Travels With Tamara & Denali

From Here to There and Back

Over the River and Up the Hill to Find Denali Some Snow ...

Denali the Storey Teller getting her point across.

Greetings Readers:

Denali means Tall One in some other language however I'm not really all that tall yet. In the meantime this is supposed to be my Mom's storey of our little adventure in The Cat Drag'd Inn. We went in search of Hot Springs, for my Mom, and Cold Snow, for me. But I'm a lot closer to the ground than she is and that's where all the action is. Oh ya! See that sign over there? It doesn't really mean what it says. We didn't do much sunbathing. It should say "Look Out for Nude Snowbathers". Ok Mom! Take it away.

Our first stop was the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, and it was such a lovely day to be there. The environment was very exciting, fresh from the rains, and a pleasant walk as well. Here is Denali, longing to jump right into the fountain. We were hoping to see hummingbirds but they're all busy migrating so we didn't but found some honeybees instead!
	Ok, you figured it out. I took this shot to prove I was actually there, at The Botanical Gardens! (living in Phoenix doesn't mean you see everything in Phoenix). Plus, the lush green surroundings appealed to me.
Photographing flowers closeup came out better than I expected! Especially since this is my first outing with the new camera. Did you notice friend honeybee?! Can you find the flowers?
	Here is Denali, attempting to be "o-so-knowledgable" about busing it. She really loved the bus, and got a great kick out of the little hidey spaces. Much to ajo's dismay, those little spaces sucked in a multitude of little girl goodies (cheerios anyone?!).
And ajo is the best! Who else can whip that bus around so well? He also plays a mean game of scrabble, and makes a nice cup of tea. We really were very comfortable with his presence for the week and he is a fine conversationalist. You need a good story? Ask ajo, who has had quite an amazing lifetime of wide-ranging experiences. We love him!
	After our visit to the Botanical Garden we drove and drove. East, through Globe to Safford and the Essence of Tranquility Hot Spring. It's a nice place but I don't like it as much as El Dorado. They wouldn't let us skinnydip in their big pool and all their private rooms were busy. One private room had the door open and the guy in there was wearing a swim suit so I asked him since he was wearing a swim suit to let us have his private room so we could go nude. He was nice and moved to the public pool. They're all backwards here.
A perspective challenge? Here we are at the 'Catwalk', and Denali and Ajo present an interesting picture. The beautiful rocks presented us with some fascinating shapes. This picture shows a few faces of the incredible rock at the 'Catwalk' spectacular. The day was crisp and fresh, and the hike up the catwalk was invigorating. This is just the beginning! All this catwalk construction is new and more is in progress on the other side of the river.
	The elusive red-breasted yapper! Denali was very excited by the little caves here and there, and made a point of posing in them. She also made a point of how cold it was, how tired she was and how hungry she was! (5 is such a wonderful, precocious stage in a childs life...ack!)
It doesn't look that far down, yet a jump into that creek will freeze your toes off--if it doesn't break your neck first. Check out the ice! This is a pretty picture reflecting the bright sunny sky above, with pretty wispy clouds in the water below.
	Who's this? Yep, that would be me. The ONLY picture of me! Not that I mind. The real question is: Who was behind the camera? The surrounding landscape was absolutely amazing; a nice change of pace from living in the desert.
From The Catwalk we drove north. Up and up and around and around. The trees got bigger and the air got colder. Inside The Cat Drag'd Inn we were all toasty warm looking outside for snow. Across the road we saw a wolf! And then we found some snow! I was so excited I didn't even wait to get dressed.