Desert bloomers

If you head out the front door and across the street, you can get on a gravel road that goes up the hill to a place where crews could access the Colorado River aqueduct that runs east to west under the hills. Past that, you can hike up a gully with some dry waterfalls where there is the occasional blooming marguerite (I think it is). Salem was a champ hiker today. But we only did a few miles. 

The husband went on when I turned back with Salem. Further on, he encountered a terribly old desert tortoise - he had his new Canon with him and so got some great photos. 

We lounged around the pool this afternoon and sat in the spa. With a fully saturated blue sky above, it was divine.