April, time to leave Mesa

Hi everyone,
We have had a wonderful winter this year, I know most of you can't say that.  I can't begin to cover everything that has been happening or how wonderful the weather really was.  We got so busy with learning A-2 Square Dancing that we didn't do any updates all winter and only did a few days of geocaching.

We did have a wonderful surprise in January, Ginger and Kim showed up on our doorstep a couple days before my birthday.  We had a wonderful time, visited the Queen Creek Olive Mill where we even got to see the olives growing on the trees.   I didn't take any photos, the girls were taking them with their phones and I just forgot. 

One day we visited the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, below are some of the unusual cactus that we saw there. 

Some were really unusual, don't know the name.

This one looked like an owl.

Eloise decided to take a ride on the gila monster.

It is always surprising to see water in the middle of the desert.

We thought this was interesting, I missed taking a photo of the sign telling about it.

You can read the statistics on the sign, pretty impressive, old Mr. Big.

This is a map of the trails, enjoyed our hike a lot, Gary pooped out on us and took a nap I think.

We visited McDowell Mountain Regional Park to do some geocaching and hiking.  It was a little less than a 5 mile hike but I think everyone was glad when it was over.  Founds lots of geocaches along the way so that breaks it up a little and makes it seem shorter, thank goodness it was a loop trail.

I know you can't see much detail but this was the vista we saw on the trail

Here you can see the citrus groves in the lower part of the view.  I think beyond them must have been nut trees

This is an unusual form on the Saguaro, the ranger told us some statistics, my memory isn't what it used to be, seems like it was one in a 1,000, I assume it is like a burl on a tree.  We have photographed one near Benson in the past but I think that was before we started the blog.  

 The morning of my birthday was the day the girls were scheduled to return home.  We went out to breakfast and we took these snaps.  Thought you might enjoy seeing them too.  Below, Gary and I are at the other side of the table.  We had a great breakfast but while there, Kim learned her flight had been cancelled.  Ginger's went out as planned, then we returned home for a while.  Kim couldn't get a confirmed flight for several days but we returned to the airport that evening and waited in the cell lot to make sure she got on the flight as a standby.  All went well and she arrived home in the wee hours of the morning. 

A

Kim got to pick oranges.  After we dropped Ginger at the airport we stopped by our friends house.  They actually live in Council Bluffs but winter here.  They have been supplying us with oranges all winter.  Thanks Don & Betty!











These are taken from our site in Mesa, just thought you might enjoy seeing some of our sunsets.

Our neighbor had this wonderful little cactus, one morning it had a couple of blooms, the next day several more and soon it looked like this.  I tried to catch the bee in the close up but he wouldn't stay still long enough.  Spring must be over though, all the blooms are gone now. 

 We will be leaving for Benson in just 5 days, where did the winter go?  We will try to keep you better informed but time flies when you are having fun!!!!!