Mayer's White Cemetery

cemeteries

Sharon and I had to wait at the cemetery in Mayer for the cemetery crawl contestants to show up.  It snowed most of the time while we were there and the wind was chilly.  This is the first time taking photos of a cemetery with snow on the ground.  It was breathtaking.

Also, don't forget my RedRock Giveaway.

Trip Plans Changed

cemeteries

Mother Nature has a way of spoiling your plans.  We had all intentions to do the entire cemetery crawl but the nasty weather put a halt to our plans.  We started out at the cemetery in Mayer, AZ waiting for the three teams participating in the race to show up.  We gave them their next clues after they found the headstones they were assigned to find.  Sharon and I nearly froze our butts off because of the snow and chilly wind.  Our next stop was to be Flagstaff but the Arizona Highway Department closed I-17 which took us there and routed us through Sedona.  The only way to get to Flagstaff from there is on a small two-lane highway which winds up the mountain.  Since it was still snowing quite a bit, we decided to wait it out in Sedona until it stopped.  Well, that didn't happen, the snow kept falling.  Sharon and I ended up staying there and had to bow out of cemetery crawl.  We both love Sedona and haven't seen it in the snow.  The red rocks looked so beautiful.  We took lots of pictures of the cemetery in Mayer, the snowy red mountains in Sedona and a few other places we found on our trip back to Phoenix.  I will be posting them throughout the week.

On Tuesday, I will be posting another giveaway from the items I bought in Sedona.  Be looking for that, be sure to comment and add your name to my followers if you haven't already.  Also, I plan to have an UFO themed giveaway in May.

Another Road Trip

cemeteries

Sharon and I have packed our bags and we are on another road trip.  We are helping with the cemetery crawl and will have stories, video and photos of the trip.  Join us and all the other crazy racers at the finish line to see who the winning team is.

What's Up Next for Me?

cemeteries

Smells like a Hershey bar.

The last time I wrote a post was about the ugly mass on my face.  It turned out to be basal cell cancer.  The big “C” is a tough thing to hear you have, but if you are to get skin cancer, this is the one to get.  The basal cancer is confined to the area and doesn’t spread or attack your cells like the other types of skin cancer do.  Since this is on my face and near my nose, my doctor recommended a plastic surgeon.  I have an appointment on Friday for my consultation.  I also have another mass near my hairline and under the frames of my glasses.  I forgot to show my doctor this one because I frequently see it and it is out of sight, out of mind.  I will have the surgeon check it out and remove it as well.  I am nervous about the surgery, but just want the cancer off my face.  I will see if he can remove the bags under my eyes while he at it, lol.  I will update everyone after I talk with the doc.

On a good note, Sharon and I are taking another trip.  We wish ya’ll (I sound like my sis, lol) could come with us.  We are helping with the cemetery crawl that our friend Debe Branning puts on every year.  I haven’t done this before but have expressed interest in doing so.  We get to wait at the contestants’ first cemetery stop and make sure they find the right headstone.  After they all check in, we get to head off to Holbrook where we will be spending the night in a teepee.  Hey, if it is good enough for Oprah, it is good enough for us.  Besides, I hear there are ghost roaming around those teepees and in the city of Holbrook.  I hope they are up for making an appearance.  That would be fantastic.  The next day, we have another cemetery to wait at and then it is off to the finish line.  We plan to take lots of pictures and photos of the race and any other places we see along the way.  Look for my “Route 66” giveaway.  I will be shopping along the way to buy fun things to giveaway to all my fab followers.

At the end of April is my hubby and mine’s 30^th wedding anniversary.  We decided to take a 3 day, 3 night trip to Sedona and stay at a cottage near the river that flows through Oak Creek Canyon.  We plan to spend a day in Jerome, a night on a UFO tour, another day checking out petroglyphs and Native American ruins, shopping, and sightseeing at all the other places that this unique city has to offer.  I will be taking tons of pictures and posting about our experiences (not all the experiences, teehee).

May is going to be a big month too.  Not only is our first born grandchild going to be two, but we will be grandparents again.  My son and his wife are expecting a baby on May 6^th.  Along with my family getting larger, Sharon and I have a couple of trips planned too. 

I can’t wait…..

Fan Page on Facebook

cemeteries

Check out my fan page on facebook
and click the like button.

Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abandoned-Places/168150113232796?sk=wall

BIG NEWS!! Cemetery Crawl 6 is Coming

cemeteries

APRIL 09 & 10, 2011!!!!

WHAT IS THE CEMETERY CRAWL, YOU ASK? IT IS A UNIQUE WAY OF STUDYING SOME OF AZ'S INTERESTING & HISTORICAL CEMETERIES. YOU SEE VARIOUS SIZES & STYLES OF OLD GRAVEYARDS---- AND LEARN A LITTLE ABOUT AZ HISTORY TOO. IT IS A COMBINATION ROAD RALLY & SCAVENGER HUNT ALL IN ONE! EVER WATCH THE TV SHOW "THE AMAZING RACE"?? WELL, INSTEAD OF RACING AROUND THE WORLD AND VISITING OTHER COUNTRIES, YOU WILL BE CRAWLING AROUND AZ AND VISITING OTHER CEMETERIES!

YOU WILL RECEIVE CLUES AND DIRECTIONS THAT SEND YOU ON A 2-DAY ROAD TRIP IN A SECRET PART OF ARIZONA. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PARTICIPATE?

YOU MUST BE 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER.

ONCE AGAIN THERE WILL BE 3 PEOPLE ON A TEAM--------1 TEAM MEMBER WILL DRIVE WHILE ANOTHER TEAM MEMBER NAVIGATES. YOU CAN TAKE TURNS DRIVING AND SOLVING THE CLUE RIDDLES, LOCATING CERTAIN TOMBSTONES AND TAKING DIGITAL PICTURES------YOUR 3RD PARTNER WILL NEED A VIDEO CAMERA AND FILM MOST OF YOUR ADVENTURE--LIKE YOUR PERSONAL CAMERA MAN. AT THE END OF THE RACE, WE WILL EDIT AND PUT ALL THE PICTURES OR DVDS TOGETHER AND MAKE A SLIDE SHOW FOR ALL TO SEE!!

YOU WILL NEED A VEHICLE IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION---GOOD TIRES---REGISTRATION---INSURANCE---ETC-----YOU PAY FOR YOUR OWN GAS----SPEEDING TICKETS----AND REPAIRS

YOU WILL NEED A GOOD AZ MAP AND A KEEN SENSE OF DIRECTION.

YOU WILL NEED A DIGITAL CAMERA TO TAKE PICS OF THE TOMBSTONES ON YOUR RIDDLES LIST---(NO CELL PHONE CAMERAS PICS!) YOUR CAMERA MAN NEEDS A VIDEO CAMERA.

WE ARE ON THE ROAD FOR 2 DAYS FROM ABOUT 9AM TO ABOUT 4PM EACH DAY (NO NIGHT DRIVING)

ALL ROADS ARE ACCESSIBLE BY ANY VEHICLE. WE WILL BE TRAVELING ABOUT 175 MILES THE FIRST DAY AND 220 MILES THE SECOND DAY. WE ASK THAT YOU OBEY THE SPEED LIMIT AND ALL TRAFFIC LAWS.

YOU WILL BOOK YOUR OWN ROOMS AT OUR PIT STOP CITY WHICH WILL BE ANNOUNCED WHEN YOU REGISTER FOR THE CRAWL.

THERE WILL NO MORE THAN 10 TEAMS IN THE CRAWL..........THE CEMETERY CRAWL KEEPS YOU GUESSING EACH MILE ALONG THE HIGHWAY AND THERE IS NEVER A DULL MOMENT!

COST OF THE CRAWL?? ONLY $30 PER PERSON---THAT IS $90 FOR EACH TEAM!

FIND 3 PLAYERS FOR YOUR TEAM--A TEAM NAME--A TEAM COLOR (RETURNING TEAMS CAN KEEP PREVIOUS TEAM NAME/COLORS WHEN POSSIBLE) DESIGN YOUR OWN SHIRTS--BE CREATIVE!

WE WILL BE SUPPLYING LOTS OF WATER-----AND SNACKS---AND THERE WILL BE SOME GREAT NOVELTY PRIZES AS WELL!

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT DETOURS AND TWISTS YOU WILL FIND ON THE ROUTE!

THIS IS A FUN EVENT AND HAS BEEN VERY POPULAR FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS!!

ARE YOU GAME????? GET SIGNED UP WITH ME ASAP

IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO THE CRAWL THIS YEAR, WE WISH YOU HAPPY TRAILS ON ALL YOUR TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES!

DEBE BRANNING AND THE MVD GHOSTCHASER "CEMETERY CRAWL CREW"

Contact Debe Branning if you are interested in participating: nazanaza@aol.com

Phoenix Historic Cemetery Walk

cemeteries

(from Debe Branning)

Join us at the old Pioneer Cemetery in downtown PHX for a tour of the cemetery......costumed re enactment players tell their stories.

Read about it here! Save the date!

http://www.examiner.com/arizona-haunted-sites-in-phoenix/historic-cemetery-walk-phoenix-returns-march-20-2011

Congress Old Western Cemetery

cemeteries

Between Wickenburg and Prescott along Highway 89, is the small town of Congress, Arizona.  The town now sits as a ghost town with a few houses and a couple of cemeteries.  Sharon had already been to the Old Congress Cemetery which was a good thing because this tiny cemetery was down a winding dirt road, just past the new cemetery.  We would have missed it if she didn't know where it was located.  The place was a bit eerie, and with all the cactus surround the headstones and graves, it had a distinctive western feel to it as well.

The Morristown Cemetery

cemeteries

Roughly 50 miles northwest of Phoenix and near my home in Surprise, lies the tiny town of Morristown, AZ.  With a population of 1,400 and named after Morristown, New Jersey, the Morristown store, which was formerly the Morristown Hotel, is on the National Register of Historical Places.  The town's cemetery was our first stop on our trip to Vulture Mine and Prescott.

One Year Ghost Hunting with Autumnforest

cemeteries

Us in front of the Smurthwaite House.

In January of 2009, Mike and I erased our The Arizona Ghost Organization (TAGO) blog and created the Above the Norm blog. He and I wanted to talk about all kinds of paranormal subjects instead of just ghosts. Besides, all the others that were excited about us starting our own paranormal group changed their mines and all that was left was the two of us. It seemed silly to keep the TAGO name and that is another reason for the blog change. As the blog enters into another year of existence, it has undergone so many changes.

Sometime in the middle of 2009, Mike’s work issues were taking up much of his time so I continued with the blog on my own hoping that he would be able to do a couple of posts here and there. That didn’t happen. I kept his name on the blog until I solely took it over in 2010. I made many changes and added “Bizarre Arizona” to give it my own special touch. OK, I am getting a little ahead of myself and need to get to the “ghost hunting with Autumnforest”.

One of the many things I like about blogging is being able to write about things you love, interesting subjects, and share your thoughts with others. The other thing is the followers. You guys are gems. Since the beginning of our blogs existence, a follower named Autumnforest was seen on many of our posts making comments. She always seemed to have great insight into paranormal subjects and had a blog of her own called “Ghost Hunting Theories”. I got hooked on reading her posts; they were and still are extremely interesting. Sometime during 2009 we started emailing each other and found out that we both lived in Arizona. I knew that she had been on some ghost hunts with other people and groups. I expressed interests in going with them.

In January 2010, Sharon (who is really Autumnforest….. shhh, don’t tell anyone) invited me to a workshop at the Pioneer Cemetery in downtown Phoenix. I was very excited and really wanted to go. I was hesitant because it was located in a bad part of the city and we would be leaving at midnight. I decided to go and met Sharon there. Before this time, she introduced Dale the Doll on her blog and brought the little beast with her. I got there before her and waited in the parking lot until she arrived. Shortly afterwards, she pulled up next to my car and inside was Dale seat belted next to her. We finally met in person (that included Dale too) and from the get go, it was like we had been friends for a long time.

We met up with Debe, the leader of the workshop, along with about 30 other paranormal enthusiasts. She took us on a quick tour of the cemetery while a bum walked down the street next to us talking to himself in a loud voice. Before the workshop began, we each had garbage bags to clean up the cemetery as part of the deal for letting us ghost hunt there until midnight. During that time, we talked about everything and got to know more stuff about each other. Later, she showed me how to use divining rods and EMF device. After the EVP sessions with just ourselves and then later with the group, it was time to leave. Unfortunately, Sharon’s battery was dead and she had to get a jump (no dirty minds here, lol). That workshop was the beginning of the many trips and projects that we would end up doing in 2010.

Sharon, or Autumnforest, had become one of my dearest friends and has given me so much confidence in myself to do anything. I never thought that I would have been coauthoring a few books with her, attempting to write one of my own, or getting interested in photography again. Here I am, and it is 2011 and that is exactly what I am doing. Thank you my little sis for taking this unsure dreamer on the best adventures and bringing out the most intimate parts in me. Love Ya!

the Smurthwaite House

the workshop group

me meeting Dale

the Lost Dutchman

the cemetery crypt

Dale ghost hunting with us

picking up trash around the Pioneer Cemetery