How can you take a vacation from a full time vacation of traveling around our great nation?

Well you just invite your sister along and spend ten days showing her everything that you normally enjoy at a leisurely pace. For ten days we went Bluegrassing, mud stomping, Clydesdale spying, museum hopping, birding, caving, hiking more birding and even more hiking.

First we took in the Casa Grande Pinal County Bluegrass Festival. Many good bands and lots of parking lot picking. Gary entered the band scramble and his band, “Keeping the Faith,” won first place. Voting is done by noise level, Judy and Holly almost screamed themselves hoarse. The festival was preceded by a very heavy rainstorm, so we had to contend with a lot of mud all weekend. Several of our bluegrass friends showed up and we spent hours picking bluegrass favorites with them.

Next we moved to the Tucson, Arizona area to a state campground called Catalina State Park. We timed it perfectly and found a nice stall to stay in. The park filled to capacity every day. The had miles of hiking trails and two birding walks while we were there. We joined both walks and added 14 new species to our lifetime list of birds. Of course our list is not very long, so it is still easy to find new species.

We spent one day driving Holly’s rental car to Benson AZ, and toured the Kartchner Caverns. These are some of the best caves you will get to see. They work hard at keeping the cave pristine and unspoiled. The groups are small and the guides are excellent. Cost is about $20 and there are two separate tours to take. We took the Rotunda/Throne Room Tour. If you are in the area this is a must see: Don’t go without reservations, however. By the way, they have a nice campground on site. This time of year it was only partially full.

One day we spent in the Saguaro National Park and the nearby Desert Museum. This is also a “Don’t miss” stop in the Tucson area.

Finally we spent a full day in Sabino Canyon National Recreation Area at the edge of the Tucson metropolitan area. We took the tram up the canyon and hiked the five miles back to the visitor center. The Sabino river was flowing strong so we got lots of practice doffing and donning our shoes to wade through the icy water flowing over the bridges.

Finally on Monday we sent Holly off into the morning rush hour traffic in Phoenix to catch her plane home, and we relocated to Lake Havasu on the California border to attend another bluegrass festival. Oh yes the weatherman is predicting another rain storm just before this festival starts. I hope it is not too heavy, we are camped in a dry wash.