Bob has some friends with a second home in Scottsdale and today we made the two-hour drive south to visit them. As we got closer and closer to Phoenix, we noticed that the prickly pear cacti were blooming and the saguaro were sending out green buds. Mary was determined to get a photo of a REAL saguaro bloom while we were in the area, and she was finally rewarded with some creamy white blossoms fairly close to the road. It was a good thing, or she would have insisted on driving all the way to Tucson and Saguaro National Park again.
It was fun to be back in the desert at a time when so many cacti were blooming. Even the cholla had popped out in colorful blossoms. Up in Sedona, the wildflowers are blooming, but only a few cactus are showing color. It’s much warmer and later in the season in the Phoenix area.
The highlight of our visit was when a group of seven javelina trotted through the backyard and crossed the street. Javelina are the only wild native pig-like animal in the United States. They actually are NOT pigs, but collared peccary. They originated in South America, weigh up to 60 pounds and eat prickly pear cactus and agave. They are called javelina because of their razor sharp tusks. We have looked for them on every visit to Arizona, and now we’ve finally seen them. They are a lot bigger than we expected, and it’s also hard to get a good photo.
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