Herons nesting

We took a ride on the "Desert Belle" at Saguaro Lake. The Great Blue Herons are nesting near the upper end of the lake. (Arizona only has one real lake, up by Flagstaff; the rest are reservoirs.)

Wind Cave trail, Usery park

This is about 700 feet up the side of Pass Mountain, or about 2 1/2 miles from the trailhead. (guessing on the distance - I don't have a GPS.) The trail runs along the bottom of the "scar" on the mountain at this point.

Bad hair, good hair

We love this pair of ocotillos. The one in front is all scraggly and wild and the one on the other side is straight all the way up.

Palo Verde blossoms

Why I love Mesa

I really love this time of year. Everything blooms, and a lot of the blooms are just plain weird. And it's in stages. Right now, we're mostly in the yellow phase. Later in the summer the reds will take over...

Palm Springs wind farm

A huge number of these windmills line both sides of the pass.

Avelon harbor

Beautiful place.

Natty Cormorant

The tour guide says those white feathers only show up during mating season.

Glass-bottomed fish

Arrival at Catalina

Sucker gets up and moves, and pretty smooth.

Newport Beach sunset

No problem seeing the forest for these trees

Cool trees...

A Joshua Tree and San Gorgonio Mountain

Still a bit of snow at 11,485' on the mountain, but none at the 5,185' of Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park.

The Superstitions, south side

We took advantage of being on the south end of the mountains to go visit the Peralta trailhead, which is set below this wonderful cliff.

Welcome to the Arizona Renaissance

Greeted by a Cavelier...



And a wizard....





Lots of festive dancing and music...



Not to mention birds of prey...



And rides for the kids....



All set in a desert with a wonderful backdrop of mountains...

I didn't take pictures, but there were also lots of vendors for everything from costumes to turkey drumsticks to incense and custom shoes... Belly dancing, comics, archers, jousting, troubadours and balladeers. Lords and ladies, a Fool, pirates, swashbucklers, and on and on...