Today's Hail Storm

Our weather was so unusual today. A hail storm one minute and, literally, the next sunshine!

Crown King

A week ago, the three of us decided to venture up to Crown King. Emma, Nicole's friend, raved about what a great place it was. She left off some important details though. It only took us about 30 minutes to reach the exit on I-17. But it took 2 hours of dirt road to get there. You can see how rugged the road is in some of these video clips. We didn't think it was going to be an all day trip.

This is a great destination for dirt bikes and quads. Which we didn't bring up. Good thing we had the Tahoe The town, itself, is nothing to write home about. Apparently, we didn't go the next 8 miles, past the town, where a scenic lake is. We stayed for about 15 minutes and headed back home. Thankfully, we found a new route and that dirt road was only 1 1/2 hours.

AZ Region Junior Girls Club Volleyball Championship

After Nicole's City league game today, her and I ventured down to Grand Canyon University on Cambelback west of I-17 to watch part of the AZ Region Junior Girls Club Volleyball Championship. The players at this location were 17 and 18 years old. If anyone is interested in getting their daughter inspired by the sport of volleyball or challenged to beef up their skills, take a field trip to one of these club events, it was truly amazing and awesome to watch.

Volleyball Team Photos

Today was Photo Day for our Volleyball Team, The Firecrackers. Since the players already have many of these collectible photos, Coach Brenda came up with a creative idea that was out of the norm. We all had a great time even though it was in the wee hours this morning. The Players played three awesome games taking two wins and missing one game by 3 points. Congratulations!

Game #1 The Firecrackers vs The Sparks

Nicole and her team, The Firecrackers, played their first volleyball game for the winter season. All three games were close in score and they won their second. They are pouring their heart and passion into this season and their hard work and effort really show! Good Luck Firecrackers!

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Dan's cousin, Tom, recently relocated to Arizona. Tom's Mom, Gerri, is visiting him for 3 months. Last night we were invited to Cave Creek's hot air balloon festival. The nighttime temperature was chilly. But we weren't out there very long and got to see the best of the best.

All the balloons were fully inflated by 7:30 p.m. Then minutes later, we witnessed four skydivers jumping out of a plane with pyrotechnics. It was so exciting. It's a must to mark on next year's calendar. I highly recommend the public parking and taking the shuttle bus to the Rancho Manana golf course. Trying to find a parking spot any closer was ridiculous. Here is the website for more information www.cavecreekballoonfestival.com

Rockhounding

Last weekend, our friends, Jamie and Michelle, invited us on a rockhounding excursion. They took us to an old Salt Mine in Camp Verde to collect Gauberite crystals. Here is a bit of history on the salt mine. We didn't find any arrowheads this time.

Aboriginal
(Salt Mine Road)
This large salt deposit off Salt Mine Road was first mined for profit by Western Chemical Company during the 1920s as an open-cut mine. In 1930, International Paper and Ameri-can Cyanamid formed Arizona Chemical to mine salt cake in Camp Verde. When purer materials surfaced in 1933, the mine was un-able to compete and closed.
Prehistoric use: Salt use from this source likely dates back to prehistoric times 2000 years ago during the Pueblo culture. In the 1920 and 1930s, miners revealed evidence of early Indian activity. The Spanish explorers recorded discovery of the salt mine, sometime be-tween 1583-1598. They might have even used Indian slaves to mine this mineral (speculation). Much later, salt

Trampoline Fun

Nicole and her friends having fun with her Christmas present from Santa.