Gilbert Riparian Preserve

Today mom and I visited the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.

As we walked around the ponds, we saw lots of ducks

a small turtle

some sandpipers

egrets

and lots of wildflowers 

Apache Trail

A must-do drive in the Phoenix area is the Apache Trail. It's a scenic road that winds from Apache Junction, past Canyon Lake,

then to Tortilla Flat. We stopped here for an ice cream and to walk around a bit.

From there the road changes to gravel. In good weather you can drive a regular car on it. There's a nice lookout (Fish Creek Vista) where you can walk around.

We saw lots of spring wildflowers along the route, including lupins and poppies.

We also liked the different rock formations.

The gravel road continues until you reach Apache Lake, 

Then the road changes back to pavement,  and you exit near Roosevelt Dam. 

This road can also be driven the opposite direction.

Goldfield Ghost Town and Mine

I've driven past here many times when driving the Apache Trail, but never stopped before. Today I decided to stop. While it's as much of a tourist trap as I expected, there was also a lot to see.

Japanese Friendship Garden - Phoenix

Today we visited the Japanese Friendship Garden in downtown Phoenix. It's quite small, but is also very serene and peaceful. 

Desert Botanical Gardens - Phoenix

Since I have family in town visiting, I get to play tourist in my own city. Today we visited the Desert Botanical Gardens.

Poppies at Bartlett Lake

We drove out to Bartlett Lake today to see the poppies and other desert wildflowers.

Fall in Flagstaff

We drove to Flagstaff to see the fall leaves today. There were also two breweries/taprooms in Flagstaff on our Pubpass that were hadn't used yet. Both were dog friendly, so our dog got to come with us. Our first stop was Grand Canyon Brewing for a drink and lunch. The prickly pear beer was quite tasty.

After lunch, we drove the road to Arizona Snowball, 

and admired the aspens along the drive.

We parked in the lot for the Aspen Nature Loop trail. Parking is much easier on a Tuesday than a weekend!

This is a 1.8 mile, fairly flat, easy to walk trail, which is more of a lollipop than true loop. The only thing that makes it slightly challenging is the high elevation (9271 ft / 2825 m).

You start by walking towards the aspens near the base of the ski lifts, with the San Francisco peaks in view.

Once we reached the loop, we decided to go counter clockwise, and soon saw Sasquatch.

As we continued down the trail, we entered the aspen grove. A lot of these trees had already dropped their leaves.

After exiting that grove, we entered a prairie zone. The big white cloud in the top right section of the picture is smoke from a wild fire southwest of Flagstaff.

This gave us a great view of the valley below.

We then headed to another aspen grove.

Many of the trees here still had their leaves.

From here, it was a short walk back to the stick of the lollipop and back to the parking lot.

On the drive back down to town, we saw three elk (no pictures), then headed to Hops on Birch to use our other PubPass (the tart cherry cider was delicious).