WINDY Hike

Greg and I were excited to get to hike with Mark & Jillian,

my great brother and his wonderful wife!

The morning started out interestingly with my smoothie spilling all over the dishwasher and the floor!

I did a good job cleaning it up - with Greg's help!

We decided on hiking the Treasure trail at Lost Dutchman State Park.

It was uncommonly chilly and extremely windy!

Cloudy, too!

Here's Jillian and my thumb.

Mark had difficulty blowing his nose in the crazy wind.

The tissue kept blowing away from his nose!

That's where we parked - waaaay down there!

Intrepid adventurers: 

I have a great-looking family!

Once we got up to a certain point on this trail, the "trail" ends and we clambered around

enjoying the environment. 

The view is gorgeous.

Mark protected Jillian from this huge threatening rock!

There's Greg! 

Mark likes to hide in caves.

Even tiny little holes that masquerade as caves. 

   

We started climbing up a bit farther.

Can you see Greg?

Mark and Jillian snapped some selfies.

Mark did a smile like his sweet little girl Esme, who

does crazy smiles.

Mark's selfie stick is very helpful!

He was doing the crazy Esme smile again.  Ha!

Then we found a REAL cave!!!

LOOK AT THAT VIEW!!!!

It was still very chilly and very very windy even inside the cave!

We found a flat area with a big stone pile (what reason does this pile serve?)

There's a famous rock formation, Praying Hands.

There's Greg!

Mark and Jillian and I climbed up a little higher to have nice rocks to sit on for our lunch.

I threw the gloves down to Mark and the wind made them flutter like falling leaves.

I was continually amazed and awed by the views.  Even the clouds 

were especially wonderful.

It was very chilly!  Looked like maybe even chillier than 50 degrees.

I was happy I had brought my hat - and an extra for Jillian!

I gave my gloves to Mark. I'm glad I was prepared because we needed

all the cold-weather gear. 

Eventually I tied the hat strings under my chin to keep it from blowing off!

There were a few cairns along the path,

which was funny because the main path is pretty obvious.

We decided to start down.

You can see the wind and how fast the clouds were moving

(watch their shadows on the ground!)

I LOVE this one because Mark wanders off to the side, picks up a rock, and throws it . . . 

then he calmly continues on with the rest of us.  

I think he's cool.

Mark decided to add to this cairn.

I like to take pictures of cairns (little stacks of rocks that indicate where the trail is).

Mark also decided to roll this rock down a hill.

"Yo!"

This saguaro appears to have been struck by lighting!

You can see his bones!!! 

My hair was a bit crazy after being under that hat and being windblown.

It was a pain to brush through it at the end of the day!

It was a wonderful day!

Thanks, Mark & Jillian, for spending the day with us!
We miss you already!

xo