{"id":6298,"date":"2015-11-08T18:50:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T23:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/?p=6298"},"modified":"2023-06-29T22:44:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T02:44:21","slug":"john-has-an-extra-day-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/6298","title":{"rendered":"John Has an Extra Day Off!"},"content":{"rendered":"

John and his crew have been working hard this week and earned themselves some extra time off. What is the first thing John wants to do? Go rockhounding. First order of business, breakfast!<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s Big Breakfast was first on my list, but when we got there, people were lined up around the corner, yeah this isn\u2019t going to happen. We prefer to eat at local restaurants over big box if we can. You get the local flavor. In my search for another establishment I found Mel\u2019s Diner. You can\u2019t get more local than this.<\/p>\n

I had no idea Arizona was the setting of one of my favorite childhood TV shows!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_094949704\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well kiss my grits!!! They had all kinds of fun memorabilia around the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_095252697\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The order up window where you could see Mel sticking his head out to yell at the girls\u2026awe memories. I wonder if TV Land ever shows the re-runs?<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_095310336\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were plenty of photos of the gang hanging on all of the walls.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_102646662_HDR\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The food was good and we left with full bellies and a full wallet. The prices were very reasonable.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_103049630\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now we were ready for some hiking and rock pickin.<\/p>\n

Our picking site was just outside of Palo Verde, AZ. That means we were about 25 miles just outside of everywhere. That is the thing about the Midwest\u2026everything is so big it looks closer than it really is and towns just aren\u2019t close together.<\/p>\n

As we approached the picking site there was a \u201cforest\u201d of the Saguaro cacti. This is what I think of when I picture Arizona, red rock and BIG cacti.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_124509664\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The small cacti can be quite formidable too. Not going to be touching this guy.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_133249497\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We drove the Jeep as far as we could towards where John wanted to pick and then we walked.<\/p>\n

He points to a formation in the distance and says \u201cthere!\u201d I say, that is a really long way away. He says \u201cNah, it just looks that way.\u201d As we are about half way there John says \u201cWow, it is farther away than I thought.\u201d  Hmmmm. We didn\u2019t find much of anything at that spot, so we hiked to a different one.<\/p>\n

We sat down to rest at the new site and to survey the area. John looked around and said \u201cI want to go over there.\u201d I told him, \u201cGo ahead, I\u2019ll wait here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take a look at the upper right hand corner rock formation. Doesn\u2019t look that far does it?<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151107_134356275\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Look again, same place and you should see John. He is thinking he looks all badass and stuff right about now. The bigness of everything is deceiving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How about that Saguaro cactus in the picture. It doesn\u2019t look big, or far away, but these things are HUGE! See the bird nest in this one?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are just puny human\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had a really great day, and eventually found some cool rocks John wants to turn into bottle stoppers. It was nice to be out hiking around in our favorite state so far, other than our home state of PA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John and his crew have been working hard this week and earned themselves some extra time off. What is the first thing John wants to do? Go rockhounding. First order of business, breakfast! Matt\u2019s Big Breakfast was first on my list, but when we got there, people were lined up around the corner, yeah this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[215,1033,565,111,981],"class_list":["post-6298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-arizona","tag-mels-diner","tag-palo-verde","tag-rockhounding","tag-sightseeing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_20151107_094949704_thumb.jpg?fit=579%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3hvz5-1DA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7318,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/7318","url_meta":{"origin":6298,"position":0},"title":"So Long Arizona…Until Next Year","author":"Wendy","date":"June 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Our friends have traveled on to complete their journeys, and we are back in Cottonwood, AZ where we will be until John\u2019s next BSC job(the flight-simulator-relocation job) or the heat drives us North. 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With support and encouragement from me and some new found friends here in Deming, NM, John has found a new pass-time \u2013 rockhounding. Rockhounding is more than just collecting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/johnRGM.jpg?fit=576%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/johnRGM.jpg?fit=576%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/johnRGM.jpg?fit=576%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3561,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/3561","url_meta":{"origin":6298,"position":2},"title":"Rockhound Sunday","author":"Wendy","date":"March 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"John and I love to hunt for agate rocks because they are so pretty. Today we went to Brown Springs about 18 miles down a dirt road outside of Camp Verde. Rockhounding for us isn\u2019t just about the rocks, it is about getting out and exploring and enjoying nature. At\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2375.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2375.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2375.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2375.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6868,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/6868","url_meta":{"origin":6298,"position":3},"title":"Oatman AZ","author":"Wendy","date":"February 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is our first full day in Bullhead City. Part of our reason for coming here is to hunt for fire agate. The other is to visit the Grand Canyon. Turns out the only way to get to the Canyon from here is through Indian land, and the reviews of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSCN0997_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C323&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSCN0997_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C323&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSCN0997_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C323&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6730,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/6730","url_meta":{"origin":6298,"position":4},"title":"Rockhounding","author":"Wendy","date":"January 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"After a week of perusing the rock show, RV show, and swap meet everyone is ready for some quiet activity. A rockhounding adventure sounds good to everyone. Those of you who know John understand the the kind of adventures he gets us into. Sue and Phil, not so much. 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