener trees do thrive around the lake… me thinks they are not native, but ornamentally planted later. Immediatly away from the lake are the desert scrubs and cactuses… Heres something that is flowering nicely… but probably not native.

A marina in this huge reservoir... something for the future SG lifestyle

Oh here we are, at the launching area of Dolly the Steamboat… I like that name. .. No picture of here cos shes out and about. $20 for a ride, seems like a good way to spend an hour… but we are going to find a walk to somewhere..

Lake and marina at 2000ft above sea level

There’s plenty of room everywhere to spread out, walk and so much to see.. Thats the marina from across the road and under the bridge… Only small boats allowed in here… and shallow bottom sailboats…

Thats all for a short break relaxing trip… while we prepare for the next big one. ..

My Grand Canyon adventure

On the way to the Canyons, just starters

For anyone with a weak heart condition and have a need to see the one of the greatest natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon… probably better to take a ground tour package.

Passing by some really steep cliffs. This is the Grand Canyons.

Thats not for people like us tho.. the Canyons inspire people to want see it differently…. aerial view of the Canyons look spectacular on postcards! Our options, take a package on a Cessna, or a package on a air glider, or helicopter. … how about US$200 each for 1hr ride over the Canyons.. Nah, we are too cheap to do that… 😛

Out of the arid soil grows some barrel cactus.

So driving was a cheap alternative, finding a exciting spot on a map and head out! And enjoy the Canyon view all the way to the Colorado river. Yes, we are water people. We will always be looking for a way to get close to any body of water… and wasnt the Canyons carved by million years of running water that is now the Colorado river?

Thats how small I feel about this.

Alright, this is going to be a 5hr drive up and then another 5hr back… Daylight is short in November and temperature drops rapidly at dusk. We need to start early and find the spot we wanna find… we could find water in many spots, but seeing a lake is not the same as seeing the waters that carves the Canyons. So we are on a adventure to see the Canyons in the making.

Thats a path down to Lake Mead.

Thats me at our pitstop, enjoying the view of Lake Mead. I thot, maybe I could walk down that path and feel good about being here, but nope, I feel the utmost need to find the river that carves the Canyon. Onward and forward!

Our GPS "ladies"... Garmin vs Magellan

And we have our brand new Garmin Nuvi and the Magellan that came with the Hertz car to guide us to this place. Lets see whos better… altho we are leaning towards the sexier Nuvi the moment she arrived. … after the trip, its confirmed, “Money-Penny” was out of job. 😛 … and Nuvi is our girl!

The unpaved road to Colorado river, Grand Canyon

I own up to leaving with not enuf prep. I guess complacency sets in when one is in the USofA. Just stop anywhere and pretty sure theres a Macd, Subway, gas station and what else do you need, sure you can find it. Thats what I thot… So our food are chips, salsa and junk… 🙂 .. yes, and we were not dissappointed by the variety at all. They even got Safeway groceries in Kingsman town. Its a big town, stop in it before going further. After that, not much for food choices.

The Colorado river and the new cliff

We knew that we would be driving this delicate little Toyota Corolla over unpaved road for like 2 miles before hitting water. We were relying on Google Maps satellite picture to get to the water. After quite a bit of jumping on the bumpy track, I was about to give up… then we see some caravan packed with rolled up rubber dinghy leaving. That is a sure sign that we are on track… right?

The river that we drove 6hrs to get to.

So we go on further, not before we chase down some dead end. .. by the time we made it, it was a unbelieveable 6hrs on the road. .. The feel of feet soaking in the Colorado river… priceless! The sight of the Grand Canyons from the river was unbelieveable! This river carved these mountains!

My foot! In the Colorado river!

BTW, the water was very cold… my foot cramped in under 1 minute.

Thats the great Majestic Canyons.

And the view of the Grand Canyons from the river, absolutely spectacular. The clouds parted and the sun came thru for a beautiful shot.

1 Joshua tree

We started driving just before sun starts setting, and merrily stopped for a few pictures of Joshua trees. We passed them on the way in, but didnt stop. Nows our chance and its even better than earlier. We the sun shinning at a lower level onto the Canyons, blue skies and all, made the trees look better.

Joshua tree and the Canyons!

… we didnt think it be pass 9pm by the time we made it back to our room. .. It was one tough driving day…

but I am greatful for a beautiful day to go see one of the greatest wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river and even the Joshua trees. This is great!

Blogging from my iP4d

That's my iP4d with cover on.

Yippee! A newtoy for me. Never wanted the iPhome or iPad when they were 1st introduced, and didn’t think I would ever gotten 1 if not for the SG$500 voucher. ..for my 5 years of service with Chartered semi / Global Foundries… Yes, i paid out of pocket to cover the actual price of $668 + $49 for the Belkin cover. Well… So I have now a iPad2 and let’s see what I can do with it.

iP4d is on

Lets begin by giving it a name… I thot iP4d is kinda fun and it really means “I paid 4 thee” and looks like I didn’t have to change much from iPad at all…

… I was very surprisethat iP4d didn’t work just out of thebox… see there was this tiny icon that shows a plug and iTunes thingy that I couldn’t understand.. And a little booklet that tells me to install iTunes on my puter before I can start! This was clearly not a user friendly product for older people like me.. eyesain’t that good no more…

Picture taken with iP4d and posted on FB instantly..

So… Did I like having and carrying iP4d around? Yeah, it’s been nice to me so far. I boarded  the very cushy flight a A380 to LA 3 days after buying iP4d. I did enjoy whipping it out for a quick note on FB using the free wifi at SIN, Narita… I dunno about LAX cos I was too busy clearing in and getting on my way…

It was much easier to use while in flight than the bulky laptop that is so power hungry, although connection to power is available at each seat! The A380 is so cool to people like us.. But there was never a need to charge iP4d on this 18hrs flight, that is so cool! I mean the batt life is 10hrs, but with eating, sparodic sleeping and in flight entertainment that was really good, I didn’t really need iP4d either… 😉 but it was nice to look at my pictures, documents, plans and maps… without pulling out ever cumbersome laptop from above head cabins.

The really neat feature I found, was that there are lots of places in US that do have free wifi for their guest! And I could post something exciting to me right away with friends . Like this big breakfast at Macdonalds in Newport beach! Snap on it goes onto FB, just like that. Maybe this would help my blogging too… but I found it difficult towise WordPress website and even the apps are not so good …

Oh, and I have much difficulty with iTunes and syncing pictures!  I’ll talk about it some other time… Sigh… every iPad needs a mother port hosting a iTunes…

 

Alright! So I have been busy!

Half reno'ed flat.

Am physically in Arizona right now, on business and vacation. House reno, put aside for a month.

On site office setup.

This is where we stopped. A bit of cleaning and alot of putting things away. Wire still hanging from the ceiling… still a mess.

tiles being delivered

This is where we are…. and I had hoped that we be all done before this trip… HA!

This roll of polycarbonate is going to be my new roof over the kitchen

Far from it! But, its okay. MamaCat, Smudge and Snooze are staying in there with daily cat care giver… Our junk have a home… thats all that matters eh ..? 🙂

Some pix from the reno. Tiles being delivered and look at that crane! One man show! … Poor tilers, they had to go carry it up… no lifts to 2nd floor…

New roof material came in a large roll. It was so difficult to get into the flat… so we let it sit outside for a few days…