Christmas Hike

Greg and I have a tradition of opening gifts on Christmas EVE 

and then going for a hike on Christmas Day.

I prepared some tasty chalupas (x2!) in the crock-pots

before we left.  Spoiler: they weren't done in time,

so we are eating them tonight instead!

Look at the pretty spices!

Then we headed out in GREG'S BRAND NEW TRUCK!

It's a beautiful sparkling white Ram 1500.

It's FUN to ride in.

 

I wore my t-shirt that has Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation

that says, "Make it snow," which is a play on his catch phrase, "Make it so."

He's wearing a Santa hat.  

It was chilly and cloudy.

No drones.

We took the Moonlight trail to the San Tan trail to the Goldmine trail.

I'd guess it was about three miles, but I can't read the numbers on the peach part

of the trail.

From time to time we got raindrops - hooray! 

Dead Cholla are one of my favorite things to photograph.

Their bones are delicate and pretty.

I was practicing taking photos with my new phone 

(the close-up images are great!)

SEE?!

This is "bone" from a dead cholla ("CHOY-uh").

They are lacy and beautiful.

Dead Saguaros are pretty, too. 

Hiking (= walking in the desert) is the perfect thing to do together

because it's gently active and yet we can do techie things

(cameras, fun things with photos, etc.)

Here's some more up-close photography - of SPIKES!

And Cholla chain-berries.

These types of Cholla have a pretty ombre effect.

Here are some more spikes to NOT TOUCH.

I found a huge boulder that looked like a dinosaur egg.

Greg found some creosote.

The creosote bushes had little fluffy balls on them!

 

I don't know what this weird plant was.

This little guy had spikes longer than his whole body!

This stick had great patterns on it.

It was a chilly day!!!

Here I'm taking pictures of the mistletoe in that tree!

It looks like this.

It is a parasite.

The mist drifted in, and it was wet and chilly!

It made me happy!

Water was dripping off Greg's hood.

Eventually, it started raining harder.

IT WAS WONDERFUL!

I love the rain.  It makes me feel relaxed and refreshed,

especially when it's chilly!

We got pretty damp!

I liked this decorated cactus at the ranger station.

And then we were back at the truck!

On the way home, we saw a train going over a bridge and

it was prettier than normal because of the rain.

We came home and snuggled!

Juvy:

Allistair:

I hope your Christmas was just as wonderful as ours!