Picacho Peak!

March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

I absolutely loved visiting Picacho Peak State Park! It was beautiful and weather was perfect!

I loved seeing so many huge cacti!

The California poppies are so beautiful! They blooming in so many places!

After the end of the Escapade RV rally at the Pima County Fairgrounds, I went on a day trip to Picacho Peak State Park. It was a gorgeous day and an absolutely fabulous time to visit Picacho Peak! I was hoping to see more spring poppies as well as a range of beautiful cacti.

I love to see the patterns in the cactus spines!

I adore the orange color of the California poppies!

There is an amazing contrast with the prickly cactus right next to the delicate beauty of the blooming flowers!

There are so many beautiful scenes in Picacho Peak state park!

The high temperature was 71 degrees, so it was wonderful weather to visit Picacho Peak! I went to a couple different sections of the park and walked randomly along a range of trails with my camera and tripod.

I love the different colors of blooming flowers!

Blooming poppies are everywhere!

I love the colors and ruggedness of the rock formations!

I had a wonderful time seeing so many beautiful scenes!

It is refreshing to simply look at all the different colors and shapes!

It is wonderful to see the enormous saguaro cacti!!

Dressage Horses!

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

The horses work intently! I was surprised to see the foam frothing from the horses mouth.

The horses are trained to take very precise steps!

I came in early to the Pima County Fairgrounds to attend the Escapade. Dressage horses were in competition next to where I am parked in my motorhome. I spent quite a while watching them practice. I was trying to follow the different procedures they followed.

I thought it was interesting to see how the horses were trained to tip their heads down.

The appearance of both the horses and riders were meticulously refined.

I anticipated that most of the participants would be people in their teens and twenties; however, most of the participants were women at least my age.

I liked the contrast of the pink with the beautiful color of the horse.

There was incredible focus and determination as the riders guided their horses through the routines. Quite interesting!

I thought this lady’s pink outfit was priceless!!

Catalina State Park!

March 9, 2019March 9, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

I love the California poppies in Catalina State Park!

The mighty saguaro cactus are so impressive!

It was a wonderful day to visit Catalina State Park! I was fun to drive through Tucson and Oro Valley on the way to the state park. I have many wonderful memories from living in Oro Valley!

The poppies are everywhere! They are a wonderful way to welcome spring in Catalina State Park!

I especially love the orange poppies!

The flowers are so delicate and beautiful!

Beautiful!!

I also have many excellent memories of previous visits to Catalina State Park! I have hiked, camped, and ridden a horse in the state park. March is a fantastic month to visit! The flowers are blooming everywhere, and it is a very comfortable temperature.

I love the orange center and yellow outside colors of the poppies!!

The poppies began to close up as the temperatures started to cool off.

I like the contrast between the orange poppies and the while flowers!

These are gorgeous flowers!

I was especially enthralled with the blooming California poppies! I love the yellow and orange colors! I took many photos of all the blooming poppies!

I love the color of the poppies!

Awesome colors!

I also love the mighty saguaro cactus! Since I have been away from Tucson, it was very exciting to again see much massive and mighty cactus!

The saguaro cactus are so impressive!

There were many people in the park and all kinds of activities with different groups of people! Everyone was enjoying the wonderful weather and the beauty of the park.

These are very heavy limbs!!

I walked on the nature walk and loved taking pictures of such beauty. It was so wonderful to visit the park again after several years having moved away from Oro Valley.

I was mesmerized by the design of the spines on the saguaro cactus!

When I first arrived at the park, there was a display of different animals that lived in the area. A teenage girl asked me if I wanted to hold a gopher snake. At first I declined, but then I thought it would be a unique experience to hold it. She took a picture of me and laughed at my nervousness.

I do not like snakes, so I was amazed to find myself holding a gopher snake!

Escapade in Tucson!

March 12, 2015March 22, 2015 / Ed Armstrong / Leave a comment

Although we have been members of the Escapees RV group for many years, we have never been able to attend any of the meetings. Finally, we were able to attend our first Escapade. There were more than 850 rigs! We loved our time meeting people, attending seminars, and discovering new places to visit.

Video clip of Escapade