Winter Storm

I am writing to you from what is supposed to be the sunny and warm Arizona desert.  Unfortunately in the last few weeks the southwest has joined the rest of the continent and has been hit by a series of winter storms.  As I write this, Friday at 5:00, the rain, which has been falling since Wednesday night, has now turned to sleet.  We had over 1.5 inches of rain by yesterday afternoon so I'm sure we are now approaching 3 inches.  On Tuesday the RV Parks baseball team had to cancel a game with a team from Payson cause they were snowed in.  Yesterday north Scottsdale was getting snow and Flagstaff had a record of over 40" of snow in one day.  Good news is the sun is supposed to make an appearance on Saturday, although temps will still only be in the 40's.  By mid-week we should be back to the 70s so we can get back to our normal activities.  

In the meantime we have taken in a movie, some shopping, yoga, the gym, lots of reading and photo editing.  Earlier this week we visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch.  They process and sell all sorts of Olive Oils.  While we didn't take the tour we did have lunch and their Bruschetta was fantastic.  

Earlier today with a break in the rain I got out to take some pics of the Superstitions.
Rain at our elevation but the snow is making its way down the mountain. 

The break in the weather didn't last long and soon it turned to sleet. 

No storm sewers here.  The streets take away the rain and
we have seen lots of flood warnings as the streets and
dry washs' are inundated with runoff. 

The tonneau cover should be black. 

Careful going down the steps. 

Lest I start feeling sorry for myself Don sent me a picture taken from our sunroom showing the snowbanks in our back yard at home. 

We have about 5 weeks before we start our trek back.  The plan is to make pit stop in Camp Verde and do a little hiking in the Sedona area and then push north to Moab, Ut.  There are some beautiful National Parks in the area which promises some good hikes and great pictures.  From there it will all depend on the weather.  Given the snow in the mountains this year we are hopeful that the mountain passes up through Utah, Idaho and Montana will allow us to head to Lethbridge to visit Jeff, Carrie and the boys.  That was the plan last year but mother nature had other ideas.  

Till then we have a list of things we want to do and see before we leave and Monday I will start to get back into my twice weekly hiking club.  I also got my new Sony GMaster 16-35 f2.8 lens a few days ago and its just begging to be taken out for some landscape shots.  Just need the weather to cooperate.

Thats it for now.  Stay warm.  Spring is just around the corner.  Or is that another winter storm.  Hmmmm.