How was your weekend?

I hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend!  We sure did!  We decided to head to Arizona for a long weekend of camping and visiting with our daughter who moved there last year for grad school.

We packed our camping trailer and brought our furry kiddos with us for a weekend of fun!

Salsa always loves to go bye-bye!  And, she loves her boots!  They protect her feet from hot pavement and keep stickers from getting stuck in the fur and between her toes.  That makes it so we don't have to spend long amounts of time picking stickers out with tweezers!  We've done that!  It's not fun for her or us!  Here she is happily resting by the trailer after a walk...with her boots on.  Such a cutie!

Our daughter spent the entire weekend with us camping.  We loved that!  And, so did Salsa!  She's always happy to have everyone together.  And, she cherishes every bit of time and attention she gets with our daughter.  Just look at that smile...

Our cat, Penelope, is becoming a great traveler!  I'm so proud of her!  And, she loved the warm weather on this trip.  She's so often cold.  So, this trip was great for her.  It was for us too.  It's been a bit chilly at home.  Especially for my hubby who works down by the beach where it's been cold, damp, and gray.  It was great to thaw out!

The campground was surprisingly uncrowded for a holiday weekend.  That was nice!  It was quiet and made it better for seeing wildlife.  And, we saw a lot of wildlife this weekend!  One of the first things we noticed when we got there was hundreds of tiny Arizona Round Tailed Ground Squirrels!  They were everywhere!  They're super tiny...about the size of a little chipmunk.  They're really cute!

We saw a couple of coyotes and we heard packs of them every night.

We were hoping to see Javelina and we were lucky to see two of them on an evening bike ride.  Unfortunately, they ran away so fast that I didn't get any pictures.  We didn't see any more of them the rest of the weekend.  But, we did hear them at night a couple of times.

We saw a mountain lion one evening.  At least, that's what it looked like.  And, the rangers said one had been spotted and reported the week before.  It was crouching down in the grasses a couple hundred feet from the road.  I only had my cell phone with me for pictures.  I snapped a couple and tried zooming in for a better look.  The pics were super blurry but the coloring and ears looked like it was a mountain lion rather than a bobcat.  I've never seen one before and figured I never would.  So, this was a little exciting.  It was a little scary.  And, it was also a little sad because being that close to people is unusual and could mean something is wrong with it or it could end up needing to be moved or something if it keeps going that close.  I'm hoping for the best...that this was just unusual and that it will stay away from now on.

There were a lot of birds....Roadrunners, doves, bright red birds, tiny birds....and lots of pretty singing.  There were lots of quail too.  They're SO plump compared to the ones near our home.  We saw this one watching out for his flock in the riverbed.  It's a little blurry because he was far away.

As always, I was on the lookout for wildflowers.  I found some beauties!  Check out the blooms on this cactus.  Gorgeous!

There were lots of these on big bushes/trees...

The weather was quite warm in the afternoons.  But, the early mornings were nice and cool and we made sure to get out to enjoy it.  We went on a couple of bike rides along part of "The Loop".  It's a series of connecting bike paths along riverbeds and roads that run through and around Tucson.  It's very impressive!  I love riding and walking on The Loop because there are no cars and the views and wildlife are a lot of fun to see along the way.  The Loop is very popular and busy.  I wish we had such a thing where we live!  This is my daughter riding onto one of the bridges that crosses over the river...

There was a little surprise along the portion of The Loop that we rode on....a little labyrinth.  Of course, we had to walk it both days that we rode by.

Our daughter has gotten into archery and had just gotten a new bow.  We went with her to a range to see her shoot.  We also tried shooting.  It's surprisingly different than my husband and I ever would have imagined!  It takes a lot of strength and it's quite complicated!  Hubby loved it.  I'm not sure yet if I like it or not.  Here's hubby shooting alongside our daughter.  I love this picture!

We ate at camp most of the time.  But, we did go out a couple of times for lunch.  We tried a new-to-us restaurant one day.  It had great reviews and their website sounded like it was great.  We drove up and it looked like a dive!  But, it's popular and we couldn't even get a parking spot the first time we tried to go there.  The next day, we went right after they opened and had no trouble getting a parking spot.  It was very good!  It's called Tacos Y Tequila.  And, that's just about all they sell is tacos and drinks.  The tacos are interesting, unique, and delicious!  Their house margaritas were quite good too!

We enjoyed lots of relaxing, reading, knitting, and, most of all, being together!  It was such an awesome weekend!

Observation Point

We had a big hike planned for the very last day of our Spring Break trip to Zion National Park.

We were heading up to Observation Point which is located at the end of the main canyon of the park and has spectacular views.  The hike is eight miles round trip with over 2000 feet of elevation gain.  It's recommended to plan on five to six hours or more to complete it.  We got everything ready the night before and left early Friday morning to get a parking spot at the bottom and get started.

The temps were in the low thirties that morning and it was a sunny, beautiful day.

The hike started out with steep switchbacks up the side of the cliff.  Then, all of a sudden the trail took a turn into an amazing canyon.  This is a lower portion of Echo Canyon.  It's a popular canyoneering canyon.  People hike up to a section of it and rappel down steep sections and swim through others.  It's the swimming part that may keep me from doing this one.  Some of the water is mucky from sitting in holes for long periods of time.  Ewww!  Plus, I get cold easy and a nervous when I can't touch or see the bottom.  That's my husband standing on the edge and looking down.

For this hike, we were just passing by Echo on our way to the top.

A little further up and the trail went under an overhang and along the

edge above Echo Canyon.  The drop at the right goes into Echo...

This is looking back into that overhanging area.

Hubby's taking a photo of our daughter...

Here's that same section.  The crack on the left looks down into Echo...

You can see some water way down at the bottom...

This is that same section later in the day with a glow from the sun...

The colors in some of the rocks was incredible.

Some even had interesting patterns...

This one looks like someone painted it...

We saw sections of rock that day that were vibrant yellow/gold

(much more intense than how it looks in the picture).

This rock had red/orange, yellow, white and black.  So cool!

The trail was steep a lot of the way and parts of it required

courage and mental focus to keep from freaking out!

Check out the sheer cliff drop off!

Our daughter is very afraid of heights.  So this was a big accomplishment for her.  She kept focused and moving forward...sometimes with tears in her eyes.  But, she wanted to do it and did!  Yay!  

We stuck by her for reassurance and encouragement.

I did pretty well most of the time.  Although, there was a few minutes near the top when my mind wandered into the zone of, "oh my gosh, that drops straight to the bottom....keep going, keep going!"  I just had to sit down in place for a moment to pull my mind back so I could get up and keep going.

Luckily, the amazing scenery, colors, and pretty flowers were a nice distraction.

Many of them were growing out of the side of the rock cliffs.  The red on these is so pretty!

This little bush was growing out of a rock wall.

It had itsy bitsy, teenie, tiny berries or buds on it.

I wish I could have gotten a better photo of the color combo in this purple flower plant.

The leaves were a bluish green and I thought the combination was unique and interesting.

I kept thinking of a friend who dyes yarn and how she might find it interesting too.

I wonder how that color combination would look on yarn?  Hmmm?

There weren't a lot of flowers in the park yet or on this trail.

So, the few we saw were a treat.  Here are some cute little pink ones...

The start of the the trail is near Weeping Rock.  It's an area where water seeps from the rocks year around.  The water and shade in that area provide the perfect conditions for different varieties of

 moss, tiny plants, and lichen to grow.  They were delicate, pretty and interesting.

The top of the trail was a mesa and the soil was an intense and beautiful orange color.

The views were spectacular from the top!

That's Zion Canyon!

Gorgeous!

We probably would have sat there for quite a while but there was a little problem.

A bunch of these little guys were running around everyone, trying to find food, and 

even getting on people.  Kind of scary!  I wouldn't want to get bit!

The one next to me (in white) jumped on the guy near

me (in blue) and nibbled on his hand! Yikes!

Speaking of critters, look what we saw on the drive into the canyon that morning.

It was a huge Tom turkey.  He was not happy that the cars were driving by him and his "girls".

He was fluffed up, making weird noises and threatening the cars.  He was huge and a little scary.

We took this photo from the car window!  Check out the brilliant blue on his head.

Here's one of his "girls" crossing the road...

The hike to Observation Point was amazing!  It was mentally and physically challenging but worth every step and every bit of fear we overcame.  And, we're really glad we got to do it.  Soon after we got home, my husband read that they're planning to close it for maintenance. So, we did it just in time.

Hiking Devil's Slide

When my husband arrived home from work last Thursday evening, he asked if I'd like to go for a hike or something on Friday. He had a rare day of no meetings and thought it would be a great opportunity to take a day off and spend time together. What a sweetie! And, what a great thing for him to have a day off!

The weather finally started cooling down last week which made hiking a comfortable possibility. We quickly decided on a trail in the San Jacinto Mountains near Idyllwild, called, "Devil's Slide". We got up early Friday morning, had a good breakfast, loaded our day packs and drove up the mountain.  We made a stop at the Idyllwild ranger station for a permit for that trail and a wilderness parking pass.

It was a beautiful day!  The sky was blue with some desert clouds building in the distance.  I think the temperature was in the 70's to low 80's.  The humidity made it seem warmer, especially in the sun, but after the heat we've had the past few weeks, it was really nice!

There were interesting and beautiful things to see right from the start of the trail.

Check out this twisty tree.  I wonder what makes some trees do this?

Here's the whole tree.  It's dead but still standing strong and beautiful.

We saw another one later that day...

 Gorgeous blue sky!  And, more dead trees...but...the color and texture is beautiful!

So are the lines and shapes.  Strong and pretty!

This one looks like a dragon.  Click on it to make it larger and check out the scary looking head!

Little babies...trees of the future.

Hubby found a ring of bark on the trail, cleared out the center, and put it on my wrist.  A bracelet!
It was strong enough that it stayed on all day and didn't break when I took it off.  

The trail was two and a half miles long with 1700 feet of elevation gain.  It was a very good workout!

The terrain varied from smooth dirt, roots, rocks, steep drop-offs along the side,

and a couple of muddy sections.

There were a few sections that leveled out...slightly.  But, most of the trip up was just that, UP.

Lots of climbing!  There were some switchback sections that climbed pretty quickly.

At one point, we looked down and saw four sections below us.  I couldn't get a good

picture though because of all the trees.  But, here are two shots of some of them.

The steep climb made for a quickly changing view when we looked down the mountain and into the distance.  We started below the level of "Suicide Rock" (on the right side of the photo) but quickly climbed to a point that it was straight across from us.

And, in a very short time, we were above it and much farther away.  There was a marine layer over the valley that was slowly burning off and, even farther away, we could see clouds over the ocean.  What an incredible view it must be on a crystal clear day!

There aren't many flowers right now.  But, I did spot a few...like some Indian Paintbrush...

Some teeny, tiny flowers...

I think this might be Buck Brush...

Ranger's Buttons!  So cute!

We saw a few berries.  I think this is a Gooseberry.  Wicked!  Even the stems!  Hubby lifted a leaf out of the way so I could take a photo and it pierced his finger.  Ouch!

The above photo and the one below are from the same bush.  I love the colors in the one below.

More thorns!

We saw lots of lizards darting around and jumping from rock to rock.

Some were laying around, enjoying the sunshine.  They even posed for pictures!

So cute!

Now, I have more photos to use for sculpting lizards in my ceramics class.

Hubby is taking the class with me this semester.  :-)

We kept seeing tiny fur balls darting across the trail so fast that we couldn't get a good look at them.

We assumed they were chipmunks but weren't sure until this one actually sat still for a moment.

There were busy gray squirrels too.  Some of them had huge, fluffy tails.

I wasn't able to get any pictures of them.  But, I got a picture of this skinnier tailed squirrel
running around.  They all seemed quite busy getting ready for winter.

After a couple hours of hiking, we made it to the saddle junction.  I think the elevation is about 8,000 feet at this point.  There are lots of signs and trails that take off from this point.  Including, a trail that leads to Tahquitz Peak...the peak we went to last year but from a different side.

Even the famous Pacific Crest Trail runs through here.  A 2,663 mile trail that runs through the Cascade, Sierra, and other mountain ranges from the border of Canada to the border of Mexico.

At the saddle, we noticed strange things growing on the trunks of some trees.

Weird!  Creepy!

And, really big!

I also spotted this yellow growth.  The color is pretty but I wasn't about to touch it.  Eeeew!

From the saddle, we decided to follow one of the trails for a while and see where it lead.

The terrain started changing from mostly brown to partly green.

And, all of a sudden, we were surrounded by green fern.

The farther we walked, the greener it became and the fern got taller and taller.

It went from a few inches tall at the beginning to hip high further down the trail.

The clouds were getting bigger and gently drifting in front of the sun, giving us periods of shade.

It was gorgeous and magical up there.  I had no idea we'd find anything like this when we reached the saddle.  It was worth every steep step and all the heavy breathing and sweat!

We even came across a wet, boggy area.  I wonder if it's always there or if it was from the recent monsoon storms?  Either way, it's pretty cool and provides much needed water for the wildlife.

As we hiked back down, the clouds got thicker and darker but

we never heard any rumbling and they didn't seem to get any bigger or closer.

After our hike, we headed into the town of Idyllwild for a bite to eat.  We wanted to try a new place and decided on "Restaurant Gastronome".  They had outdoor seating under the pines with a terrific view of the mountain we had just climbed.  I had a delicious sandwich made with tender chicken on a soft, fluffy thin bread (I can't remember what they called it) with lettuce, tomato, purple onion and a yummy raspberry sauce.  Hubby had a delicious barbecue chicken wrap.  And, we had some ice cold beer.  The weather was wonderful, the food was delicious, and the company...there are no words to describe how wonderful he is!  I'm a very lucky girl!  Thanks, hubby, for a wonderful day!