Florence trip 2011

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We have done some exploring now. We went up to Superior, which we find is a small town at the base of some mountains a little Northeast of where we are staying in Florence. It was a mining town that was once bustling and thriving on the mines there but is now very sadly run down. The good news is that we could buy a house right near the high school for $19,000 cash or $25,000 with terms - such a buy! We visited nearby Picket Post (I have a very hard time NOT say Pickle Post) and decided that we will be hiking that before we leave here on Wednesday. Uhhh, which of course means that we are doing it Tuesday because today is Tuesday and we leave Wednesday and we just went hiking today... Ok, so it was an easy hike. We went to Boyce Thompson Arboritum and it was really beautiful! So many difference species of cacti! Many of them had been imprted from Austrailia and were very different. The trail was great and it was an easy and beautiful hike. We were able to let Allie go while we were doing the more difficult part of it. She had no problem at all going over the suspension bridge (even with Bob encouraging as much bounce as possible without fear of death by crazy freaked out Marti). When we got back to the picnic area and ate our lunch, Allie crashed in the shade and didn't move until we got up to leave. We managed to take some great pics of the Cardinals and Pyrohloxia (sp? they look a lot like Cardinals, but aren't) as well as a couple of other breeds of bird that came to much on our cracker crumbs that we - ahem - accidentally dropped. We did see another couple of pairs of Cardinals along the trail but they weren't feeling too photogenic. Anyway, the hike was great and now we are going to head for Picket Post, a longer and more difficult hike. I think we'll be using Allie's saddlebags today. It's going to be a beautiful day! I can't wait to get out to enjoy it!
We will be leaving for Apache Junction Wednesday, although we don't know where we will be staying. We're thinking about the State Park (The Lost Dutchman) which is right where we like to hike. We'll keep you all informed!

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Photos

Butterfly on bush
This is the inside of his wings. It was just irridescent, and there were hundreds of these around the park

Butterfly 2
This is the underside. One of God's beautiful creations!

Furry cactus
This is called an Old Man cactus. It looks "furry" with fine white hairs that feel more like fiberglass fibers that conceal more serious barbs.

Cardinal
I spotted this one eyeballing the crumbs on the table. He did score some great chunks, but I wasn't fast enough for a photo that close.

HUGE Yucca
This was after the hike, we'd gone to the gift store already...

The dreaded suspension bridge...
It's a little far away, but I wanted to show Boyce Thompsons home on the top of the cliff. What I would give to have seen the inside! It had an elevator that went from the home to the canyon floor!

Comments

[Pam]

Wow!
Great photos...makes me wish I might be able to do some traveling like this one day!