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| Hiking | 3.25 Miles |
160 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.25 Miles | | | |
| 160 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Cousins were in town and they have fond memories of BTA. The last time they were here was with Brian's two sons in Nov 2016. And now with the Wallace Garden addition, there was so much more to see so that's where we started. After restarting my membership so we could get a bit of a discount for everyone else, we headed down the path toward the Demonstration Garden. It's always interesting going through a garden with farmers.
Brian noticed right off the Spurge. There's lots of cactus and aloe of course. The cactus seemed in better shape than what we're seeing in the desert right now. We continued to the Wallace Garden to enjoy the towering yucca and some spectacular Santa Rita Cactus. We walked just a bit past the creek crossing before turning around and zig zagging our way over to the Grotto. I thought the farmers would find this interesting. But first we stopped where the horse sculpture and copper rocks were so that Brian could pose with the horse; something he did up in Sedona when we were there.
I took the shortcut to Ayers Lake which is very clean looking right now. The ducks were having a good time. We walked up and around clockwise past Picketpost house. I think this is a reroute as I don't remember getting so close to the house. We continued down and around to the creek. Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of water. Near the bridge on the north side of the path, a couple people were watching some Coatis which apparently have been residing there. The Coatis were busy scampering and digging around like bears. I was able to get a few pictures. I was so glad the cousins got to see them.
We finished off through the palm section which they both liked. As I took them back to the VC, they questioned my direction-finding until I reminded them, I grew up in the middle of nowhere too  . We stopped at the plant center where they keep some of the more sensitive plants. BTA has really spiffed up this area too. And our luck continued as we saw a couple hummers on an aloe for a few moments.
Today we had some beautiful light and occasional sunshine clouds; made for some great photo-taking at times. And now that I've renewed my membership, and being as it's gonna be a light wildflower season, I'll have to come out here to get my flower fix. FYI - the membership prices are a bit higher now but there's so much more to see. However, I have my usual complaint about this and most other gardens, they don't keep up on the plant tags. And google still isn't that good.
We finished our day at Porters. Everyone had burgers except me, I went with the wings, a Modelo draft and Margarita.
Surprisingly, I took quite a bit of video.
Part 1 Visitor Center to Wallace Garden [ youtube video ]
Part 2 Wallace Garden to Grotto to Ayers Lake and loop around [ youtube video ]
Oh, Saturday we went down to San Xavier mission south of Tucson, had a picnic lunch at JFK park and then went over to Colossal Cave. I've only been to the VC when we were there for the AZT. Anyway, here is a video from the tour - [ youtube video ] featuring the music of LosDosSloFolks. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
lots of Aloe blooming. |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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