11/30/12:  The days we spent in Surprise were relaxing, just did some shopping, reading, and used the pool and hot tub.  We also went to see the Christmas lights in downtown Glendale.  Then we headed southwest to Benson, about 45 miles past Tuscon.  Its a sleepy old railroad town that time seems to have forgotten for the most part.  Our reason for staying there was to see a few local sights.
First was Kartchner Caverns.  They are a rather recent discovery, although first entered in 1974, they were not open to the public until 1999.  Arizona went to great lengths to be sure they could be visited without disturbing their natural state inside.  They are beautiful, very colorful and with many types of stalactites, stalagmites, and other formations.  No photos are allowed, sorry.

OK Corral, Tombstone, AZ

 The next day we went south to the old west town of Tombstone.  There is an excellent museum in the old courthouse with lots of memorabilia and information about the history of the area.  The town buildings now hold shops and other businesses, but still retain their original look.  Of course it is a bit commercialized, with cowboys that will take you on tours or do reinactments of gunfights for a fee.  We

Allen St, Tombstone, AZ

  enjoyed looking around.  Then we went on to Bisbee, an old mining town.  It is quaint, but not as nicely preserved and restored as Park City.  Today we drove through plenty of boring desert to get to Las Cruses, New Mexico.  Till next week....

old territorial courthouse

the gallows

Bisbee, AZ

Well, we've begun our journey.  The basic plan is to travel about 200 miles at a time, then spend several days in the new area and see the sights there.  We plan on traveling around the perimeter of the US for the most part, starting along the southern routes, up the east coast by spring, then by next summer we'll be up north.  So it is life in a 224 square foot trailer with most of the comforts of home except space, haha.  But we'll have the great outdoors and the beauties of this country to enjoy.  I plan on posting weekly to update where we've been and the highlights in a nutshell.
We left Herriman a week ago (11/16) and spent a couple days in St. George, Utah.  We are traveling a bit faster in the beginning since these places are ones we've visited many times.  This trip we visited Snow Canyon State Park.  It has beautiful red rocks and slot canyons.  Then on to Las Vegas, where we met up with Matt & Briannah who came up from So. Cal.  Jeff, Theresa and Lexi also came on their return trip from her parents on the way back to Utah.  And Scott flew down from Salt Lake also, so we had all our boys together for a couple very enjoyable days.  We did the normal Vegas stuff - sat in traffic, ate too much, etc.  The guys went to the Imperial Palace car show while the girls hit up the outlet mall; its sure nice to have daughters-in-law after so many years of hanging out with the guys!  We went to a buffet on Wednesday night, which definitely beat the rush.  The boys all left Thanksgiving morning, so we relaxed and got ready to move on.  Friday we drove southeast through Arizona, and are now on the outskirts of Phoenix (Surprise, AZ).  Its going to be about 84 degrees here today, so its relax by the pool and hot tub weather.  We'll be here about three days, then on to the Tuscon area.  Till next week.....