Monday, 11 March 2019 Scottsdale

The day began clear and sunny. After a leisurely morning, we left at 10 AM for Canyon Lake and a ride on the Dolly Steamship. Canyon Lake is an hour or more away, created by damming the Salt River in a steep mountain canyon. The last fifteen + miles were on a narrow mountain road with continuous switchbacks and hairpin turns, some labeled as 25 mph, and many labeled as 20 mph and 15 mph. It was slow and stressful driving, but very scenic. The sun-bathed desert views were beautiful. However, by the time we reached our departure point, the sky had clouded over. The resulting dullness did not do the scenery justice.

Linda had tried to book our seats for the cruise online, but, as we did not have a printer, could not print any tickets. So, we decided to take our chances and just show up. When we got there the 12 PM and 2 PM sailings were full, but we decided to wait it out and see if there were any no-shows. One fellow with two extra tickets observed us and offered his tickets. We scored another couple of no-show tickets and we were on our way at noon.

The 90-minute cruise was quite scenic, although dulled by the lack of sunlight. They hyped the possibility of seeing wildlife, but, other than birds, it was pretty slim pickings. We did see some mountain goats high up on the mountain, an eagle on its perch, quite a few turkey buzzards, and many ducks.

After the cruise, we went another couple of miles down the precarious mountain road to Tortilla Flat, where we planned to get a bite to eat. However, the small collection of buildings was swarming with tourists and we decided to head back to the city. It began to rain lightly as we started back and was raining pretty steadily most of the way. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant near the condo and ate about 4:30, and then returned to the condo for visiting, playing cribbage, and playing Rummikub, a rummy game that uses tiles instead of cards.