Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Recent trip to Phoenix Zoo

Penny and I went to the Phoenix zoo recently. I hadn't been in quite a while. We went to see the Lego sculptures. I put most of those photos on Facebook and so only have one of them on here.
There have always been turtles in the moat where you cross the bridge to the entrance since I was a child.

Penny and sunflowers.

This little guy looked like he was really studying the map.

There were two types of Gila monsters. This was the banded one.

Sonoran toads. We used to see these a lot in the desert edges when we were kids. They were huge.

Well nourished prairie dog.

Coatamundi. Looking at how big it was and the long tail, I think that must have been what I saw the hind end of several years ago in Aravaipa Canyon. I used to think it was the end of a black jaguar, which are super rare. But Coatamundi's are known to live in Aravaipa and the tail looked a lot like what I saw. 

Condor

Javalina

Mountain Lion

Wolf

Watutsi Cow








Cheetahs up against the building


Fun new squirrel monkey exhibit.


Caracal


 Galapagos Tortoise
Jaguar

This was a better photo of the Lego chameleon


Baby orangutan.

Daddy

Monitor lizard

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Rocky Point 2016

Last Spring I entered a raffle to support my friend Mamie and the organization she works for, Camp Colley. I was very surprised to find that I won the Grand Prize! It was a 3 night, 4 day stay in a very nice beach condo in Rocky Point. I had not been to Rocky Point since I was a child. We used to go and camp on the beach and take our sail boat out.
I had not been sure if I felt confident driving into Mexico with my car, but now I was going. Penny Karr, and Helle Brand came along with me.



 I had been thinking I wanted to get a cowboy hat
for a while, but they were always more than I wanted to pay. I was happy to get this one for 15$!

 On our last day, we were wandering in a particular shopping area known as Rodeo Drive. Helle followed her nose to some fresh baking in the back. There was a group of 3 who were making some wonderful Pan Dulce, and cooking them in a wood burning adobe oven. We had to get one to try. It was so cool to see the old methods and time practiced efficiency with which they worked.

 We had beautiful sunsets every night.

 In the past, I have rarely taken advantage of the amenities at places I have stayed. Some of that is due to self consciousness of walking around in a bathing suit. There were so few people here, that I just didn't care. We pretty much had our choice of all the different temperature pools and spas, negative edge pools, etc. It was delightful.

Penny and Helle didn't have any of my self consciousness anyway! We spent lots of time out of doors



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