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...except when I finally go to visit. Having flown there with my hubby to surprise his brother on his 50th birthday (April 2), we walk out of the airport to find the temperature in the 60's (°F) and a heavy slanting rain. Hot. Yup. Dry. Yuh huh. Waiting until the slant changed from a 30° angle to more or less straight down, we acquired our rental car (which was upgraded to 'luxury' at no extra cost primarily because (I think) the person assigning the cars didn't want to go out in the rain to see what was available in the class we'd contracted) and headed up to the restaurant. We were early, so we were able to make sure things were set up the way his wife wanted it for the dinner. He was, upon arrival, suitably surprised. So, enough about why the Arizona trip happened...on to the stuff we did.
Saturday, we slept in (yay) and then went to do a little sightseeing with the in-laws, heading up toward the mountains (which are right behind their housing development) ending up at the Pinacle Peak Trading Post where they have "the saguaro" with which everyone who visits must have their picture taken. The first thing one couldn't help noticing was that April is a good time of year to visit the Phoenix area. Incredibly beautiful color, so many plants in bloom then. One of my favorite parts was the lovely old clock tower and the very intriguingly crafted spiral stair that led up to it.
Sunday morning, we got up early to join more of the in-laws for a visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale. Again, perfect time of the year to see it, with so many of the cacti, succulents and other plants blooming. The morning light was amazing, and allowed even a casual photographer such as myself to get some very beautiful shots. I think my favorites though were the 'cactus personality ones, such as "Bad Hair Day", "Me! Me! Pick me!", "Cactus Handstand", "Hi, Mom!!" and "No-o-o-o!! Let me go!!". [grin]
We didn't get to finish wandering about all the gardens because I had a lunch date with a couple of ATPoBtVS-AtS Discussion Board posters,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soulfulspike80 and cactuswatcher. We met up at Barnes & Noble (at the Buffy section, of course) then walked over to Uncle Sam's for pizza and conversation. (And Thanks, again, to CW for treating).
Monday started off with an early morning drive to Spur Cross Ranch, north of Cave Creek, passing through the town of Carefree on the way. Spur Cross Ranch is located in the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. At the stables there's a donkey, a miniature donkey, three pygmy goats (one kid) and two pigs. The 1-1/2 hour morning ride wound up into the Mazatazal Mountains. At one point the trail (which often consisted of a foot-wide rocky rut) was relatively close to Cave Creek, and some construction work. My horse, Handsome, shied a little when we first heard the loud noises of The Evil Horse-Eating Machine (aka 'backhoe'), until he was able to finally see it. I hope the quality of the photos can be forgiven; it merely reflects the quality of the photographic technique that I used. (Assuming 'technique' can be applied to a process of "point camera to right, click, point camera to left, click, drop camera to use both hands on the reins, repeat"). If the house here looks familiar it was used in the movie "Flirting With Disaster" with Alan Alda and Ben Stiller. Once again, wonderful time of year for the flora of the Sonoran Desert.
Since we hadn't managed to finish wandering on Sunday, we revisited the Desert Botanical Garden after working out the kinks from the ride. It was simply amazing the difference a single day made in terms of the amount of blooming flora—that and the difference between morning and afternoon. Again, the sheer beauty of the blossoms was given counterpoint by the cactus personalities with "Cactus Power!", "Ta Da!!", "Need a Hand?" and "Take a Bow". Not only was the flora spectacular, but the fauna had to get in on the act as well, with hummingbirds, cactus wrens, chipmunks, various lizards and, of course, the ever-hysterical California quail.
Tuesday was spent at The Heard Museum which has been described as "the nation's most prestigious private Indian arts center." (USA Today) The exhibitions present Native American culture and art, not only from the past but also from current artists and artisans. The photos here are but a very small representation of the exhibits, and I apologize for the quality as my li'l camera lacked the filters needed to effectively capture exhibits under glass. The entirety of the arts collection, though, and the exhibits in the education center are well worth the time.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent at The Poisoned Pen a bookshop that specializes in (surprise!) mystery books. And no, I was, as usual, not immune to the lure of the pen. After that we just did some drive-around sightseeing, including Old Town Scottsdale and the freeway retention wall art, known as The Path Most Traveled along the Pima freeway. One of my favorites is a distinctly non-intuitive feature along that wall which features a figurative "handshake" as the road passes from city lands to Indian lands.
Tuesday eveing was spent helping in the acquisition of a big screen TV, since we had been upgraded to a minivan and therefore had the ability to transport it home, although not with all of us in it at the same time. So my sister-in-law and I were forced to endure the hardships of waiting in Borders for the guys to return for us. [Homer Simpson voice] Mmmmmm...bookstores. [/end voice]
Wednesday was another fairly early start for a drive up to the Grand Canyon. Having prepared for the Arizona weather that we'd always been warned about we were, to say the least, not precisely unprepared for the snow, sleet and hail that greeted us on our arrival. Yeah, I know... mountains. Higher elevations. Yuh huh. As my husband drove around the completely packed parking lot near the hotel (we stayed on Park grounds) I went in and did the pre-registration (all the paperwork except receiving the room key) and then went through the gift shop procuring longs sleeve T's and warm sweatshirts to layer with them. Fortunately, the interesting precipitation didn't last too long and we headed out to see the canyon. Because it was already late afternoon, we headed out to Yavapai Point as a starting place before going on to Pima Point to watch the sundown. May I just say (using a very over-worked yet quite descriptive word), "Wow."
Thursday we took advantage of the shuttle bus to spend some time at each of the stopping points along the South Rim. As the day wore on, one of the most amazing things was simply the light. Ever-changing, different depending on which direction you were looking, sometimes differing in the same spot over a period of just minutes. Distances were both vast and yet surprisingly deceptive. At an elevation of over 7,000 feet, looking down at the Colorado River which is at only about 1,000 feet, it seemed incredible that it was really 6,000 feet down. Being able to look across the canyon and literally see weather patterns, clear, cloudy, raining, moving...not just a single system, but multiple ones. As we went through the different stops (South Kaibab Trail Head, Yaki Point, Pipe Creek Vista, Hermit's Rest Transfer, Trailview Overlook, Maricopa Point, Powell Point, Hopi Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss and Hermit's Rest) We could watch a storm system making its way toward us, and yet were unaffected by it until we were on the way back to the hotel to pick up the car. The subtle colors, the sheer vastness and deepness of the canyon, the odd thoughts that amused me were all necessary to take my mind off one very specific thing. I'm not afraid of heights, but the fear of falling thing is pretty darned strong. And there weren't always handy railings to give a person that false sense of confidence (three rails don't really stop you from slipping through should you be foolish enough to fall in just the right way which I'm not going to do even though it would be really easy but I won't, no sir, not me). So... let's go back to the awesome vistas and colors and changing light and canyon walls dotted with trees. Which made them look somewhat in need of a shave. For some reason I was rather taken by the gnarly trees way up there, and by some of the rather interesting configurations they could get into. Like this coyote, the hatching dragon. Personally, I'm quite proud of myself for being able to get to a place where I could take the photos I've linked to here. Lucky for us we headed home as it started to rain, and as it was close to sundown we wouldn't be missing another sunset.
Friday we had another trail ride, this time in the late morning. Instead of heading up into the mountains, this one headed out into the Spur Cross Conservation Area and then on into the Tonto National Forest. Interesting how different the two rides were, this one having a much more regularly travelled trail, shared with other riders and hikers. We did encounter a couple of diamondback rattlesnakes which spiced things up. The first one was lying under an ironwood tree at the side of the road, so all we needed to do was keep to the other side. Our guide waited, though, until a hiking family got close enough to be warned. He was telling us that the rattler generally has a fairly wide area to himself when he stopped us again because of a second diamondback that was stretched partway across the road. To move it, he dismounted and tossed small rocks in its direction to convince it that 'elsewhere' would be a better place to be. It was just off the road when we rode past. I think I like them better under glass. The rest of the ride was much less eventful. I did learn that horses don't really like crossing creeks and need a fair amount of nudging. There were a lot more plants in bloom this time as well, with another four days to develop and being a little later in the day as well. At the end of this 2-1/2 hour ride I was finding just how thankful I was for the riding lessons I had a couple years ago. Knowing how to sit on the saddle goes a long way to saving the butt.
Just to assure that sleeping late wasn't going to be something we did on this trip, we went to the Phoenix Zoo on Saturday. I've found lately that I'm just as likely to take photos of the surrounding habitats, especially plants in bloom, as I am to take photos of the animals themselves. Something that's carried over to trips to the Columbus Zoo as well. I think my favorite setup was seeing the porcupine high up in a tree in the eagle and vulture area, and how he held quite still when the eagle flew up and perched about 2 feet away. He might not really have anything to be afraid of, but I suppose it could still be a bit awkward to have to roll up when perched on a tree branch. However my favorite animal there was the volunteer exhibitor... the very cute and hopeful ground squirrels. And the otters. Always love the otters.
Sunday, Easter Sunday as a matter of fact, was spent in airports and on airplanes. And then for the past two weeks, I've been organizing, renaming, resizing and cropping the nearly 4,000 photos we took. Yep, there is one drawback to a digital camera.
Saturday, we slept in (yay) and then went to do a little sightseeing with the in-laws, heading up toward the mountains (which are right behind their housing development) ending up at the Pinacle Peak Trading Post where they have "the saguaro" with which everyone who visits must have their picture taken. The first thing one couldn't help noticing was that April is a good time of year to visit the Phoenix area. Incredibly beautiful color, so many plants in bloom then. One of my favorite parts was the lovely old clock tower and the very intriguingly crafted spiral stair that led up to it.
Sunday morning, we got up early to join more of the in-laws for a visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale. Again, perfect time of the year to see it, with so many of the cacti, succulents and other plants blooming. The morning light was amazing, and allowed even a casual photographer such as myself to get some very beautiful shots. I think my favorites though were the 'cactus personality ones, such as "Bad Hair Day", "Me! Me! Pick me!", "Cactus Handstand", "Hi, Mom!!" and "No-o-o-o!! Let me go!!". [grin]
We didn't get to finish wandering about all the gardens because I had a lunch date with a couple of ATPoBtVS-AtS Discussion Board posters,
soulfulspike80 and cactuswatcher. We met up at Barnes & Noble (at the Buffy section, of course) then walked over to Uncle Sam's for pizza and conversation. (And Thanks, again, to CW for treating).Monday started off with an early morning drive to Spur Cross Ranch, north of Cave Creek, passing through the town of Carefree on the way. Spur Cross Ranch is located in the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. At the stables there's a donkey, a miniature donkey, three pygmy goats (one kid) and two pigs. The 1-1/2 hour morning ride wound up into the Mazatazal Mountains. At one point the trail (which often consisted of a foot-wide rocky rut) was relatively close to Cave Creek, and some construction work. My horse, Handsome, shied a little when we first heard the loud noises of The Evil Horse-Eating Machine (aka 'backhoe'), until he was able to finally see it. I hope the quality of the photos can be forgiven; it merely reflects the quality of the photographic technique that I used. (Assuming 'technique' can be applied to a process of "point camera to right, click, point camera to left, click, drop camera to use both hands on the reins, repeat"). If the house here looks familiar it was used in the movie "Flirting With Disaster" with Alan Alda and Ben Stiller. Once again, wonderful time of year for the flora of the Sonoran Desert.
Since we hadn't managed to finish wandering on Sunday, we revisited the Desert Botanical Garden after working out the kinks from the ride. It was simply amazing the difference a single day made in terms of the amount of blooming flora—that and the difference between morning and afternoon. Again, the sheer beauty of the blossoms was given counterpoint by the cactus personalities with "Cactus Power!", "Ta Da!!", "Need a Hand?" and "Take a Bow". Not only was the flora spectacular, but the fauna had to get in on the act as well, with hummingbirds, cactus wrens, chipmunks, various lizards and, of course, the ever-hysterical California quail.
Tuesday was spent at The Heard Museum which has been described as "the nation's most prestigious private Indian arts center." (USA Today) The exhibitions present Native American culture and art, not only from the past but also from current artists and artisans. The photos here are but a very small representation of the exhibits, and I apologize for the quality as my li'l camera lacked the filters needed to effectively capture exhibits under glass. The entirety of the arts collection, though, and the exhibits in the education center are well worth the time.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent at The Poisoned Pen a bookshop that specializes in (surprise!) mystery books. And no, I was, as usual, not immune to the lure of the pen. After that we just did some drive-around sightseeing, including Old Town Scottsdale and the freeway retention wall art, known as The Path Most Traveled along the Pima freeway. One of my favorites is a distinctly non-intuitive feature along that wall which features a figurative "handshake" as the road passes from city lands to Indian lands.
Tuesday eveing was spent helping in the acquisition of a big screen TV, since we had been upgraded to a minivan and therefore had the ability to transport it home, although not with all of us in it at the same time. So my sister-in-law and I were forced to endure the hardships of waiting in Borders for the guys to return for us. [Homer Simpson voice] Mmmmmm...bookstores. [/end voice]
Wednesday was another fairly early start for a drive up to the Grand Canyon. Having prepared for the Arizona weather that we'd always been warned about we were, to say the least, not precisely unprepared for the snow, sleet and hail that greeted us on our arrival. Yeah, I know... mountains. Higher elevations. Yuh huh. As my husband drove around the completely packed parking lot near the hotel (we stayed on Park grounds) I went in and did the pre-registration (all the paperwork except receiving the room key) and then went through the gift shop procuring longs sleeve T's and warm sweatshirts to layer with them. Fortunately, the interesting precipitation didn't last too long and we headed out to see the canyon. Because it was already late afternoon, we headed out to Yavapai Point as a starting place before going on to Pima Point to watch the sundown. May I just say (using a very over-worked yet quite descriptive word), "Wow."
Thursday we took advantage of the shuttle bus to spend some time at each of the stopping points along the South Rim. As the day wore on, one of the most amazing things was simply the light. Ever-changing, different depending on which direction you were looking, sometimes differing in the same spot over a period of just minutes. Distances were both vast and yet surprisingly deceptive. At an elevation of over 7,000 feet, looking down at the Colorado River which is at only about 1,000 feet, it seemed incredible that it was really 6,000 feet down. Being able to look across the canyon and literally see weather patterns, clear, cloudy, raining, moving...not just a single system, but multiple ones. As we went through the different stops (South Kaibab Trail Head, Yaki Point, Pipe Creek Vista, Hermit's Rest Transfer, Trailview Overlook, Maricopa Point, Powell Point, Hopi Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss and Hermit's Rest) We could watch a storm system making its way toward us, and yet were unaffected by it until we were on the way back to the hotel to pick up the car. The subtle colors, the sheer vastness and deepness of the canyon, the odd thoughts that amused me were all necessary to take my mind off one very specific thing. I'm not afraid of heights, but the fear of falling thing is pretty darned strong. And there weren't always handy railings to give a person that false sense of confidence (three rails don't really stop you from slipping through should you be foolish enough to fall in just the right way which I'm not going to do even though it would be really easy but I won't, no sir, not me). So... let's go back to the awesome vistas and colors and changing light and canyon walls dotted with trees. Which made them look somewhat in need of a shave. For some reason I was rather taken by the gnarly trees way up there, and by some of the rather interesting configurations they could get into. Like this coyote, the hatching dragon. Personally, I'm quite proud of myself for being able to get to a place where I could take the photos I've linked to here. Lucky for us we headed home as it started to rain, and as it was close to sundown we wouldn't be missing another sunset.
Friday we had another trail ride, this time in the late morning. Instead of heading up into the mountains, this one headed out into the Spur Cross Conservation Area and then on into the Tonto National Forest. Interesting how different the two rides were, this one having a much more regularly travelled trail, shared with other riders and hikers. We did encounter a couple of diamondback rattlesnakes which spiced things up. The first one was lying under an ironwood tree at the side of the road, so all we needed to do was keep to the other side. Our guide waited, though, until a hiking family got close enough to be warned. He was telling us that the rattler generally has a fairly wide area to himself when he stopped us again because of a second diamondback that was stretched partway across the road. To move it, he dismounted and tossed small rocks in its direction to convince it that 'elsewhere' would be a better place to be. It was just off the road when we rode past. I think I like them better under glass. The rest of the ride was much less eventful. I did learn that horses don't really like crossing creeks and need a fair amount of nudging. There were a lot more plants in bloom this time as well, with another four days to develop and being a little later in the day as well. At the end of this 2-1/2 hour ride I was finding just how thankful I was for the riding lessons I had a couple years ago. Knowing how to sit on the saddle goes a long way to saving the butt.
Just to assure that sleeping late wasn't going to be something we did on this trip, we went to the Phoenix Zoo on Saturday. I've found lately that I'm just as likely to take photos of the surrounding habitats, especially plants in bloom, as I am to take photos of the animals themselves. Something that's carried over to trips to the Columbus Zoo as well. I think my favorite setup was seeing the porcupine high up in a tree in the eagle and vulture area, and how he held quite still when the eagle flew up and perched about 2 feet away. He might not really have anything to be afraid of, but I suppose it could still be a bit awkward to have to roll up when perched on a tree branch. However my favorite animal there was the volunteer exhibitor... the very cute and hopeful ground squirrels. And the otters. Always love the otters.
Sunday, Easter Sunday as a matter of fact, was spent in airports and on airplanes. And then for the past two weeks, I've been organizing, renaming, resizing and cropping the nearly 4,000 photos we took. Yep, there is one drawback to a digital camera.
