Week 27: The one with the surprise rain!
Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona
Hello from Ironwood Forest National Monument, about an hour northwest of Tucson, Arizona!
We’re dispersed camping in the shadow of Ragged Top Mountain and it’s been so beautiful here camping among the saguaros (and other cacti!), ironwood trees, and palo verdes.
Trail Cam
We setup the trail cam to see if we could catch any critters — but so far we’ve only had one visitor — don’t blink or you’ll miss it!
That totally cracked me!!! :)
Jason was able to grab a few stills:
We’re guessing it’s a cactus wren — what do you all think?
Jason just said I wonder if the birds know what they’re doing and they’re just toying with us! HA!
Cows, Jets and a Helicopter Too!
It’s been pretty peaceful here except with a few infrequent interruptions:
The occasional cow mooing — the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allows low density grazing so once in a while we hear a moooooooooo! It’s kind of funny, actually!
Military jets and helicopters flying overhead. Not sure if these are border patrol or training runs. Once we had a helicopter with a BIG gun/cannon fly over camp and check us out - I waved but I didn’t see anyone wave back… Another time a jet swooped low and blasted between the peak to the left of Ragged Top and the main part of the mountain — the sonic boom was so loud the floor of the van shook! Jason said it reminded him of Top Gun.
Amazing Sunrises/Sunsets
When I was growing up in Northeast Ohio, my Aunt Freda, who lived in Lake Havasu City, Arizona got my Grandma a subscription to Arizona Highways magazine. I’ll never forget looking through it — especially the sunsets — and dreaming of going to Arizona someday. It seemed like such a cool place — and so different from Ohio!
She and Grandma are both gone now, but I feel like they’re with me whenever I go for a sunset walk. We’ve been going almost every night and whoa these views just don’t disappoint!
Last but not least, an amazing sunrise on December 6th:
Surprise Rain!
On December 5th I thought I smelled rain as I was getting ready for bed. If you’ve never smelled rain in the desert it smells amazing. I thought I was imagining it, because there was absolutely no rain in the forecast. Then I heard rain on the roof — it really was raining! It was just a really brief sprinkle, but it made me so happy and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
The next morning we went for a sunrise walk — and we were treated to a few sprinkles again! This was the view from the van:
Unreal.
And then…!
Later in the morning we had this weird cloud roll in. So funky!
I kept a close eye on it but in the end it kind of fuzzed out. Whew!
Art Toolkit Blog Post
For my art friends reading this — earlier this week I did a collab post with @arttoolkit on Instagram of the palette setup that I use for my perpetual journal, and everyone seemed to LOVE it! (Click to watch.) It made my day!
You can read all about the palette over on the Art Toolkit blog, including a listing of all the colors, my favorite neutral and green mixes, and some snapshots from my journal.
From the blog post:
Do I need this many colors? Heck, no! I’m perfectly content with a limited palette, and that’s what I use most of the time. Do I love having this many colors? Heck, yeah! It feels like a decadent luxury :)
As many of you know, I’m honored to be an ambassador for Art Toolkit and they’ve given me a code to share with you: Use code LISAFAN10 for 10% off your purchase of an ArtToolkit, palette, or mixing pans — they make great gifts!
When you make a purchase using the code I’ll receive a small commission at no charge to you. I truly appreciate your support.
Did someone say waffles!?!
Earlier this week I had a taste for waffles and just HAD to make some! We have a Stuffler (<Amazon affiliate link) — a stuffed waffle maker — in the van and I had some frozen raspberries to use up, so it was a win-win.
Just 8 minutes until I had this delish-ish-ness on my plate:
I like to put a banana in the middle of mine — J hates bananas so he just got more raspberries. I topped them with pecans. So good!
I used the last of the Plantstrong waffle mix for these that I got while we still had our house in Austin — highly recommend — it makes it super easy to have waffles anytime. And I got a Bob’s Red Mill waffle mix to try — will report back on it.
Some other things we like to use it for:
Any kind of berries — fresh or frozen and Zeb’s waffle recipe. These are our faves — this makes really hearty waffles. (And J can’t taste the bananas!)
Bananas, peanut or almond butter and chocolate chips. Yummmmmmm.
I love to get pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and make pizza waffles. We’re vegan so I sauté up a veg mix with bell peppers, onions, kale or spinach, then stir in some pizza sauce and nutritional yeast and use that for the stuffing, plus add more on top. It really satisfies our pizza cravings! So fun when we’re out in the middle of nowhere, and it only takes 8 minutes to cook.
Cornbread and black beans! I make up batch of Happy Herbivore cornbread, adding in a little extra cornmeal to make it thicker, then put black beans fajita veggies on the inside. Top it with green onions and salsa. YUM.
I’ve also waffled sourdough bread to make paninis — so good!
J wasn’t too keen on having the waffle maker in the van, but I think he’s coming around — especially since he gobbles them up! :)
Here’s a more typical breakfast: wheat berries (or usually oatmeal!) with flax, walnuts and maple syrup plus coffee or tea.
That’s it for this week! We’re going to stay here at Ironwood Forest for a few more days, then we’re heading back to Tucson to take care of a few things: picking up the glasses I ordered, getting a haircut, and running a few errands.
Thanks so much for following along with us — it means so much to have you along for the ride! — Lisa, Jason and Walter-the-Van
I'm not a fan of deserts and cacti and sand and barren but boy oh boy … the light and colours and geology and biology in photo entitled "What a view!" Glorious!
Love the photos and commentary
Great adventure.