AZ Trip Day 6: The Desert

As mentioned earlier, we saved all of the desert stuff for when Dennis was done with his conference. All of these desert pictures sort of look like one another, so I won't go into too much detail. We went to Sabino Canyon, The Sonoran Desert Museum, and Saguaro National Park. I wish we would have had more time to do some serious hiking because the weather was perfect, but we settled for a few short walks. I love desert plants and animals and how adaptable they are to the environment.

Eli is hugging the teddy bear cholla. Doesn't it look soft and cuddly.

Sadie touching the barrel cactus spikes.

That's a hedgehog cactus and Eli holding his poked finger. Ouch!

This is from the raptor show at the desert museum, which a fun stop: botanical garden, zoo, and history museum in one place.
A sweet hummingbird:

This is Ocotillo. Ocotillo is my favorite desert plant. Why? I know it looks like a very spiky stick, but after the rains, it gets bright green leaves all over that stick with a bright red fluffy flower tassel on the end. It looks like an exotic seaweed smack dab in the middle of the desert.


Skipping through the desert. Both kids learned that falling in the desert is not quite as comfy as falling on the lush green grass of MN. One fall even ripped Sadie's pants, and scraped up her cheek, shoulder, elbow, and knee. She slowed down (a little) after that!