Sue sent Alex, Max, and me out to Bashas to pick up some things for breakfast. We came back with doughnuts for everyone. A big pink one with sprinkles for Max. It was a hit — even better than homemade porridge!
Sue announced that we should ‘aim to leave by 9:30’. We were going to take a trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a 320-acre nature park located about 20 minutes east of Gold Canyon. Ed and Val told us about it — said it was worth the trip. The forecast for today was sunny and not too cold, a perfect day to go to the park. And what did we expect to see? Lots of ‘pokey cactuses’. Ever since Max and I went on that hike up behind our house and I showed Max how NOT to touch those cute teddy bear cholla cactus plants, he reminds me of that mistake. And he is very wary of touching any and all plants here in Arizona.
We got to the park almost at the scheduled time and set off for the 1-mile trail walk around the park. Lots to see! Great for kids Max’s age. The highlight was near the start, when we sat down at a water fountain and a hummingbird came down and performed for us, flying right at us, then backing up, and then taking a bath in the fountain.
After about 2 hours of sight-seeing it was time for lunch. We drove home and had the usual: sandwiches and chips and a monster cookie for dessert. Then Max headed off for his nap, the girls went to the pool to read (and watch the big Amish family take over the pool!), Tim did some phoning, and I took my six-iron to the driving range.
When I got home Sue was working on getting supper going. The rest of us took a trip out to the Goldfield Ghost Town not far from our house. We knew it was late in the day, but we really only wanted to do a quick walk-around and maybe take a little train ride around the town.
By the time the sun was painting Superstition with reds and oranges the temperature was cooling down enough for us to head home. Supper was well on its way, and a new cake was sitting on the counter.
After supper we all watched Max run around for a while. I skyped with my Mom for a while. And after Max had his bath and got tucked into bed, we watched “The Trip to Italy” on Netflix.