Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas
Following a fabulous Thanksgiving afternoon and dinner at Marc's relatives in Mesa (thanks Steve and Sandy) Christmas Season came upon us. Black Friday began Thursday evening and carried on until cyber Monday. The internet was backlogged and frozen for several days as shoppers 'spaved' on line.
14th Annual Surprise Party
Every year the City of Surprise hosts a party for free at the Recreation Campus. We missed the Friday night celebrations with Hot Air Balloons, Skydivers and tree lighting ceremony, along with live musical performances are a fireworks finale.
A classic car show.
Elephant rides
Camel Rides
A petting zoo with ducks, variety of chickens, goats and these two: Komodo monitor (dragon) and desert tortoise. And an alligator.And ....
self-explanatory below
DOCK DOGS
Spreading the toes for a landing!
one giant leap for man's best friend!
Zip lining fun
BMX X-tremes!
Lake Pleasant
Lake Pleasant is one of the important artificial reservoirs surrounding the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Waddell Dam (finished in 1927) is one of the largest agricultural dam projects in the world at 76 feet in height and 2,169 feet in length.
A great day for mountain biking we drove the half hour drive
northwest to the 23,000 acre park.
A floating bridge on Pipeline Canyon trail.
There is biking, camping, hiking and fishing for recreational activities. There are ruins of a village guilty by Hohokam Puebloans about 1000 years ago on top of Indian Mesa.
in the 1500s burros were brought to the desert SW by the Spaniards. After the mining boom in the 1800s they were either turned loosed or escaped into the surrounding hills where they continue to thrive.
1971 the Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act designated the BLM responsible for protecting and managing the approximate 40,000 wild horses and burros in the West. The Lake Pleasant region was home to 396 wild burros in 2009.
We were fortunate enough to see them today. Four babies and about five or six adults.
Burros in the desert water day and night and subsist on vegetation with low nutritional value and they are known to have 'cast iron' stomachs. They forage for food up to 14-16 hours per day and can live up to ten miles from water sources and can lose as much as 30% of their weight from dehydration before serious problems result.
We have met up with several people from various parts and have been to a few potlucks. Pickleball is still heavy into our lives but this season is a little different as we are invited to play in inter-community play so its great to play with people from other parks and communities in the area.
Soon going to Sedona for the week prior to Christmas, for some R & R and mt biking. Taking our down jackets, just in case!
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