Another Artfest/Hiking Combo

Well folks, it had to happen. Winter snuck up on us, if only temporarily. We had 3 days of overcast, sometimes rainy weather and the temps went down to the 40s at night and high 50s during the day. I don't know if you can see it here, but that's snow (and clouds) on the Four Peaks.

The snow melted the following day, but still....


Sunday, the skies finally cleared (sort of) and the temps climbed into the 60s, so we headed to the Scottsdale Artfest. It was in the Scottsdale Civic Center, which has a nice library, performing arts center, lots of fun restaurants, and free garage parking (practically unheard of these days).

For some reason the grass there always grabs our attention. It's always a lush green and looks so soft - you just want to roll around in it.

There were some vendors we easily could have bought from had we not been broke, but we made a note of them for future purchases. Art (and our winter coats) were the only things we held onto when we sold it all to sail, and we still consider it a worthy purchase (when we have extra money to spend).

We're A, JD is B.

Then we headed over to our pal JD's house, all the way in Ahwatukee (about 40 minutes from Fountain Hills). Most of the areas south of us are very, very flat. It's why don't live south of here. But there are the occasional mountain juts, and in Ahwatukee that would be South Mountain. Lots of trails are practically in JD's backyard, so we hiked for 1 1/2 hours before dinner.

I was much appreciating my new hiking shoes (good fit, good traction) until I kicked a boulder and the toe part on one shoe came partially unglued. Is it just me or is everything made like crap these days?

This hike was cool because we could see just about every major town around - Tempe, Scottsdale, and the skyscrapers of Phoenix.

The winter storm had blown out the smog, so things were crystal clear. As the sun started to head for night-night, the lighting on the surrounding mountains continued to draw our attention.



The sun is back and temps are expected to go back into the 70s this week. That's still a little chilly for us, but we'll take 'em. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Travel safely!