A Day in The Park with...Who? Who?

There was a lot going on this weekend, in Fountain Hills and beyond. It was rather hard to choose what to attend. Fountain Hills used to have an annual hot air balloon classic but doesn't any longer. We'd wake up to balloons almost on our roof, listening to heavy breathing as if a dragon was bearing down on us. Now Gilbert offers the classic. We didn't make it there, but I love the photos -- one at sunrise, one after sunset.



We missed the Fountain Hills Stroll in the Glow last weekend, but we can drive it and still ooh and aaah.

Photo by Mike, I Heart Fountain Hills

Tempe had their Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade.

We had planned on going to that but found something that trumped it -- read on (or skip to the end).

Another weekend, another hike. This time we hooked up with Ranger Amy again and followed her to the Dixie Mine and beyond to some petroglyphs. This wasn't an overly long or strenuous hike, 5 1/4 miles roundtrip, but we would have missed just about everything if we'd been on our own the first time.

We had a good group of people, none of them from Fountain Hills (it's not easy to make local friends that way). I give these folks credit for spending their vacations hiking in such an out-of-the-way place.

As usual, Amy was full of info and held everyone enrapt.

At one point, Michael and I were in the front. When we turned around, we saw Amy pointing out something in the jumping cholla behind us -- a cactus wren's nest. We would never had known it had been there if Amy hadn't stopped us.



Off in the distance, we could see the tailings from the now defunct mine. Miners had hoped to pull copper, silver, and gold from the mine, but in its years of operation, it probably generated about a $20,000 profit. Investors made more selling the land than mining it.



We plowed on and then walked right past the turn-off to the mine before Amy once again redirected us. Oddly, there's great signage all over the preserve, but here you get to look for a ribbon dangling from a bush.

You go through some rare shade,

and then there it is. Can you see it? Can you see Ranger Amy?

Us either, so we would have kept right on walking past it too. Here's what you get to see.



You can no longer go in since fools always manage to hurt themselves, but it was still interesting enough. Most people then turn around here and head home, but if you keep on going, you eventually see petroglyphs thought to be left over from the Hohokam Indians. The Hohokam were gone from the area by the 1500s, so if these markings are from them, they're quite old. Here's the first batch of markings. Unlike on St. Kitts, where the Carib Indian markings have been outlined in chalk or paint to make them easier to see, these blend into the environment pretty well. You have to know where to look because there are plenty of rocks without the writing.

Also around this area are a few caves. Let's follow Michael for a moment.

There were a number of these shallow exploratory holes. Of course, we checked them all out. You never know what you might find! If you continue on, you get to even more petroglyphs. Some are drawn/scraped onto the rocks.

Some are etched in. And no, no one knows what they mean. I think they're directions.

The canyon itself is beautiful to walk around.

We had a nice brisk walk back the way we came, and then we got ready for a surprise...

That morning, I had seen a post on the McDowell Mountain Park Facebook page that they were going to have a rare opportunity to release a rehabilitated great horned owl at 5:15pm at Nursery Tank Pond --- a different part of the park. Any earlier and other birds would have came after the owl before he'd had a chance to get his bearings; any later and we wouldn't have been able to take pictures. Good thinking.

Michael & I were giddy the rest of the afternoon, looking forward to our close encounter with such a cool creature. It got even better when it turned out they were releasing two owls, a male and female. They had been brought in as juveniles a few months ago unable to fend for themselves, and a mature owl at Liberty Wildlife fostered them until they were ready to fly off on their own. The hope is that the two will mate for life and live happily ever after.

The owls were named for the season, Nick & Holly. I was surprised at how small they were (only about 2 lbs each; the females are a little bigger). Here's a taste of the event.



Nick was ready to go asap. Ranger Amy held him a bit though and gave us some insight into an owl's life. I (and several other people) video'd the whole thing in case you're interested (mine's edited, badly, and no that's not me talking in the background). Keven Buettner took some fantastic photos. Here's Nick:



Holly was not only noisier, see if you can hear her beak clicking and even a chirp or two, but she was also more cautious. She gave Amy a loooong stare (glare?) before flying off. Uh oh.



Here's their new home.



Sigh.

Look Up!

I thought this was pretty interesting. Yesterday a meteor exploded above Tucson (about 2 hours southeast of here). Its approach was loud enough to get the notice of people inside their homes, and its entry was bright enough to get the attention of anyone who was outside to see it. The one video that's circulating isn't all that exciting, but it is a reminder that we've had some doozies in the past. Winslow, Arizona (about 2 1/2 hours northeast of us) got walloped pretty good 50,000 years ago (luckily, no one lived here back then). The crater, more than 2 miles around and 550-feet deep, is supposedly the best preserved crater in the world!

Well, let's hope we're not in for another one of those encounters any time soon. Many news sources are suggesting the latest event was a precursor to the upcoming Geminid meteor shower, but astronomers are saying it was actually from an unrelated Andromedids outburst (did anyone else just get this song stuck in their heads?). Considering the "news" is getting less factual every day, I'll go with the scientists.

The Geminid meteor shower (or Winter's Fireworks) is set to start tomorrow through Monday. We don't have street lights out here in Fountain Hills, so it's somewhat easy to find the necessary darkness for a good view of the show, but it's still cold at night. We got back into the mid-60s during the day, with 70s coming this weekend, but nights are still in the 30s. The advice is to head out at 4am (after the bright moon sets), lie on the ground, and look straight up. Um, I don't think I'm that committed. I'll look up sometime after the sun sets on Friday and see if I have any luck. Happy meteor viewing!

Brrr.

This week winter came a knockin'. Okay, so it didn't look like this:



But it didn't look like this either:

Photo by: Tina Papies

Jack agrees.

So does the dead flower behind him.

This is the middle ground we thought it would be, but it was still a shock to the system. We were supposed to hike both Friday & Saturday mornings but decided to stay under the covers instead. We did finally mosey on out Friday afternoon to take a look at the Tempe Art Festival. It's a huge one that goes on for blocks & blocks. This isn't me, but it could have been.


That night we headed to a Friday potluck, bringing our "famous" Chinese cole slaw. There wasn't a sliver left, so I think it was a success. Love that stuff. Michael was a hit with the kids.



Saturday, we eventually made it up the street two blocks (driving!) to visit the River of Time Museum. It shares the building with the library, and I'd always wondered what they'd done with such a small space. We took advantage of their open house (meaning it was free) to find out. It turns out, they did quite a bit with the space they had. We got there just as a tour was beginning and learned all kinds of things. You'll note all the mountains we've been hiking look very different, and we learned why.



This little museum has the largest amethyst crystal cluster anywhere, and only in AZ can you get this color.

Like too many infrastructure projects, there was a hitch when a pipeline that was supposed to bring in water was made of California redwood. Not only did the top dry out and start leaking, but riders would shoot holes into the thing to water their horses. The pipes were quickly replaced with concrete. We did not learn why the tap water in Fountain Hills tastes so bad that the first thing we bought upon arrival was a filter for our faucet (and we've drank tap water in third-world countries without complaint).

We learned the interesting tidbit that the Indians were using porous rock to grind their corn, which meant that a lot of rock got ground into the corn too, wreaking havoc on their teeth (causing some to starve).

Of course, there's the crappy history of the "explorers" who decimated the local people, the animals, the environment. There's a "bloody" story every place we've ever been, including every island in the Caribbean. It never fails to shock (the guide didn't go into it, but you could read about it).

The continuing fight of the Yavapai people is interesting (they're coming out the victors these days). One of the recent fights (in the 1970s) over a dam is what sparked the development of Fountain Hills (a former ranch). The fountain was actually built to entice investors to what at the time was nothing but desert. Looks like it worked! There was much more, and our volunteer docent was fun to listen to, so if you're in the area, I would definitely recommend a visit.

Ron, Nancy, Chris, Michael, Caribs

Afterwards we did something I love to do -- met up with a long-time blog (& book) reader. Nancy actually introduced herself during a visit to St. Kitts years ago, but we've both moved and ended up just 20 minutes from each other. For the past 2-3 weeks, she had been teasing us with the promise of a surprise - a shipment. The Shipment (capital T, capital S) was delayed, our visit postponed, and our curiosity quite piqued. Upon arrival, The Shipment was unveiled (literally), and whallaa! It was a huge bucket of ice and Carib, the beer of St. Kitts. I can honestly say that beer as The Shipment would never have crossed our minds - the trouble they went through! Cheers everyone!

Once again, Michael was a hit with the "kids."

The next surprise was that they had a visiting friend who lives on the St. Kitts sister island of Nevis, so we had lots and lots to talk about. And if that wasn't enough, Nancy made enough food to feed us for a month (appetizers, dinner, dessert). Christmas balls for place markings? Loved it (just what Michael needed - see Jingle Balls reference).

Food, Carib, lots of gabbing, more food, laughing, and some more food, and then it was time to package, yep, more food, a few to-go Carib's, and head home. Sunday - Nancy and company are probably still washing dishes; Michael's at work; I'm in the apartment gym...

Christmas, Southwestern Style

The dusk skies were amazing as we drove there.

So for Cyber Monday, I bought two half-off tickets to go to the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden Las Noches de las Luminarias event. We'd heard it was something different to do (than the usual Phoenix Zoo Lights, which is also fun), with beautiful Christmas lighting and lots of music throughout, but thought we might pass when we saw it was $30/pp. Ouch. When I saw the 1/2 off deal for Monday, I snagged it. A Monday - we went out on a Monday!

There were over 8,000 hand-lit luminaries throughout the park. That is a lot of work. A lot. And they have to do it every day for 31 days.

It really was that dark on some of the trails, people would unexpectedly come out of the gloom toward us. Spooky. There were also plenty of lights, many of them lighting up the Venetian-glass Chihuly sculptures scattered around.



Can you tell that these are quail?

What you can't see in a lot of these photos are the cacti around the artwork - you'd have tall saguaros next to tall, colorful glass, which was a pretty cool effect. I've adjusted a couple a little so you can get an idea of what I mean (I really need to get a better camera - Santa?).



Some of the sculptures were really large and intricate. Considering the little pieces in the gift store were $5,000 and up, what was around the park had to add up to a pretty penny.



While we wandered around, we'd pass different music stations. We'd go from a Mariachi band, to Dickinson carolers, to bell ringers, to blue grass. All were very good.

There were a couple of story tellers on-hand too.



The Apache family had the largest and most enrapt audience of anyone. The son would pick one of his favorite stories, and his dad might speak Apache for a bit, translate, and then tell us a story from his elders (and carried down to his son). Like the one about the stink bug and the coyote (the stink bug wins). All have morals, of course. Afterwards, they played flute music. I could have spent the rest of the evening there.

It was a really nice way to spend a couple of hours. Music, art, nature - we felt quite cultured. Just note if you go, there will be likely be different entertainers - they change it up.

Another reason we went last night was because the temps are about to take a tumble. 30s?! There is even a "special weather statement" to give us lots of details of the fun to come. NOOOooooOOO!

Speaking of freezing temperatures, I wanted to give a shout out to all you folks who came along from my previous blogs. How the heck I've ended up with so many Canadian readers, I don't know, but I appreciate every one of you. Don't forget to look us up if you find yourself in town.