April 10, 2026

Today was such a great day.  We started the day out at a trailhead in the Superstition Mountains about 6:45am. It was a fantastic hike! Just fantastic! We hiked the Peralta trail (up Dutchman). Lots of great views including an awesome one of Weaver’s Needle. And we saw a Gila monster. That’s right - a Gila monster. So cool!

Today for food we had Burrito Express after the hike and then Philly’s for dinner. A good burrito and sweet potato tots two nights in a row - I’m not mad about that. 

We spent the evening at a baseball game - ASU vs U of U. I loved this so much! The weather was amazing and Darren bought us great seats.  I enjoyed warmth and beauty and the sounds of baseball all while giving plenty of commentary.

 

April 9, 2026

I’m beginning to think we’re not just practicing doing old people things but are doing those old people things because we are getting old and enjoy them. Today’s old person activity was a scenic drive in Organ Pipe National Monument. We did the Ajo drive and listened to audio points of interest and enjoyed it. No need to come back here but seeing the organ pipe cacti was interesting. We also saw a red racer snake cross the dirt road.

Most of the day was driving as we went from Tucson to Organ Pipe to Phoenix.  We ate dinner at Hundred Mile Brewing for dinner. Good food. Sweet potato tots with dill ranch for the win. A city after dinner walk was nice after all that driving.

April 8, 2026

Darren and I are doing Spring Break Arizona style.  We flew into Phoenix yesterday and drove down to Tucson to start out.  Last night we failed at finding some good Mexican food which you would think would be hard to fail at but we did.  We drove to my choice and quickly changed our minds.  Then we went to Salsa Verde which ended up being OK but definitely nothing to write home about.

Today we explored Saguaro National Park for NP #25 for us. We had a fantastic first stop at Valley View Overlook on the west side of the park.

Look at us out here looking at cactus flowers and getting new birds. Morning in the desert is really cool.  It's a noisy silence.  Like it's quiet yet you can hear bees and birds and things moving.  I like it.  Saw the cutest little cottontail bunny but make sure you don't step off the trail because out here everything is trying to poke you.

Got some cool birds today - a roadrunner, a gila woodpecker, and cool thanks to Stevie nicks and Edge of seventeen - white winged dove! 

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she's singin'
"Ooh, baby, ooh, said, ooh"

We also visited the East side where we drove the scenic loop and stopped for lunch at Javelina Picnic Area. I love a good picnic spot and this was one.  We both decided the West side is better than the East (Rincon).  And the amount of saguaros on the west side was staggering.

We decided to spend the afternoon at a mall theater watching Project Hail Mary. Great idea for the 93 degree weather. We loved it and then headed back to the west side of the park. 

Ended the day with a desert sunset, hearing a couple coyote hips and then seeing a small coyote trotting up the side of the road.  That was a good National Park experience day.

April 5, 2026

Highlights of my Easter morning. Listening to President Oaks, Freeman, and Uchtdorf, seeing Cam dab and Rylie gangum style, eating Peeps, and being reminded of this hike.

Highlights of my Easter evening. Eating cookies made by Kenzie, playing Catch Phrase (Mason pulls out good games we don’t play all the time), and chatting with Em, Kelcie, Clayton, and Sandee.

April 4, 2026

Had a good time together today. We had a pretzel and pizza party (including fruit pizza) for pre-Easter celebrating complete with a scripture scavenger hunt for some peeps and snacks. Today included lots of laughs.  Here's an example:

Kenzie farts.  Rylie says, “Do you want to play that game with me?”

April 3, 2026

Had a really good hike this morning with Lorien. We went up Dry Creek (steep as Dry Creek) and made it to the base of the falls. Neither one of us had been here before despite hiking here many, many times over the years. The falls were lovely! We soaked it all in and just watched and listened to the water for some time. There was ice on some logs and the way the water cascaded over the rocks was fascinating. It was lovely to enjoy our destination for a while. 

After my hike I saw Sadie was working so I stopped and grabbed some costa Vida lunch. “Is that my mom?” 

Early this evening I watched as 10 robins were sitting in our aspen trees. Then I went to dinner with Darren and enjoyed chatting with him and eating at Wok the Line. 

Ended the day losing to Rylie and Cole in SkyJo and some Kindle reading. 

April 1, 2026

Rainy day walk up the road to avoid mud with the nieces (and Sadie came with us). They are awesome and appreciated the beauty of the snow frosted trees.