Alright, Marily is actually the one who reminded me that now is the time to see the desert in bloom, so I've spent some time researching and have found a few great places to see Arizona's beautiful wildflowers.
Usery Pass Park is hosting several wildflower events in the next few days.
Today, Wild for Wildflowers Hike at 1:30 PM
Tomorrow, March 10th, All About Desert Wildflowers - "Brown-Bag It" with Ranger B at noon
Friday, March 11th, Wild for Wildflowers Walk at 1:30 PM
Saturday, March 12th, Wild for Wildflowers Walk at 1:30 PM
If you don't make it out to Usery Pass Park, maybe take a drive out to these other locations: The Superstition Mountains, Picacho Peak, Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Each cost about $7 for entrance (the arboretum is $7.50 for adults and $3 for children), but if you buy a State Park year pass for $75, all of these locations are covered. I wrote more about the State Park year pass here.
If you go to SeetheSouthwest.com, they have an excellent article on Arizona wildflowers. It's worth the read. This was my first time stumbling across this website and I enjoyed a few articles. It made me want to check out a book from the library on Olive Oatman.
Did you know Picacho Peak is the location of Arizona's only civil war battle? I didn't, but I learned that useful information from seethesouthwest.com. And while perusing the State Park's website, I noticed that this weekend, March 12th - 13th, is a reenactment of the civil war battle. Over 200 reenactors come from various states to participate in this event. To check out all the details and to download a schedule, go here. See the wildflowers and a civil war reenactment all in one weekend.
Also, Marily said that last year her family hiked around South Mountain and it was beautiful. So many options.
And finally, today's posts isn't all about wildflowers. This Saturday, my four girls will be starting swim lessons at Hubbard Family Swim School. I like the fact that they will have lessons in a climate controlled indoor facility to get their swimming back up to par before summer even starts. My older twins need a refresher, but as for the younger twins, this will be their first time with swim lessons. Everyone is excited and I love the benefits of water exercise. We just need to go purchase some good goggles by Saturday.
Plus, I just found out that at Hubbard Family Swim School, they offer FREE swim lessons for children ages 4 weeks to 5 months as part of their Baby Splash Class. You can get your child used to the water early on and enjoy the benefits that water has on your baby's development. Classes are offered Wednesdays at 9:30 AM, Thursdays at 9:00 AM, Fridays at 5:00 PM and noon on Saturdays here in Mesa (Riverview center). I did hear that the noon on Saturdays class is currently full, but you can call to check on availabilities - phone number: 602-971-4044.
Hope you enjoy
2 comments:
All right, so I suggested this idea for a post, and this morning my family went hiking at Usery Park. Unfortunately there are NO wildflowers. It was still beautiful, and the weather was perfect, but no flowers. One of the other hikers said there won't be any this year because of the hard freeze we had over the winter. Sad. But, I'd still recommend getting out while the weather is so nice and maybe you can find wildflowers in other parks.
~Marily
Thanks for the very nice comments about my site SeeTheSouthwest.com. I was reading that Wildflowers will be around, but you will have to look in some shady spots under nurse plants. Biggest issue was because it was fairly dry this winter.
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