warm up, cool down

had a wonderful day in payson last week...drove up early and went on a hike with my aunt, cousin, second cousin and mom. the little guy was in a backpack carrier and we hiked in on a fairly level trail to a large rocky outcropping with a view of the tops of the pine trees and mountain rims. i collected some rocks and a large manzanita stick...i had forgotten how beautiful the manzanita bushes are. our little one was a little fussy on the way back to the car and i 'wore' him back...so to distract him, i decided we would say goodbye to all of the things we could see. we said goodbye and waved to the left and to the right, up and down, to the trees, flowers, grass, rocks, birds, bugs, lizards (which he calls 'zizzards'), etc...turned out to be fun and he would repeat what i would say...so cute...but man, he was heavy by the time we got to the car!!

after the hike we were pretty hot and we got in our cars and drove several more miles to a creek to cool off (think it's this one but my cousin called it wagon wheel)...never been here before and it was a little gem in the middle of nowhere but not far from the main highway...crystal clear water with unobstructed views straight to the bottom...all of the rocks nearby had been worn smooth from the passing water and some were perfectly situated in and out of the water, making perfect ledges to sit on and dangle your feet over...we watched some kids jumping off of a higher rock formation and my little cousin was enthralled watching the big boys.


got some relaxing time up on some rocks where the water was cascading down into the larger pool and when i hopped from rock to rock following the water upstream, i found hundreds of tadpoles! my mom and i tried to catch some but they were super-fast and slippery and i didn't want to hurt them...just wanted a closer peek of course. ;)

after we chilled by the creek, we drove back to town, had margaritas and mexican food and then headed home...we had a lot of laughs and i was so happy my cousin took us to this secret place...a definite must on another trip!