Friday and Saturday, November 23 and 24, 2018 (Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ)

Friday was chore day. We all loaded laundry bags into Dave and Leslie's truck and headed off into Tucson...where we had a fun-filled couple of hours in a laundromat.

With the laundry done, we made a couple of stops...most notably Costco...and then made our way downtown to Thunder Canyon Brewery for a bite to eat and a brew. We were disappointed because they didn't have their seasonal beer ready yet. Last year they had one called 'Ornament' and we really enjoyed it. Oh well we still had a great lunch...

Once home, and after the laundry and groceries were put away, we sat outside until the sun went down and then retreated inside Dave and Leslie's rig for a quick "Costco hot dog" dinner. Yum...I don't eat many hot dogs but Costco has the best!

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. After a lazy morning, we took the bikes out for one final ride around the campground before loading them back onto the trailer.

With that done, we chatted with Dave and Leslie and all decided another, less strenuous, hike was in order...so we decided on the short hike on a trail here in the campground.

As we were walking along, Leslie almost stepped on a snake...I was right behind her and all I saw was its tail as it slithered away under some bushes. It was a non-venomous Striped Whipsnake.
Photo from the internet...

After the loop trail, we continued past our sites to check out another trail that led to the "educational groups" area. Dave was in the lead, and all of a sudden he jumped as he almost stepped on a rattle snake...whew, that was close! It never did rattle...

This is a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake and was only 50 yards away from Dave and Leslie's rig! Steve had to move back at it slithered towards him. With a bulge in his middle we think he had just had his lunch...

We watched as the snake slowly slithered away and then continued our walk through the group sites. Wow, that was amazing...the first time we have seen a big rattler on one of our hikes (other than a small hibernating one while on a quad ride).

This bridge leads over to the volunteer/employee service area...

We ended the day with our usual happy hour and then a great steak dinner...along with a couple of bottles of red wine!