Christmas breather

Well, CHRISTMAS & BOXING DAY has passed by for another year!   Question was posed "What IS Boxing Day anyway?"  It is not celebrated in the U.S.  

That was a good question & had to look up the origin (all we know from growing up is that is the day after Christmas & when the big sales are on!).    Several theories are out there;

"The holiday is named Boxing Day because the tradition of giving gifts of cash, food, clothing and other goods to the less fortunate were placed into boxes for easier transportation. The goods were distributed based on the family needs and their services to the giver."

According to our Canadian Labour Code, Boxing Day is an optional holiday (Banks & Government workers have paid vacation the day after Christmas or the next working day, should it fall on a Sunday).   Traditionally, Boxing Day would not fall on a Sunday (a day of worship).   Today, the busiest day is Cyber Boxing Day.

Sinruise Park Resort

Above, is the 'local' ski hill with only 4-5 hours drive to White Mountain. They have currently only about 25" (even with 11,000 vertical). We haven't decided it is worth the drive, at this point.

They certainly don't have the snowfall here that our home base (Comox Valley, B.C. - Mount Washington) has!   They have been literally snowed in with 520 cm (5 m) of snow; tempers flying as tourists arrive during the holidays and park in the permanent residential parking; people shovelling for 5 hours to build tunnels to their front door and trying to dig out their vehicles.  The mountain has been unable to keep up & had to turn people away.



View of Salt River Dam and Red Mtn



Red Mountain Ranch (NE Mesa)

A great ride (about 2 hours) on the Hawes Loop takes you up and over a ridge overlooking the Salt River Dam, Red Mountain and a twisting, winding trail through Saguaro, Barrel and Cholla Cactus.

This area of Mesa is a mecca for road and mt bikers.  Google map will allow you to view ALL bicycle trails (unfortunately, I couldn't link that much detail).

Cholla cactus forest; got to keep those elbows and knees in and eyes in front of you & sometimes swing wide!

Another day on the golf course:  Apache Creek.   Only wild life we saw was this little round tailed ground squirrel (below) and the Iowanian's we played with.

The ground squirrel is attracted to open spaces; they have alot of predators (coyotes, bobcat, hawks and snakes) so they have a multitude of burrows and love the golf courses.