went hiking over the weekend with ricky, mavis, kara, and david...arizona is simply beautiful right now with all the wildflowers in bloom. we've had a lot of rain the last few months (relatively speaking, for the desert) and things are so green. here are some pics from the hike...bet you never thought the desert could be so beautiful, huh?
also, in the second photo, check out the bird that was nesting in the cactus...pretty cool!
juri and i spent the weekend in the white mountains, about 5 hours north-east of phoenix. we spent a few days there last summer and enjoyed it a lot and thought we'd return. it was much cooler...in the low 30s at night! our mummy bags saved us. but the days were fantastic! got to hike the Thompson trail again...it wasn't as picturesque as it was last summer, when we saw a lot of cool mushrooms and foliage. on the second day we did the Indian Spring trail, a 7.5 mile loop. about half of it went through the woods, where the aspen were fantastic (see pics and video)...my feet were blistered pretty well by the end of the hike, but i think it was worth it.
see the cool cooking center i made near our main fire pit? cool, huh? made pizza, soup, and fajitas on that stove.
one of our favorite camping places in the white mountains. did it last year in our jetta, which was tough because there are a lot of unpaved roads near the campsite...should be much more fun this year with the forester.
