What I did on my mud season holiday...

As I said, we ran away to the desert last week to get away from what we in the mountains get to experience when things start to melt, "mud season." I won't bore you with all the fine tune details, but will share some of the highs and lows and some photos of the BEST hike I have had in quite a long time.

High's & Lows:
1. I ran my hand into a rather large cactus in the middle of the night, which left it swollen and feeling like I had arthritis...my eyesight is actually quite good?;
2. Shamus got to visit with grade school friends he hasn't seen for a couple of years;
3. Natty yarfed up a owl pellet the size of a Nerf football of grass (she's not much of a car rider...we got two anti-dogs on this front);

4. Saw our first two rattlesnakes (I believe to be Western Diamondback) sunning themselves on a dirt road...SO COOL;
5. Drove through my first dust storm on the Navajo Res;
6. After driving through the aforementioned dust storm, got pulled over in a Safeway parking lot for accidentally cutting off a cop (I am actually quite a cautious driver, call it tired and hungry driving). I think he thought I was drunk, but I explained we'd be driving all day and were just trying to get some food before every place closed for the night. The whole time Bombadil is trying to jump over the seat and out the window to lick him, cripes. He checks my license as his lights are all on, flashing and then another cop pulls in...double cripes. Then he brings back my license and says to be careful and have a nice night, which Shamus is grumbling about still to this moment that he SO would've gotten a ticket...quack, quack, quack. Thank goodness the nice police officer didn't notice that neither of our side view mirrors are operable...phew!;
7. Only one Bombadil poop-scapade in the old jeeper, which was about an hour from home;

8. I saw my first saguaro cacti and some of them were blooming, absolutely AMAZING;

9. Wildflowers and cactus flowers everywhere, wonderful to immerse ourselves in color for a bit; and
10. Met a lovely fellow one of our nights camping that told us about a trail to get up to some cliff dwelling ruins in a canyon right above our campsite in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness in Arizona. So, we woke up early the next morning and this is what we found on the roughly 7 mile hike on an undeveloped trail:

The view up the canyon from our campsite

The view across the box canyon at one of the cliff dwelling ruins

These were everywhere and I believe that they are a type of agave, which die once they have flowered

One of the floors still perfectly intact of what we think may have been an oven

One of the petroglyphs, which is now hard to decipher because of all the graffiti absolutely disgusting that someone could deface such a beautiful thing

I haven't had time to look this one up, but it was a cool little flower

Shamus & I passing under the waterfall to get to the other side of the canyon...I know so cool, right!

My new favorite photo of the Fat Man, Bombadil.

The only second story left of many buildings. It just boggles the mind though.

Song of the day - Blend Crafters ~ Lola

Blend Crafters = DJ Nu Mark & Pomo...sweeeet

Peace...