Gold Canyon, Az

Gold Canyon, Az
New Years Day 2015, Gold Canyon, AZ

Friday, February 3, 2017

LAST DAY

Today is our last day at Sky Valley RV Park.  We have enjoyed our time here although the first few weeks were a bit trying due to the cold, wind and rain.  Not what we had in mind when we booked our stay here.  I heard a report on the local TV News that Palm Springs got more rain in January than they had in the past 14 years.  The last 10 days has been pretty nice and it looks like the forecast for Yuma, Az and Vista, Ca will give us more of the same.  The only downside of this Park was that it is located in a valley and our cell service was pretty much non existent.  I had to drive down the highway a few times to find cell reception.  There are a few parks located closer to the town of Desert Hot Springs which might better choices or shell out more bucks for a park on the south side of  I-10 or get a better Cell provider.

There are a few large ponds in the RV Park and they are populated with Wood Duck, Mallards, Egrets, Mergansers, Cormorants and Black Swans.  I spent one afternoon taking some pictures of some of there birds and have included them below.  I wish I would have spent a bit more time doing this as the birds were all very willing subjects.

I also had my last Photography class this afternoon and we spent some time posing and shooting small groups of people and I have included a few of them in this post.  You will recognize Lori.  The other 2 are fellow classmates.  The class cost $20 for 4 classes and it was money well spent.  The instructor provided some good technical knowledge and more importantly provided opportunities to apply the knowledge in a couple of photo shoots.

We travel to Yuma on Friday (tomorrow as I write this) and will spend a week there.  We are staying in the same RV Park as friends, Betty and Richard.  We spent some time with them during our visit to Yuma 2 years ago and are looking forward to seeing them again.  Our plan is to make our stay in Yuma a relaxing week as the remainder of our trip will probably prove to be pretty hectic.   Following Yuma we are off to Vista, just north of San Diego, for 2 weeks and then 2 weeks in Anaheim to chase the grandsons around Disneyland.  After that we have booked 10 days in Boulder City, Nv and then 10 days in Hurricane, Ut.  Then we will start our trek back home.  We take possession of the new house upon our return and start the process of making it our home.

Fun times.  

A flock of Wood Ducks hunting and pecking

Once one decided to take off it became the thing to do and
soon it was just me sitting on my camping chair. 

Everyday about 6 Cormorants perched up in a tree.
Periodically they would fly down to the ponds and then back
up to join their buddies back up in the tree.
Ugly bird till I cropped the picture and saw their beautiful blue eyes. 

There were 8 Black Swans in the various ponds around the Park.  
 


This pair was busy building a nest.
Couldn't get too close as they became quite aggressive. 

The Mallards had their own pond.
The setting sun made the green heads shine

Much better than my shots while on a hike.
Guess it proves you can teach an old dog new tricks

The even lighting, no harsh sun creating shadows,
plus using a
 fill-in flash makes a big difference. 

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