Scenic Sunday

A little oasis in the desert just north of Kanab, Utah on highway 89.

To see more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.

Spring In The Desert

We have been taking walks in the desert for the last few days in the afternoon. There are lots of flowers bloomin out there, but most of them are so tiny you have to have your eyes wide open to see them. That's my shoe in the first pic so I would have some reference to how tiny these flowers are. I have no idea what any of these are, just wanted to share their loveliness.




These yellow ones have "hairs" sticking out all over. Very fuzzy flowers.


These are my favorites. The orange can be seen quite a ways away. The leaves are large and sort of velvety.


I think this one may be lupine. Purple spikes sticking up from green foliage.


When you look out across the desert, you can't really see many flowers. It really does take looking closer to see them.


These white flowers were mixed in with some dead twigs.


I didn't have anything to put in this picture to show how little these flowers are. The whole plant was maybe two inches tall. And my camera doesn't photograph purple accurately so you really can't tell how pretty these are.


I had to get down on the ground to take this picture. These white one are one of my favorites. And so little tiny!


I think these were the smallest ones we saw. I put my water bottle on the ground next to them just to show how low to the ground the plant was.


The showy desert poppy! There are lots of these blooming right now.


The beauty has been out here a long time.

It Must Be A Sign

On my walk today, I saw lots of signs. This one told me the road ahead would be rough. I didn't care because I was walking. And I had good shoes.


I didn't know there was rabbits out here! But apparently there are, because he left his tracks behind:




Here a sign that there a LOT of water here just a little while ago:


This sign cracks me up:


Because this is McVay Road:


And this is 61st Street:


And then I saw a sign that it was getting late, and I had to hurry home to make dinner:

A Walk In The Desert

I was restless today, after having done little but sit or sleep for the past week. We had both been sick again, just a general "blah" feeling and no energy. Our trip to Parker yesterday included a visit to the pharmacist at CVS, who suggested some Claritin and a cool mist vaporizer. She explained that even though we had spent the spring, summer, and fall here in Arizona, we were still in a very dry climate, with winter being the driest. Some allergies are aggravted by the dry climate.

We brought the vaporizer home and plugged it in. It brought the humidity in the trailer up from around 26% to 51%, and we are both feeling much better. That lady really knew what she was talking about.

So, in the afternoon, I set out for a walk in the desert. Like most people, I always thought there was not much life going on in the desert. But I found lots of animal tracks, and other evidence that they had been there. The plants are turning green quickly from the little bit of rain we got this week.

I walked out about a 1/4 of a mile off the road. This picture was looking to the northeast of the campground:


This one is looking west:


I walked back over to the dirt road that goes past the campground, and walked about 1/4 of a mile to the south. There was a smaller, narrower dirt road that went off to the west, so I took that one for a way:



There were lots of animal tracks here, probably cows and javelinas. I found some seashells in a wash area, and a pretty rock, and brought them home to examine more closely.


It was getting late when I got home, so I made some dinner. Actually, I heated up leftover eggplant parmesean. After dinner, I went outside again, to get some shots of the sunset. I never get tired of seeing it:




It was a grand end to a great day:

Going To Parker Arizona

We had some business to take care of today so we had to drive over to Parker. It's about a 50 mile drive so it took most of the day. It was overcast, threatening to rain. The countryside in the desert looks like they already had some rain as everything is getting green.



Here you can see the rain over there. Since it's mostly flat out here, you can see the rain for a long time before it gets to where you are.

I love this photo, it shows how flat and straight the road is, with the mountains in the distance.


We took a wrong turn and wound up over by the Colorado River. This is the railroad bridge. It looks rusted, and still has wooden trestles.


Another shot of the railroad bridge over the Colorado River.



Isn't this beautiful? That's California on the other side of the river. The palm trees were huge here.



We had some lunch here. I had a combo with a taco, an enchilada, rice, and beans. FabGrandpa got the fish tacos. No beer, though, just diet cokes.


Then we went across the street to this little place. I got some garlic stuffed olives and some of the freshest pistachios I have ever had.


They also had these, but I didn't get any of them:


And on the way home, we finally did get into some of that rain. It didn't last long.

Sunset In The Desert

Leaving Phoenix

So we said goodbye to Phoenix and all her traffic, and hit the road on our way to Salome. Yeah, bye bye, traffic. Bye bye, road construction. Bye bye, airport landing pattern. Bye bye, motorcycle repair school and all those crotch rocket riding fools. We're headed for the desert.



I have had enough of the congestion, road work, noise, and airplanes flying so low overhead I could read the letters on their landing gear.




Our little Bluebird Of Happiness rides with us everywhere we go. I don't remember how ong we've had him, but he lives up there on the visor most of the time. Although sometimes he shows up on the rearview mirror, or inside the trailer. He is most happy when we are driving down the road.

There was interesting scenery today. This mountain was on one side of the road.

Highway 60 out of Wickenburg was very straight and flat.

This is what the desert looks like across the road from the RV park. I think it is quite beautiful in its own way. I'm sure not everyone thinks so, but I like it.
And at the end of the day, the sky was absolutely gorgeous. This is looking east from our campsite. Not exotic, but nice. Quiet. And they told us not to drink the water when we checked in. Oh, well, can't have everything, I guess.

Project 365 Day 34

This was my desert today. Sometimes simple is just better...

Who Says It Never Rains In The Desert?

On the road to St. George, Utah from North Rim, Arizona on Sunday, July 20, 2008.