Weir Trail

I love this place. It's like the Garden of Eden. Tahoe and I camped by this swimming hole for the night.

Here the water is deep enough to cliff jump.

I was exploring upstream and found this spring gushing fresh water from the rock wall.

Schott agave.

Backpacking Bell Crossing

Hedgehog cacti usually look sort of drab, but when spring comes, they amaze me with their beautiful blooms.

The Bell Trail was once used by ranchers to move their cattle from the Mogollian Rim to Verde Valley. Now, it leads to some awesome swimming holes.

Doesn't this look inviting? Tahoe and I had to go for a swim.

There were so many butterflies.

Munds Mountain

Tahoe was glad to reach the shady pines on the top of the mountain.

We began on a trail near Schnebly Hill Road, and were rewarded with views of the surrounding red rock.

The ground was really rocky, but I found a nice flat spot near Jack's Canyon to camp for the night. I like to sleep in, so this huge alligator juniper tree protected me from the morning sun.

This is a cow tank with the snowy San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

Tahoe was on the lookout for elk.

Crazy pets

Tahoe learned this position from his brother.

I have been closing the blinds to keep the hot sun out of the kitchen, but that doesn't stop Greta from hanging out in one of her favorite spots. She climbs through the blind slats on the left.

Clearly, this is the place to be.

A walk in the park

The resident goose has taken these 7 ducklings under her wing. I don't know what happened to their real mom, but she was nowhere to be seen.

They fought over the pieces of bread.

I had to tie Tahoe to a tree while I fed them because the goose started hissing and was about to charge us.

Here's another mom with octuplets.

El Zocalo

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going out for dinner at El Zocalo. There happened to be an art fair in downtown Chandler, so we wandered around while waiting for our table.

Loco gato y perro

Greta is a thief. If I turn my back for a few seconds, she is into the food.

Her favorite food is broccoli. Sometimes, she is such a pest, that I have to lock her in another room when I prepare a meal.

This does not look comfortable.

Goodbye Traci

Traci and Cameron drove to Iowa this week where they will spend the rest of the summer. Then, they are off to Michigan in the fall. We'll miss you!

Pyramid Lake

Josh and his fishing buddies went to Pyramid Lake in eastern Nevada.

They stand on ladders along the edge of a deep shelf, so they can see the fish.

This is when Josh learned the fish weighed 12 pounds.

He looks more shocked than the trout.

Lahotan Cutthroat Trout

They are such beautiful fish. They are indigenous to this particular lake and have adapted to live in water with a high salt level.

How does this even work?

Sunrise over the lake.

Lake Powell

We spent our last two days backpacking near the lake.

We found a secluded spot with a nice view of the lake for our campsite.

The water level has been steadily dropping over the last five years, but it is supposed to rise 50 feet after all the snow melts this summer.