The Cholla Cactus Garden at Joshua Tree National Park. They are pretty but hazardous to touch. Keep your distance.
Joshua Tree.
Heading to Joshua Tree National Park for a couple of days. 4h 30m drive. 👍
It is amazing how long it takes to just get out of Phoenix!
Day 12 of the February Photoblogging Challenge: Sporg.
A group gathered to watch and attempt to sporg a frisbee off the roof.
It was Tyler’s birthday today and we decided to get a really cool Minecraft themed cake to celebrate. Lesley’s Creative Cakes did an amazing job on this creation!
It was a little confusing to figure out how to cut into it, but the main cube was delicious Red Velvet cake.
There was plenty of cake. Cake decorators probably know this but I was surprised that the more decorative blocks were actually Rice Krispie bars.
Most importantly Tyler loved it!
Tyler got Mario Kart Live for his birthday and we’ve already had a ton of fun playing it. We setup a couple of quick tracks and it is really fun to have a game that is played both in front of you and on the Nintendo Switch.
Day 11 of the February Photoblogging Challenge: Machine.
This new M1 MacBook Pro is an incredible machine.
Day 9 of the February Photoblogging Challenge: Mudy.
While visiting the Salt River wild horses today I noticed this horse that had been having some time in the mud recently.
Salt River Wild Horses
Today we visited Coon Bluff Recreation Area to see the Salt River wild horses. The non-profit Salt River Wild Horse Management group helps provide for these wild horses, and they are currently putting out hay for them each day. You can visit while they do this and walk among these wild horses but you need to be slow and calm, and keep your distance. The horses themselves were skirmishing a bit. It gets your attention when twenty horses start stirring and running around you. I brought the good camera with a long lens to catch some photos of these beautiful horses.
Day 8 of the February Photoblogging Challenge: Hope.
This is the first Saguaro cactus flower, arriving over a month early, showing hope for another spring.
Saguaro National Park
We visited Saguaro National Park today. We didn’t have a ton of time so we only (and accidentally actually) went to the East park. We did a quick hike but it was our second hike of the day so we didn’t go too far. It looked like an incredible set of trails for hiking and the loop road was very popular with cyclists.
Sabino Canyon
We visited the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area today on our day trip to Tucson. We took the shuttle to the top of the trail and then made our way down stopping at several locations. It was a very pretty walk and fun to see the spring creek with running water down the canyon. We had to cross it barefoot and the water was very cold!
Driving to Tucson for the day and introducing the kids to some country music with Hank Williams Sr., Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and even The Cactus Blossoms. Tyler declared it “not modern” and I fully agreed. 😊🎶
Day 6 of the February Photoblogging Challenge: Sport.
Wasn’t a lot of “sport” options today but Tyler likes to wear Bayern gear nearly everyday. ⚽️
Boyce Thompson Arboretum
We visited the Boyce Thompson Arboretum today and had a great time walking the loop around the arboretum. On the way back we went up on the hillside and hiked on the upper trail. It was a gorgeous visit with an incredible variety of things to see.
Great Coffee at Pair Cupworks
I had a great start to the day with a visit to Pair Cupworks this morning. I had a top notch cappuccino followed by a cup of Costa Rica pour over. The brown sugar and plum flavors in the pour over were great.
I left with some Guatemalan coffee by Adrián Hernández from La Galera Farm in the village of La Pinada, Guatemala as well as Ethiopian coffee from the Mijane Family and the Halo Hartume Station.
I spent an hour chatting with the owner Kimhak En who runs the business with his wife Eugenia Tai. He was very nice and had a ton to share on great coffee shops around the country, different techniques and equipment, and their journey starting their own shop.
Today I learned that these cactus are incredibly sharp. The needles will go right through light hiking shoes. Ouch. They are very pretty though, particularly when the sun lights them up. ☀️🌵🥾
We had a nice hike on Lost Dog Wash trail today. 3.3 miles. Took multiple wrong or missed turns though. 😬🥾
