Vacation Day Hike

Greg had a day off a while back and we decided to go for a hike.

It was on President's Day, so a Monday, and usually Mondays

are my REST BIG TIME days because Sundays are so busy and tiring

(physically and emotionally).

We slept in and had a slow morning, but a little before lunchtime, I decided

I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to be OUTSIDE!

We went to San Tan Mountains Regional Park,

which is closer than any other hiking area.

It's not my favorite because civilization is so near,

but that's what makes it accessible!

I found a creosote bush right off the bat.

Because of the rain we've had, the desert smells were extra nice,

and creosote is at the top of the list of nice desert smells.

Pretty little flowers, too!

We were happy to be out in the sunshine.

We took the San Tan trail for 45 minutes, ate lunch on a bench we found,

then turned around and came back.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but my ankle
isn't healing the way we expected, so I still am being cautious
with it.  In addition, my opposite foot has been painful, too.
I'll be having an MRI on both feet (!!!) soon
to see if there is anything leftover in there that didn't get addressed and to see if there's any
additional treatment that might fix me all up.

This means that we try to get out without being out too long.


This saguaro died.
They have skeletons and their bones are beautiful and delicate.

This must be a zombie tree!

We did not take the Hedgehog trail
and I don't believe any hedgehogs live in Arizona.

This curved bill thrasher (sitting on the cholla near the middle of the photo)
was singing happily.  They are very cheerful birds.

Here's another saguaro skeleton.

What a beautiful view!

Here's some mistletoe.  It's a parasite.

Little wildflowers are starting to bloom.

And it looks as if the ocotillo are already finished blooming.

When they're in bloom, their tips are bright orange.

You can see here that their flowers have all fallen off.

Here's a lupin.

This cactus had odd rows of spikes coming to a V.

Google Photos made this funny animation for me
of some of the selfies I took on the hike.
The background moves instead of my head!

Here's the bench we found at the top of one hill.

We decided it was a good place for our lunch.

I felt happy and a little silly.

We saw a cute long-tailed lizard wandering along as we were eating.
He's on top of that biggish rock.

There's his long tail!

These two cacti are like Greg and me:

living life together.

It was warm.
My thermometer (in the sun) said around 85.

By the entrance to the hiking area

was a bowl near a spigot to give dogs water.

In the bottom of the bowl, it said,

"empty water for bees".

Bees are smart and they gather around water in the desert

(we all do!)

It was a lovely day and the sunshine did us a world of good.

See you next time, desert wilderness!