Our last dance lessons in Show Low

We joined some of the new friends we've met at White Mountain Square Dance Hall on Wednesday and Friday for our last opportunity for dance lessons...

On Wednesday, we learned Foxtrot in the Ballroom class (link to video of what we learned: https://youtu.be/teXcIkUKNX4)...

... and on Friday, we continued with our instruction in the Progressive Two Step in the Country-Western class. (link to video of what we learned: https://youtu.be/fe08r1Js9yA)

Note that we don't look like the instructors when we dance -- no fault of theirs! 

We told our instructors and the president of the square dance club that their presence here in Show Low added so much to our enjoyment of being here this summer. We are sad that we are leaving and won't be able to participate any more...

Thai lunch with friends

We are down to our last few days in Show Low, so we arranged to get together for lunch with ham radio friends on Friday.

We had met up with them a few weeks ago with food from the Thai food truck in town. We suggested that we again get food from the food truck ...

... so we picked up lunch at the food truck...

Carl and I both got Pad Thai Chicken, mine with no spice, and Carl's had 2* spice. When we had gotten meals a few weeks ago at this food truck, Carl initially ordered 3* spice (they go up to 5*) but the proprietor talked him down to 2*, and Carl found that was fine for his taste.

Tom and Chere invited us all to come to their home and hosted our lunch in the pavilion within their community. We enjoyed our last get-together in Show Low with Tom and Chere, Nick and Jeanne. We know that we'll be getting together with them again when we all get back to Mesa in the fall. 

Flags in Show Low

For patriotic holidays, Show Low has a number of places around town where there are massive flag displays...

This is at one of the major corners that we go through frequently...

... flags on both sides of the roadway.

We had thought that we might go to the Fourth of July parade, but we ended up wimping out and did not see it. Evidently it is a classic small town parade and folks who went enjoyed it greatly!

Line Dancing at White Mountain Square Dance Hall

I have thoroughly enjoyed beginner line dance classes at White Mountain Square Dance Hall on Monday mornings during our stay this season in Show Low. This is the same dance hall where we've been taking ballroom and country/western dance lessons (on Wednesday and Friday nights respectively).

Ruth, the lady in black at the center front of the room, is the instructor. She is very methodical and precise, which I found to be just ideal for my learning style!

While there is line dance instruction at our park, and I have attended their sessions, the teaching styles were not what I prefer. They would more often show the dance (to remind the students of something they already knew) and anyone who didn't know it just needed to pick it up by watching. That is definitely not my preferred way of learning! Oh well, some of the dances that they taught here at the park were ones I already knew, so I could at least enjoy them.

Return to Show Low

On the last morning...

There were a couple of roadrunners in the parking lot of our hotel...

We didn't see any coyotes or boxes from Acme Explosives.

We stopped by the AirBnB house to see family one last time. Joan and family had a long drive (12+ hours) so had already left, and Scott and family had a 7+ hour drive to their overnight stop so we waved as they left at the same time we arrived. We helped clear out food from the pantry and refrigerator and bid goodbye to Steve and family, Kim and family, and Pamela (who had also come over to help with final clearing out).

On our way back, the GPS gave an option of different routes, so we decided to get off the interstate for much of the drive. We took I-40 almost to Grants, NM, and then headed south. 

This route took us through El Malpais National Monument -- a beautiful drive! Unfortunately, we didn't think to take any pictures! The road went between mountains on one side (right side of the route in the picture), and lava fields on the other (dark patches on the left side of the route). (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Albuquerque,+New+Mexico/Quemado,+New+Mexico+87829/Show+Low,+Arizona/@34.9023283,-108.121473,93055m/)

We tried to get a picture of the "Welcome to Arizona" sign on US60 as we were driving, but it came up too quickly and was too small -- so instead we got a picture on the GPS screen!

We got back to the rig safe and sound and enjoyed relaxing and recovering from a great trip!

Visit to Petroglyph National Monument

Petroglyph National Monument was not far away from the house in Albuquerque where the family was staying, so on the last day, while many of the guys went out to Top Golf and many of the ladies went shopping, Carl and I decided to visit...

We drove to the visitor center...

The signboard there told us that there was nothing to see at the visitor center, but there was a container with maps...

aka: "If you came here to see something, there is nothing to see!"

We decided that Boca Negra Canyon had trails that we might be interested in viewing and we picked up an info flyer with a map.

We drove a couple of miles to Boca Negra Canyon ...

Carl had determined that the Macaw Trail would be good to try -- it was quite short.

I guess that's a Macaw!

A paddle?

There was another slightly longer trail near the Macaw Trail so we decided to do it too.

We read in another place that it was not appropriate to ask what the meanings of the petroglyphs were... but since the information sign said that they might be "marking trade routes... or communicating to others using imagery", we decided to make up our own meanings...

"Lots of bugs here"

"A guy with a plume on his hat and another one with an interesting nose are following a star"

"Target store, this exit!"

"A place to sit" ?a restroom here? feel free to recline?

"Baker ahead" (looks like a baker's hat to me)

"M&M man!" 

It was quite warm (we should have visited early in the morning, instead it was around 11am) but we appreciated that there were a couple of short paths we could explore. 

Day 4 Albuquerque Family Reunion

Last full day of Williams Family Reunion, 2026 edition.

The "Cousin Crew" teeshirts had been handed out and the cousins posed for pictures.

Lining up in age order, or by height, were both attempted, but without success. They did end up with siblings next to each other.

Youngest grand Addi had been jealously watching her older cousins playing pool, so when they were out for a while, she took advantage of using the pool table...

... she had her own unique style of getting the balls into the pockets -- consisting of dragging the cue along the table and moving the balls around.

Considering that she couldn't really even see the top of the table, she did a credible job!