Wildflower Search Resumed

We're back in Tucson after a great trip once again to Indio.  Had great weather there except for two days where the wind blew and it was cold.  Arrived in Tucson just in time to experience the great weather here.  It's been in the 80s and just beautiful spring weather. So I have resumed my search for wildflowers.

Thursday I packed up the camera and headed out to discover the Esperero Trail located in Sabino Canyon. This is a new trail for me and it turned out to be an excellent choice.

The trail meandered along hillsides with a gentle up and down in the beginning, then got steeper the farther along I went.

You never know who you might meet along the trail.

The bees provided a constant buzzing song as I hiked.

I have never seen this flower before so am unable to identify it for you. Would appreciate a comment from someone who does know the name to this flower.  I only saw 2 in my trek. It was quite unusual.

I hiked up to a 3100' elevation point (from 2700' elevation at the parking lot, so not too bad of a climb). The further I went up the mountain the flowers disappeared. So I stopped and took a few pictures of the view then headed back down to find more flowers. 

See the area of green in the middle of the picture below? That was my next destination.

Found more flowers along the way.

With the warm weather over the past weeks, a good majority of the flowers have already dried up, but did find a few Mexican Poppys left along the trail.

Here is the green along the Sabino Creek that I showed earlier that looked so far away.

Just a shot heading back to the parking lot and my vehicle to rest my hot, tired feet.

This coming Sunday and Monday the forecast is for rain, so if we get enough the wildflowers might extend a couple more weeks. I hope so. This quest for wildflowers is quite enjoyable.

Plans Change

I've had a bit of a schedule change from my searching the Tucson area for wildflowers to hopping in the RV heading back over to Indio last Thursday. On the trip over we unfortunately got behind a cement truck that didn't clean out his shoot very well and dropped some cement which ended up on the front of the motorhome. Then a truck went by in the opposite direction and flew up a rock which chipped our windshield.  Luckily the chip didn't spread out and we had it repaired on Friday, so hopefully it will not spread and cause us to replace the windshield.  (We've already replaced the windshield once back in 2009, it's not an easy task and costs over $2000, which the insurance covers, but still I don't want to turn in another claim.) The motorhome got washed on Monday and all the cement came off with no major damage done.

Since we have been here, we are back on our usual routine of morning walk, afternoon golf, evening boat ride and then relax on the patio watching basketball.  We have been up to the restaurant two times and plan again for Prime Rib night Wednesday.

As you can see the Canadian Geese are still here, I caught one here moving from one side of the lake to the other.

 Below is a little friend we met along the path as we went for a 3 mile hike with a 425' elevation change at the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mtn Visitor Center. 

 As you can see the area is quite desolate and a true desert, not like the Sonoran desert around Tucson. This picture show some of the path we climbed up to the top.

Then came along this energetic soul - mountain biked up to the top and went around two times that we saw. 

There we quite a few cute little cholla's along the way. 

Just another view from the path. 

After our hike we drove about 10 miles more up the mountain to find a place to have a picnic lunch.  We pulled over at a vista point and hunkered down behind a rock to block the wind and had our sandwiches.   We are now back at the RV, the wind blowing so much that the RV is rocking and rolling and needless to say, we are not going out to play golf.  Right now the winds are probably gusting up to 30-40 mph.  Hopefully they will go away overnight so we can get back to our normally scheduled routine. No boat ride tonight either and we will be staying inside out of this wind.

Searching for Wildflowers

Brilliant sunshine, temperature in the 70s, what else would a person do on such a day except go hunting for wildflowers. Started my trek at Sabino Canyon, but it was so crowded that I was unable to find a parking spot after 10 minutes of driving around the parking lot, so off I drove to Ventana Canyon Trailhead just up the road from Ventana Canyon Golf Course. The trail goes back into the National Forest, into the beautiful canyon with stunning mountains, cliffs and rock outcroppings with the beautiful stately Saguaro throughout.

 My quest for wildflowers was successful as you can see by the following pictures. Unfortunately I do not know the names of the flowers, but this first flower might be a Bladderpod Mustard. 

This I also know is a Mexican Gold Poppy.

This little blossom was in the middle of the path being protected by a rock.

There were bees all throughout my hike taking advantage of the many blossoms, this bee was busy on this Blue Lupine. 

The hillsides were covered with yellow breaking through the rocks and cactus.

This time of year is spectacular for wildflowers in the desert. I will continue my quest over the next month or so to bring you (hopefully) the best pictures of the beautiful colors against the contrasting landscape. Wildflower season is just beginning and I'm excited to continue with hikes on new trails and of course trails I've visited before. You never know what will be around the next bend in the path. Until the next edition - "Happy Trails".

Bobcat Tale

While enjoying the beautiful 78 degree weather last Friday afternoon on the golf course, we had the wonderful treat of being visited by a bobcat out looking for his evening meal.

 Bobcats are common in AZ and we have quite a few roaming around Ventana Golf Course. There are plenty of rabbits as their food source.  This rabbit did escape.

Bobcats can get up to 35 lbs. This one looked life a full grown male. 

 I must have been boring him with my constant picture taking.

Needless to say, I took an 8 on hole #12 because I was much too enthralled with this beautiful creature to play golf.  Even though I have seen many bobcats while we are out playing golf, each time is a thrill to see such magnificent creatures.

Greg's Visit

It’s been a few weeks since entering a new post, the time just goes by so fast.  We are back home in Tucson with the first week playing catch-up at work for Jim and yard work for me, but with fun in between. Back to our normal routine now until our next trip, probably within the next few weeks back to our lot in the Palm Springs area.

This last Saturday we enjoyed Greg’s company when he joined us for a round of golf and dinner. The day was memorable with many laughs and distinguished (only because it was so terrible) golf play. Here are some shots of the day’s events.

How can you not enjoy a day on the golf course with views like this?

Jim teeing off on #7.

 Greg on #7 also.

Of course there always needs to be a sand shot!

The challenging par 5 #12.

The views of the mountains are captivating.

Now what are you doing in the bushes Greg?

A new way to swing the golf club?

Ah, there that golf ball is, let's try to hit it from where it lies in the brush.
 

Good job - it came out landing in the middle of the fairway about 60 yards from the pin.

Changing guards on the 17th tee.

Final tee shot on the par 5 18th, great shot down the middle of the fairway.

After we all hacked our way around the course, the day was ended with a prime rib feast at the country club. A good time was had by all. Golf scores were all lousy, but who cares when you're in good company, great views, beautiful weather and good food. Until the next time.