Sunday, March 31/2013

Happy Easter to everyone.  Hopefully the Easter Bunny has left you lots of chocolaty treats.  Try not to worry about the extra few pounds!!
Kay and I got the Easter treats for the neighbourhood kids ready and left them on their front steps for a surprise.  We bought a couple of large plush multicoloured caterpillars for the two little boys next door and I would have loved to see their little faces when they saw them.  They sure are cute.
Today is the Easter "Sunday in the Park" Picnic and Ray helps with the cooking of all the meat.  They cook chicken, beef and lamb (if available) in huge pits and it is delicious.  It is pot luck so everyone brings something to share and the meat is provided.  John and I have been to a few of them and enjoyed it.
This year, we have decided to take a jeep trip instead and Kay had decided to join us.  It has been several years since Kay has been to Lake Pleasant so it should be a fun day.
It is another sunny, hot day and with lots of cool refreshments in the jeep, we are good to go.  The road was awesome over to Lake Pleasant.  It was awesome desert and even better trail.  We passed the original Castle Hot Spring which, in its hay day was the destination for many rich and famous people.  Folks like the Vanderbilt's, the Kennedy's and many Hollywood super stars such as Clark Gable.  It is said that it was also used as a recovery hospital for WWll soldiers of which one was John F Kennedy.  Today, it is for sale for the sum of 5.6 million dollars!!  It truly is a beautiful oasis in the middle of this rather unforgiving desert and I can see why it commands such an incredible price tag.   What a great location for a bed and breakfast.   Or, a bar - not too far!!
Lake Pleasant is a man made reservoir.  It is huge and hosts a number of bays and a huge marina.  It too is an incredible jewel in the middle of the vast Sonoran desert and I can see why so many people flock to this area.
We took another trail back (Buckhorn Road) and that proved to be another great decision.  It was awesome and we were able to see one wild burrow, who wasn't happy with our intrusion and we got to see another crested saguaro.  That too was incredible.  I was able to take a few pic of both of them so hopefully they end up on this blog.
The whole trip was probably over 100 miles and we did mange to run out of gas although we had the gerry cans full so that wasn't much of a big deal.
We got back to the park in plenty of time to start a campfire and enjoy the rest of the evening.
Ray was already home and tired from his long day.  He said the picnic was good but there were a lot less people there this year.
We sat around the fire until it was time to call it a day.  It has been a busy few days so bed is more than welcome.  Tomorrow is Kay's birthday so that just may be another busy day.    There is certainly no rest for the wicked around here!!

Should be an interesting trail

Castle Rock

Awesome scenery

Like the sign said,,,Narrrow, Winding Road

Sign to Buckhorn Road

Coming into  Castle Hot Springs

Stone fence

Rows of palm trees

Road to Lake Pleasant

Rugged, unforgiving back country

The existing lodge at Castle Hot Springs

Original buildings

In the wash

Lake Pleasant

One of the many bays

Lake Pleasant is huge.  A man made reservoir.

Travelling on Buckhorn Road

This windmill was actually working!!

A fledgling Prickly Pear Cactus

Awesome saguaro

Jeep and Saguaro and John

Wild Burro.  Not impressed that we took his pic!!

Another Crested Cactus.  Woo Hoo!!  That make two of these
incredibly rare cactus I have seen.

Multiple Arms!!

Looks pretty but all these trees want to do is poke and scratch you!!

more great scenery

The eagles were flying around here - a perfect place for their home.