Mayo Appointment and a Nice Hike…

We are still enjoying our resort stay at Mesa Regal here in Mesa Arizona. We can’t believe we have already been here a month so upon that realization we have begun making plans to head back east once we leave in March. We decided our first stop will be Tucson and we will make our way to Texas as we love to be there in the springtime for the wildflowers.  We know after leaving Arizona there aren’t many resorts as nice as this so we are going to make it our goal to really savor the many amenities offered here this next month.

While here we also made our appointment for our annual checkups to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale AZ.  We would wake really early and have a full day of visits but what we like best is EVERYTHING can be done in one day. My appointments were over early in the morning but Sharon had more appointments in the afternoon.

Since we had a few hours of time in between we headed back over to the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy.  We pulled into the visitors parking lot we where we had no problem finding a parking spot. We figured we had time to hike the 1/2 mile nature trail we didn’t do the last time we were here.

Since we had plenty of time we strolled slowly along the well marked trail to listen to the birds singing and to really enjoy each small plant we would normally pass by without noticing. The desert was in bloom even though most of the flowers were very small.

There were also informative plaques along the trail providing some historical and nature insight. Certainly we were glad we had time to return to the conservancy for this easy and very short hike. It was a nice break in our day of appointments. Thankfully we received all good news at the Mayo Clinic so we are good to go for another year! We celebrated at O.H.S.O. Brewery in Gilbert and now I can go full steam ahead in making travel plans for the rest of the year!

NOTE: We are currently in Mesa Arizona until March 11th 2020, then over to Tucson for a few days.

Blogger Meetup and Hiking the Gateway Loop, AZ…

One thing we have really enjoyed about blogging is how close the community of RV travel bloggers is. So when we were contacted by Faye and Dave of the blog The Wandering Camels about trying to meet up we were excited for the opportunity to do so. Our paths have been close on many occasions yet we’ve never been able to meet in person.

Since they were north of Phoenix we chose a spot closer to them and also close to a nice hike.  We figured a good hike would also justify the craft beers we will enjoy during our visit with Faye and Dave.

After doing some trail research I found a nice 4.2 mile hike we hadn’t done before which promised awesome views and beautiful cacti. My choice was the Gateway Loop in the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy.  When we pulled into the visitors parking lot we we pleased to see that there were no fees to park. There were bathrooms at the trailhead and maps are available at the welcome center. We also noticed a 1/2 mile nature trail we plan to do another day.

There was a short hike to where the loop began and after reading a lot about the trail we chose to hike counter clockwise to get the steepest part out of the way first. The trail was well marked and our loop began with a modest incline until we topped out at the Gateway Saddle. The the trail continued on looping around McDowell Mountain which is one of Scottdale’s most prominant features.

It was a great hike with some great views of the city of Phoenix in the valley below. After the hike we had a bit of time to kill before meeting Faye and Dave at the O.H.S.O. brewery and Distillery.We stopped at the Scottsdale Trader Joes and picked up some of our favorite items from there. Then we drove over to the brewery and nestled up to the bar for a brew while we waited for our blogger friends.

It wasn’t long before Faye and Dave showed up so we moved over to a small table to engage in some friendly banter. We really had fun getting to know each other better . Time flew by and  happily we plan to meet at least one more time before we leave in March.

Another great day on The Road of Retirement…

NOTE: We are currently in Mesa Arizona until March 11th 2020, then over to Tucson for a few days.