Fascinating flames.
Hypnotic coals.
Still at Patagonia Lake State Park.
Hypnotic coals. Still at Patagonia Lake State Park. Patagonia Lake State Park
A 50 mile day. Arizona Portion of the Trip Map 
Not exactly a wilderness experience, but overall, what a cool place to be. A nice little marina.
Lakeside trails and tables.
Maybe the coolest pedestrian bridge we’ve ever seen.
And the warmest weather we’ve had lately. Eighty degrees for a high; clear and calm. Warm enough for an evening fire.
We had a fire with Jim and Elle back at Kartchner, but it was so frickin cold we could hardly stay outside to enjoy it. Tonight was a little easier. I don’t take pictures of butterflies, but if I did, I would shoot this one.
If I knew what kind it was, it would probably be a Pipevine Swallowtail.
Not exactly a wilderness experience, but overall, what a cool place to be. A nice little marina. Lakeside trails and tables. Maybe the coolest pedestrian bridge we’ve ever seen. And the warmest weather we’ve had lately. Eighty degrees for a high; clear and calm. Warm enough for an evening fire. We had a fire with Jim and Elle back at Kartchner, but it was so frickin cold we could hardly stay outside to enjoy it. Tonight was a little easier. I don’t take pictures of butterflies, but if I did, I would shoot this one. If I knew what kind it was, it would probably be a Pipevine Swallowtail. Earworm
That’s what it’s called when a song sticks in your head and it won’t go away. It’s called an earworm. I read that one of the ways to get rid of an earworm is to do something that requires your full attention; anagram word games, or Sudoku. Know what else? I can testify that the same thing can happen if you play Sudoku too much late at night right before you go to bed! You can get stuck setting up Sudoku challenges in your head and solving them over, and over, and …… Here is a Broad-billed Hummingbird.
And a Magnificent Hummingbird I couldn’t get in good light.
My photo was supposed to look more like this.
(Not my photo.)
And a Magnificent Hummingbird I couldn’t get in good light. My photo was supposed to look more like this.(Not my photo.) Kartchner Caverns State Park
There are caverns here at the State Park, but we’re doing our exploring above-ground this trip. A cool blustery day today, but we drove to Patagonia for the Paton Preserve for Hummingbirds and the Nature Conservancy Preserve anyway. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1XYsAPbRQNrLQGGU8N54Xezsw54E&ll=31.90497169946565%2C-110.25153532369387&z=8 It used to be the Paton House. For many years they fed the birds every day and invited strangers to stop and enjoy the spectacle. In their memory, Tucson Audubon is continuing the tradition. Even with the wind, there were lots of birds. The nature conservancy preserve was good as well. Altogether we saw three hummingbirds, Anna’s, broad-billed, and violet crowned. Here’s the Anna’s:
There is a Creekside trail lined with old cottonwoods at The Nature Conservancy preserve. Fremont Cottonwoods grow fast and age fast. This old fallen down one shows how big they get, even out here in the high desert!
Dark eyed juncos
And fiendish looking yellow-eyed Juncos.
We’ve moved on from Rusty’s. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1XYsAPbRQNrLQGGU8N54Xezsw54E&ll=32.00467602011817%2C-109.4978990420891&z=8 We got to drive on the road we first meant to travel several days ago, closing a loop and moving on west to Kartchner Caverns State Park. Met up with Jim and Elle; it’s been a couple years since we last got together with them. We’ve got three days to catch-up!