The Desert
Yesterday the kids and I woke up feeling crummy. It seems we’ve been swapping colds back and forth all week and we all just felt blah come Saturday morning. Daddy had to be to work early which left me with many many hours to entertain them before relief arrived.
We went in search of the desert. To be precise, we drove up South Mountain to see the TV Towers. Without consulting a map (’cause I’m a local and don’t need a map- ha!) I decided I would drive up the SOUTH side of South Mountain, as I had already been up the North side, a gazillion times. Guess what, I drove 34 miles to the END of Chandler Blvd before I called my husband to find out that there is no south access to the mountain. sigh. At least the baby took a needed nap in the car. We retraced our steps and made it back around to the North side and drove to the top. Thankfully no one threw up (the roads have lots of sharp curves).
My project this year has been to find beauty in the desert. Its easy to see this place as dry, brown, and dead. Its harder to see and appreciate the beauty of the landscape, and anything worthwhile takes effort-right?! I’ll admit that most of the drive was less than appealing but I learned that Saguaro Cacti bloom, they have beautiful white flowers on them in the spring (sadly I wasn’t able to photograph them). I have always thought the yellow blooms on the palo verde were beautiful and I did capture that!
May 1st, 2011 at 11:36 am
I love visiting the botanical gardens whenever I want some beautiful dessert plant shots. It is such a lovely place (my kids wouldn’t agree- it’s boooring- in a whiny voic) and has such great ideas for dessert plantings. Hope you feel better soon.
May 5th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
Yes, yes there is a South entrance. I’m positive I have entered South Mountain off of Chandler Blvd and it is a great hike BTW. I’m going to look it up for you now…