The Phoenix Zoo

Yesterday the girls had off from school, so Steven took the day off so that we could all go to the Phoenix Zoo. Dawn and the girls have been to the Phoenix Zoo before, but Steven has never been able to go.

A new feature is that the stingrays are now housed at the zoo year-round, so we were able to pet them. We were fortunate enough to be there during a feeding time, so we were able to feed the stingrays as well. When you feed the stingrays, you hold the fish head so that the stingray can swim over your hand and suck the food out of your hand.

The zoo is set up so that the animals are house in "continents" so you find all of the Arizona native animals together with the north american animals, all of the african animals are group with all of the other african animals together. The enclosures are designed to look like the native areas and they also provide great views. This includes the new orangutan enclosure that opened a couple of weeks ago.

One of the coolest exhibits was the one for the squirrel monkeys. You walk through the cage with them, but you are advised to stay at least three feet away from them since they will steal your stuff. Steven was able to get some fantastic photographs of a couple of the monkeys.

One of the things that is cool about this area is that you will find splash parks everywhere. The zoo is not an exception. The zoo has a large play area for kids and is very kid friendly.

Lindsey's Dance Performance

On Friday night, Lindsey's high school had their spring dance performance. Here are the two numbers she was in.

Hiking on Four Peaks

I took the week off from work so that I could get a break while Dawn was on her break between quarters at SCNM. I worked on a major project that I will post about soon, but on Wednesday we took some time off to go hiking. Four Peaks is an iconic backdrop to the northeast and is also the icon for the local brewing company as well. There would have been a picture of Four Peaks, except that is the day that the weather turned from nice and warm to cloudy and rainy. First thing to know about Four Peaks is that the tallest peak (7,657 feet) is the only named peak (Brown's Peak); therefore the temperature can be 20 degrees cooler than that of the Valley. It was a different hike that we normally take because of the terrain. We only took a five mile hike to the saddle; however I did go a bit further up the peak, but I would have had to do a bit of climbing to reach the top and I was not prepared to do that in the cold rain that blew up on the peak. Here are some photos from the hike.

POTD for March 2011

Here is a gallery of the pictures I took in March 2011.

Springtime in the desert

This is a great time of year to be in the desert. Things are warming up with the temperatures often in the mid-to-upper 70s and the lows around 50 degrees and of course a lot of sun. This is also when the landscape turns green and starts to bloom.

This past Sunday, I decided to hike from end-to-end on the National Trail at South Mountain in Phoenix. South Mountain forms the southern border of the valley and the National Trail extends over 15 miles from east to west. The trail winds through canyons, around peaks, through passes, and along ridges of the park. While on the hike, I documented the colors and how the mountain is beginning to bloom.

New saguaro arm


Saguaro peaking over the ridge


Branching saguaro


Golden hedgehog cactus


Rock moss


Trail rules


Barrel cactus carcus


New cactus growth


Baby teddy bear cholla


Teddy bear cholla family


Telegraph hill


Desert flower


Telegraph pass lookout


Ocotillo buds


Arizona barrel cactus growing out of a crack in the rock


California fire barrel cactus growing out of a crack in the rock


Cactus family looking out from their couch

Rhodes Pops Concert

Back on March 1st, Lexi's band participated in the school's pops concert. For a change, she was sitting where we could see her.

A year's worth of pictures

It was one year ago that I picked up my new Nikon D5000 and decided that I would attempt to take a picture every day with it. With the exception of two days, I have. The first of those two days was to get a picture of the D5000 itself and the other one was when it was in the shop. Fortunately I was able to use another camera on those two days.

Hopefully my skills have improved as I have continued shooting...




If something flew by too fast, then here is my current POTD album with all of those photos and the newer ones added semi-regularly: