Road Trip!
Today we finally had some sun after 3 very rainy days.  Unfortunate for Kylie to come when the weather was rainy so we decided to use those as our shopping days.  Today it warmed up to 16 and not a drop of rain so we took a road trip to Quartzsite.  It is a small town of about 2000 people but they have an RV and rock and gem/mineral shows in January and February.   There are RV's everywhere and as well as the rocks and gems there are tons of flea market stalls.

We saw these little guys all perched out in the sun on the way to Quartzsite.

 The rocks were beautiful, some of them were larger than a basketball even.

 Some weren't even rocks, this was "dino poop"  there was also dino bones and various teeth and claws and what not.

 These lacy rocks were so beautiful.  Kylie bought a slice of mookaite which she is hoping to try cabbing with.

 One vendor was selling rows and rows of pretty dishes.  They were all in color coordinated order and were very appealing to us!

Ohhh I love tiger eye and petrified wood the best

 Check out the close up picture following this one, this creature was made up of all kinds of spare parts including a toenail clipper.

These huge rocks were just beautiful.

Yum, hotdogs smothered with onion and peppers with a root beer float.  Most of the food groups covered there - cept for chocolate!

Seriously - LOL

There were rows and rows of vendors and motorhomes for sale.  On the way back to Mesa we stopped in to visit with a lady that Kylie works with.  Her and her husband live in Buckeye and have a very nice house there.  They also gave Kylie pointers on another outlet mall.  They live on Dove Trail.  There are various juts out on this street just like we have in Saskatoon, such as Dove Cove, Dove Road etc.  Except on this street they have the same number on Dove Cove as they do on Dove Trail  ie: 251 Dove Cove, and 251 Dove Trail.  Lets just say luckily the wrong house we knocked at first had no one at home.

 Two little cuties at the flea market!

This is my birthday pizzookie.  Kylie took us out for a fantastic meal at BJ's Brew House.
Off to bed early, we have a full day planned in Phoenix tomorrow.  All you hockey fans watch for us in the crowd as we watch Edmonton Oilers game tomorrow night.

Wonderful Weather!
Since my last blog we have just been enjoying the lovely 80 degree weather and wandering on some well known bird areas as well as enjoying the company of our neighbors.
I have been to the pools in the afternoon and it has just been fantastic! Today it  is still warm but started out with rain and was cloudy.  Was hoping the weather would stay nice and hot for when Kylie joins us but it looks like a few rainy/cloudy days are in store.  Look out malls, here we come!

Don't ask my why but I just had to take a picture of these donuts.  They are labelled "kids donuts" but they sure got my attention!

 The following pictures are ones we took from the Gilbert's Riparian Preserve.  This is another area that they made using "reclaimed" grey water.  I have no idea why there was a chicken walking around there??

 Don't look now but we are being watched.

 It was absolutely beautiful at this park.
http://phoenix.about.com/od/gardensandzoos/ss/riparian_10.htm

 turtles, doing what turtles love to do

 These are the cutest little ducks.  There were a number of ducks that I could not identify.  Need to take the bird book next time

These were the prettiest little flowers, maybe some kind of hollyhock (pretty sure my sister Tami will know)













We went to a local pub called "Fat Willies" with some new friends Larry and Suze from Colorado. On Tuesdays they have a 5.00 burger special and it was super delicious.  The next night we went out with Mona and Jerry our neighbors across the street to "Charleston's".  I had a chicken picata with a ton of veggies and it was so good!
http://charlestons.ehsrg.com/?q=menu

 this was on my walk the other day,  I was not very far at all from the gate of our park when I saw a yard with chickens

 And across the street a yard with cows and horses  - so weird

 This is one of the entrances to our park;

Just waiting at a red light - It never ceases to amaze me that there are orchards, farms, houses and shopping just all mixed in together.

 this is back at the Velda Rose area that is a power line easement .  We are going to go here lots as the season changes and the trees and cactus bloom.

 I think the bunnies eat these cactus.

 Tomorrow will be a fun day, we have a lunch thing put on by the park and then I have my bird class.  Then we will drive into Phoenix to pick up Kylie.  So excited!

Fountain Hills
Today we drove out to McDowell and Fountain Hills.  It was a beautiful day, a little breezy but warm and sunny.  I saw a female cardinal or a Phainopeplas but of course scared it away before I could get a good look.  We will go out to the McDowell Mountain Park another day for some serious cardinal lookin'.  The town of Fountain Hills is a planned community established in 1970 - prior to that the area was a cattle ranch.  The centrepiece of Fountain Hills is the beautiful fountain, one of the world's tallest man-made fountains.  It was built in 1970 by the same fellow that constructed the London Bridge in Lake Havasu.  The fountain sprays water for about 15 minutes every hour at the top of the hour.  It sprays water at a rate of 7000 gallons per minute.  Under ideal conditions the water can reach a height of 560 feet.

We arrived at 12 noon and as we read the sign it said the fountain came on at the top of the hour an runs for 15 minutes.  No water was coming out of the fountain, and as we read further on the sign it said if the wind was over 10 miles an hour it would not come on.  Seriously???  I was so disappointed.   However, the walk around the lake was no disappointment at all.  This man made lake is made out of re-claimed sewage water of some sort so there is no swimming or boating.  But a great space for a walk, the birds and family outings.

 There were a lot of coots and ducks.

 There is even a little island where the birds really love to perch.

If you look at the base of the mesquite tree in between it and the cactus you will see a heron.  With the binoculars I could see how beautiful he was, so feathery and awesome.

These are American Wigeons and they have a beautiful green stripe on their head. We also saw some mallards and Bufflehead ducks.

In behind is the area where we went for a picnic the other day at Saguaro lake.  This is such a beautiful town and the houses are extra special custom built homes.

 the houses are so pretty and unique.

The front cactus is actually this person's mailbox.  Coool

 

All around the path of this lake are beautiful sculptures.  This last one is a memorial of some sort, the names are engraved on the leaves.  These are giant wind chimes. Beautiful

 Well, would any blog be complete without a cactus lesson?  This one is a totem pole cactus.  It is smooth and has no pokey things.

 Real mature Susan!  But seriously - look how the arms sort of form, this is such smooth neat cactus.

 This one is a Senita cactus

And this is a San Pedro cactus. It blooms at night in July and the fragrant  white blooms are up to 9 inches in diameter.

And look what happened. An hour went by and the wind went down and the beautiful fountain came on for us.  YAY

While I was reading up on this town I discovered that 94 per cent of the population of approximately 22,200 are white.  86 per cent are between the ages of 18 and 65. The median income for a family is $92,000.   It certainly appears to be an affluent community.  I also noticed that there is a lot more to see  -  like a lot of artwork scattered in the community.  Apparently there are nearly 100 pieces of publicly displayed artwork throughout the downtown and at public buildings.  There is an Avenue of the Fountains which has 8 fountains.  Awwww too bad we will have to go back!