Golden Friends

    Last week we had a special treat when Ohio friends Larry & Connie came to visit us for a few days.   Larry had been a chemistry major with Kent.  He retired earlier this year, and they were planning a trip to the national parks to celebrate.    Unfortunately the government shut down ruined their park trip.  
      They decided to come west anyway since we had been planning this long overdue visit for months.  We were glad they did.  It was great to see them again.   We picked up the friendship as if it had only been a few months, not 30+ years, since we had been together.   Golden friends are like that.
     We took them to the Desert Botanical Gardens, one of my favorite places in Phoenix.   They had never seen so many cacti.   I remember thinking that, too, the first time I visited there.    

 

     We had lunch on the patio at Gertrudes at the Desert Botanical Gardens.   Yummy as always. 

     The butterfly pavilion was filled with Monarchs, too.

 

      Another day we went hiking in the White Tanks.   This county park doesn't compare to a national park, but it is beautiful in its own desert way.   Unfortunately there weren't any plants in bloom this time of year.   

    

 

We took the Black Loop trail, an easy and popular trail.   

 

      They visited other great Arizona sites--Sedona, Jerome, Tombstone--and we had lots of grilling out on the patio time.   We've already made plans to visit their lake house in Ohio.  

      And we're not going to wait 30 years to do it!

    

White Tanks Park Continues Its Show

Three weeks ago we went to the White Tanks and took photos of the wildflowers. Today Kent and I went out again. The Brittlebush was spectacular. The hillsides are awash with their yellow flowers. Kent took this photo of the saguaro surrounded by them.

The cactus in the center is a type of cholla. They look soft and harmless--but they´re not!

We saw four lizards today. This was one of the bigger ones. When we were here 3 weeks ago, we didn´t see any. They have come out around our house, too. They dart from shrub to shrub, taking care to not be too easy of a target for the Roadrunners and other large birds that eat them.

This is a hedgehog cactus. Beautiful!

For some reason Blogger didn´t want to upload more than 4 pictures today. I have lots more--but I will have to save the others for the next time.