Getting out and about...............

Tom is doing really great, and we are beginning to get out and about here in the Phoenix area. There are still a few limitations for him in his healing process, but we can live with it! (Did I mention how lucky we are?!)

My very good friend Helen has a sister and brother-in-law that have sold their house and are on the road for a bit as well. After exchanging emails for the past few months, we were so happy to meet up with Betty and Darwin here in Arizona at their campsite at Lake Pleasant Regional Park, another wonderful Maricopa County Park. They are so nice and so much fun!

After being in the desert for a few months, it was really a sight for sore eyes to see a large body of water. A popular boating haven, there are also miles of hiking trails within the park. We are hoping to come back and explore in a couple of weeks. For more information on Lake Pleasant, click here.

We spent a lovely afternoon visiting with our new friends, and hope to meet up with them again somewhere in this beautiful country. What a great site they had!! We were so jealous.  It was peaceful, in a beautiful location, and had great views right from the campsite. As a bonus, about 6 hot air balloons took off from across the way in the late afternoon, and we watched right from their site. Magical!

Tom and Darwin exploring

not many boats out mid-week

Enjoying the lake view

Tom, Betty, Darwin

Tom, Sue, Darwin

beautiful lake in the middle of the desert!

good times at the campsite

enjoying the afternoon

see the balloons?

On another field trip last week, we visited the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. For more information, click here. Even though its early in the season, we saw lots of flowers and noted some of the cactus plants have started to blossom already too. The gardens were exquisitely taken care of. There were many other visitors the day we went; according to TripAdvisor, its one of the most popular "places to see in Plhoenix". It is a perfect place to go if you are in the area but have not explored the desert at all.  It is also a cultural center, offering concerts, and classes such as photography. HHmmm. Maybe I should check that out!

Desert Botanical Garden

ready for a fun day

bright lime green glass art!

lots of blooms on the cacti

getting ready to bloom

very nicely landscaped

lots of different "loops" to explore

checking out the wildflower trail

gotta love nature...check out this flowering stalk

heavy with buds

There were so many flowers blooming, and I had my camera handy so you know what that means.....lots of flower pictures to enjoy. Some of them were so complex....really. Check some of these out. They are all just beautiful. 

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One of the nicest trees in the desert is the manzanita tree, which provides quite a bit of shade as it spreads out. There were a few in this desert botanical garden, and some of them had benches or places to sit and relax in the shade. Of course, there were also lots of cacti...some we had never seen before. Pictures will tell the tale.

giant manzanita tree

lots of huge cacti here

isn't that just so cool looking?

lots of different cacti here

hmm...where does this go? I think you'll like the shade garden Susie!

Lots of the cacti were either blooming or budding...getting ready to bloom soon. Some of the flowers were just gorgeous. Nature's art. The desert is quite beautiful and if you look hard enough, you can see some amazing things.

up close and personal

love these prickly pears

organ pipe cactus

beautiful flower....unexpected!

unexpected flowers! 

all of the cacti flower in different ways

more flowers above

just beautiful

this was interesting

interesting....prickly pear growing on the saguaro

Again, we were pleasantly surprised to see the cacti blooming already. We didn't expect that until another month or so. What a treat! 

such a pretty pop of color in the desert!

really nice!

another shot

organ pipes

really enjoying this botanical garden excursion!

early blooms

It takes a few hours to explore the botanical gardens. There are several different sections that highlight different plants. One area depicted ideas for home landscaping, and small vegetable gardens, and had some great ideas for outdoor living. I personally loved the water feature. Haha.

pretty! Great colors!

this cactus looks like a snake!

what time is it Tom? (use the sundial, not your phone)

hey, this garden looks better than mine ever did in NJ!

really nice water feature

ouch

love the manzanita trees!

these cacti are way taller than you Tom!

Some of the blooms on the cacti were interesting! You never know what you will see. All of it was just beautiful. The spots of color really stand out.

buds where you least expect to see them

cool!

color is so striking

pretty pretty pretty

eeks....that cactus really does look like a snake

this one is different again

pretty

prickly pear buds

We really enjoyed looking at all the cacti here in the botanical garden. Have a look. Some were new to us...like the hairy cactus. 

the desert

plane coming from Sky Harbor

that's pretty hairy

almost looks like fur

such fun checking out the cacti

We spotted some wildlife while visiting the park too. The bees, lizard and the quail were quite a surprise! Especially the bees at the water fountain. Haha!

lizard

I'll skip on the water...thank you

a male and female quail

One section of the Botanical Gardens depicted some of the housing used to survive in the desert using the plants available. I always find that so interesting. Not sure how any of it would hold up in a windstorm! 

aahh...here is some shade

interesting to see how the desert dwellers lived (I'm so impressed! This is one harsh environment!)

very cool in here

really good protection from the sun and heat

this little squirrel in the tree startled us! Can you see it? Its in the middle of the photo

cooling off under the trees! Loved this section of the park

still in the "shaded" area of the park

that's a pretty big "house"

really cool in here...the shade makes a huge difference

checking out another relaxing shady spot

You can see that most of the park is landscaped exquisitely. I'm sure the locals get many great ideas for landscaping their homes. We had fun just walking through and enjoying the views.

so pretty

great spots of color here in this area

cacti are really interesting!