My Brother in law, Jeff, and sister in law, Laura came for a little visit in mid March, so we got to play tourists for a bit :-) The longest of our touring days began with a drive to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest and finished at a really fancy Italian restaraunt is Sedona. In between those, we did a lot of riding in the car, short hikes through the park, and we stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.
This is the painted Desert, at the north end of the National Park. I think there are a couple trails that will lead you down, but we stayed on the rim that day. The weather was perfect for hiking. Not too hot in the sun. There was NO shade.
The boys were not into hiking, so they waited in the car. The paths were short, and the car was visible almost the whole way.
I had always pictured the Petrified Forest as a forest with petrified wood laying under the all the evergreens. HA, was I wrong! Petrified wood and cool rock formations fill the Petrified Forest. Not a tree in sight. I am so bad at absorbing geologic info, but basically the forest was formed 250 million years ago, when the forest ws turned into a lake or ocean. The combination of water, pressure and various minerals actually transformed the wood into stone. Many of the logs have been revealed by wind over time, but many are still buried in the Park, and surrounding areas. i have a good rock hunting book with some spots to dig...
As wew were returning from this mile hike, we noticied a ranger's car near the minivan. As we got closer, we realized ther ranger was talking to the boy, who had waited in the car. I'm imagining I'm gonna get a bad parent ticke for abandonment or something, but it turned out she was very interested in all the rocks she saw in the back on my car! The boys had opened the tailgate, so she could see right in. Max said she came over and started asking all kinds of questions about where the rocks came from..."Ohh, that one looks cool, can i see it?" Things of that nature. TOO funny! I knew better than to take any rocks from a National Park, especially that one. We all got a good laugh about that one, and bought some rocks at the gift shop on the way out...
Pretty colors!! After coming out of the park, near Holbrook, AZ, there was a HUGE rock shop, the best ever, with tons of petrified wood. Big pieces!! We will have to find one or two for the garden...
These rock formations are called teepees, and the different colors are different types of minerals, including hematite, iron, and some other stuff I can't remember.
Every time I see this, i get the song in my head. Winslow, AZ is on historic Route 66, and i'm sure before Interstate 40 barrelled through, was a booming town. Pretty dead looking town. A couple souvenier shops on this corner, and that was about it. Pretty depressing. The state prison is nearby, so I'm guessing that's what the major employer in the area. There was a coal fired power plant too.
It was a long, fun, andventure filled day!!!
The two chicks are California Leghorns, and will be white with black spots. At $1.50 each, we couldn't help but get two!
Daisy the duck is very cute, and likes to snuggle.
I think the three of them will be great friends. They were out of ducklings at the feed store, so we might have to go back on Friday....
Max and his two friends slept on it the first night :-) Doug slept over at a friends house.
That is a guilty look if I ever saw one :-)
I'm not sure she likes to eat them, just play with them. I saw her come out from under the couch with a grape in her mouth after this. When they were gone, she grabbed the stem out of the garbage...Never a dull moment :-)
Last fall, we had put some landscaping fabric over all the evil grass that had sprouted out of control around the pool. I finally broke down and sprayed it Round up. So much for the organic certification, but I'm not growing any food there...
The guy at the AZ Botanical Gardens and landscaping center sold me some jeweled aloe, an agave that doesn't get super big, couple of native yuccas, anda bushy palm of some sort. Minimal watering and partial shade....
If this Palm thrives, it should cover this whole area... We think it's a HUGE improvement. I might have to give that evil grass another dose of Round Up, but i guess I can live with that.
Doug had spit his pants earlier in the day, but that did not stop him from stacking rocks, and throwing rocks into the creek. i couldn't take enough butt pictures ;-)
The water was not as cold as i thought it would be, but i did not swim :-)
The rope swing attracts fanilies from all over the place. The visiting boys will have a good story to tell about the boy on the swing with his butt hanging out of his pants!
It is rumored that only on the Equinoxes, you can stand eggs up on their ends, so this is how we celebrate the longer days. Happy Spring!
This is the painted Desert, at the north end of the National Park. I think there are a couple trails that will lead you down, but we stayed on the rim that day. The weather was perfect for hiking. Not too hot in the sun. There was NO shade.
The boys were not into hiking, so they waited in the car. The paths were short, and the car was visible almost the whole way.
I had always pictured the Petrified Forest as a forest with petrified wood laying under the all the evergreens. HA, was I wrong! Petrified wood and cool rock formations fill the Petrified Forest. Not a tree in sight. I am so bad at absorbing geologic info, but basically the forest was formed 250 million years ago, when the forest ws turned into a lake or ocean. The combination of water, pressure and various minerals actually transformed the wood into stone. Many of the logs have been revealed by wind over time, but many are still buried in the Park, and surrounding areas. i have a good rock hunting book with some spots to dig...
As wew were returning from this mile hike, we noticied a ranger's car near the minivan. As we got closer, we realized ther ranger was talking to the boy, who had waited in the car. I'm imagining I'm gonna get a bad parent ticke for abandonment or something, but it turned out she was very interested in all the rocks she saw in the back on my car! The boys had opened the tailgate, so she could see right in. Max said she came over and started asking all kinds of questions about where the rocks came from..."Ohh, that one looks cool, can i see it?" Things of that nature. TOO funny! I knew better than to take any rocks from a National Park, especially that one. We all got a good laugh about that one, and bought some rocks at the gift shop on the way out...
These rock formations are called teepees, and the different colors are different types of minerals, including hematite, iron, and some other stuff I can't remember.
Every time I see this, i get the song in my head. Winslow, AZ is on historic Route 66, and i'm sure before Interstate 40 barrelled through, was a booming town. Pretty dead looking town. A couple souvenier shops on this corner, and that was about it. Pretty depressing. The state prison is nearby, so I'm guessing that's what the major employer in the area. There was a coal fired power plant too.
I don't know the names of these little flowering plants, i will have to look them up. The pink flower is about a quarter inch in diameter. Those are the big ones! The little heart shaped leaves to the right of the flower are cute too. The macro lens really allows one to see things in a whole different way. There is a whole forest growing in a square foot of land.
The little white flowers are downright teeny, but a little taller. The stems get to be about 6" tall.
The yellow ones are teeny too, but show up nicely even when you're just walking by. If I had it, i could really spend a lot of time getting up close and personal with the lawn, and other little worlds around here.
Our plum tree in bloom. No plums last year, so hopefully it will be prolific this season.
Took the boys rock hunting at the old salt mine over the weekend. I got a rock hounding book, and this spot is supposed to be a good one for some various minerals. I am so not a geologist, but like to collect the cool looking specimens :-)
The boys had fun with the shovel and picks. 
We found a bunch of cool crystals. they were hard in the soft salty powder, and had to be dug out. When we got home and washed them, we realized they were salt crystals! LOL The boys were a little disappointed. They had high hopes of selling all the stuff on Ebay. Plenty more opps for riches in the future :-)
