Desert Road Trip

My awesome shoulder has limited my outdoor activities over the past year, but now that it's on the mend, Doug and I decided to take the quad out for a ride last weekend. A two-hour drive from our home gives us this:

I'm always just a little bit nervous watching Doug back the quad out of the back of his truck. He's a pro at it!

Every time we head up to these parts (between Globe and Young, Arizona on US188) we see something different. This time, the saguaro cactus were in bloom  and oh so pretty!

And speaking of pretty, these prickly pear cactus blooms were everywhere. I got a little too close to one of these bad boys and got a knee full of cactus stickers. OUCH!

~sigh~

Imagine our surprise after sitting on a rock for a while, me getting stuck with a cactus followed by drama, and then getting back on the quad and seeing a bighorn sheep sunning himself at the top of the hill. He was completely unconcerned with us, and I got a bunch of photos of him as he finally stood up and sauntered into the brush. It's so cool to see stuff like that out in nature! Of course, Doug paced it off and determined that the sheep was 76 yards from us. :o)

You can see Roosevelt Lake in the distance, between the canyon walls:

It's our favorite picnic spot - a great place to relax and unwind.

♥

How about you?

Do you have a favorite place to land for a picnic?

PS: If you "like" PaperTurtle on Facebook you can see a video I uploaded. :o)