dancing with the lost dutchman

Lost Dutchman State Park is less than five miles from our house but until today I had never visited there. My friends and I made plans to go hiking at the park when we heard that the state is planning on closing it along with several other state parks in AZ as a result of the poor economy.



The park is North East from our house ...the side of the mountain that is "just around the corner" from our view out the dining room window.


The morning was beautiful for climbing and the wild flowers plentiful (see tomorrow's post).




Lily, being the hiking-loving dog that she is, had a wonderful time...well, except for an encounter with some cactus needles. Good thing I've learned to pack a tweezers when we to out together.


When we reached the end of the trail we found ourselves in the the wrong parking lot....but in that wrong parking lot we ran into a TV news crew doing a story about the community trying to keep the park open. They asked if they could film and interview us. We walked back on the trail while they filmed then set up for the interview. I was relieved that he choose to interview Renalee as she is comfortable in front of the camera and I would have been very nervous.