Chihuly In The Desert

Being from the Seattle area, we know full well how wonderful Dale Chihuly's work is. Seeing it in the desert was something else. We strolled through the fabulous Desert Botanical Garden on a hot April evening. We saw a snake and small lizard, hummingbirds and ducks, and enjoyed the incredible fragrance of the spring air while mesmerized by the glass.

Another aspect of this stunning exhibit and the garden itself was the photography taking place. Nearly everyone had a camera! Dodging photographers, trying to stay out of shots, waiting for people to move, it was all just as much part of the experience as marveling at how the glass was created or what inspired the artist to place the pieces where he did. While most of us don't have the eye of an artist like Chihuly, many of us are out capturing the sights of the world around us. I think that makes the world a bit better. Here are a few more shots.

Poston Butte Beauty

My brother-in-law, Jim Rodal and I climbed Poston Butte in Florence, Arizona to find a geocache planted up there. It was Jim's first cache adventure and his first climb up there. I'd been up once before, in 1998 BC - before caching :) - and it was even better this time.

If you've ever been to Florence you've seen this hill with a huge, white F on the flanks. It's one of the few pieces of higher ground in an otherwise flat area. There's a monument on top placed there in 1907 when Arizona was still a territory. The view is spectacular. More images can be found here.

There are three Geodetic Survey markers up there along with the cache. We found only two of them. We spotted some prairie dog-type critters, a number of lizards, a few bee hives, and strangest of all, the entire pyramid is a gigantic ant hill! Fascinating to watch the millions of ants swarm all over it.

Another mystery to us: how did the people who built the monument pound those big iron rods into solid rock? There are a bunch of them up there. Talk about a tough job!

Since Jim and my sister Janice live down there for half the year, and since Joyce and I vacation here every year, we're thinking of making this sort of an annual pilgrimage.

Slithery Geocache

Joyce and I were out geocaching while on vacation in Arizona when we came upon this little guy near one of the caches. Needless to say, we gave him a wide berth. We did find the cache though and were none the worse for the encounter. He (she?) just ignored us.

Not sure what kind of snake this is. If you do, please let us know.

Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road

Way back when I was playing the hits on small market radio stations, one of my favorite novelty tunes was by Loudon Wainwright III. It came out in 1972 and we played it on KUPY 1450 The Voice Of The Valley in Puyallup, WA and I think we even played it on KTKN in Ketchikan, AK. Anyway, it's a classic. Today, while on vacation in Arizona, Joyce and I came upon this smelly little guy stuck to the road just outside Florence and couldn't resist. Had to dodge some cars and a buzzard circling overhead. But fortunately, the smell had subsided. Loudon, wherever you are, thanks for the memories. Would love to buy you a beer sometime.

This was taken with my first gen iPhone. Ran it through the camerabag app using the 1974 filter.