Is Hippie Spencer Jack Climbing Camelback Mountain With Me?

What you see here I found whilst checking email this morning, on this, my last day in Texas, for about a month.

A photo and a message from Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, aka FNJ.

FUD-

Spencer Jack fashioned 1960s progressive America at school today.  

Thought you would enjoy seeing the soon to be 11 year old liberal Jones nephew’s cute photo.

Hope all is well,
FNJ

P.S. - Perhaps we can connect sometime soon in AZ. Perhaps we can hike Camelback Mountain together?

__________________

The 1960s? A time of rapid change, riots, assassinations, raging wars in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones.

And Hippies.

I wonder if Spencer Jack's grandma Cindy, she being my favorite ex-sister-in-law, helped turn Spencer into a Hippie.

Spencer Jack and his dad are probably not aware of what a Flower Child their grandma and mom was back in those long ago days of peace, love and freedom.

Peace, love and freedom? Am I remembering right? That that was/is the Hippie Credo?

Am I to insinuate from Spencer Jack's dad's message that the boys will be in Arizona at some point in time this month?

I don't know about hiking up Camelback Mountain. That is in Scottsdale, where Spencer Jack's dad, my little brother, Jake, lives. There is a Camelback Mountain website devoted to climbing this mountain.

Wikipedia's description of hiking Camelback Mountain...

Two hiking trails ascend 1,280 feet (390 m) to the peak of Camelback Mountain. The Echo Canyon Trail is 1.14 miles (1900 m) and the Cholla Trail is 1.4 mi (2300 m). Both trails are considered strenuous with steep grades. The hiking path has dirt, gravel, boulders, and some handrail-assisted sections. The average hike requires a round trip time of 1.5 to 3 hours.

Closer to Jake than Camelback Mountain is Papago Park. There are a lot of fun things to hike to in Papago Park. Such as the Hole in the Rock.

The second highest mountain in the Phoenix mountain range is known as Piestewa Peak, formerly Squaw Peak. Spencer Jack's aunt Jackie, she being my sister, and I hiked Piestewa Peak back in March of 2012. We did not make it to the summit.

We could also go hiking on South Mountain. South Mountain Park is the biggest city park in America and one of the biggest urban parks in the world. A Republican president of the decent sort, who helped make parks, not destroy them, or open them to drilling, Calvin Coolidge, helped Phoenix acquire the South Mountain parkland.

The first time I drove the road to the top of South Mountain I saw bikers mountain biking on trails which I would not be comfortable riding. Treacherous.

A bike has been delivered to where I will be staying in Arizona. It is not a mountain bike, and so its wheels will not be seeing mountain bike trails. Those wheels will likely be seeing a lot of miles of paved trails trailing all over this location with multiple lakes, appropriately called Sun Lakes.

This is likely going to be my last blog posting for awhile. I am not bring a laptop with me. My only internet connection will be via my phone. Or when I am at my sister's in Chandler. I may be using this break from the Internet World, and my computer, to break my blogging addiction.

It is said it takes 21 days to break a bad habit, or start a new good habit...

Hiking With My Sister To A Hole In The Rock In Papago Park In Phoenix

My Sister Gearing Up For The Hike To The Redrock Top

Does my sister look a bit reluctant regarding the idea of climbing the Papago Park redrock butte behind her, with the hole in the rock being the goal?

Papago Park is a hilly zone, primarily in Phoenix, but spreading into Tempe and Scottsdale.

Papago Park's redrock sandstone buttes make for an unusual feature inside a major city. In Papago Park you will also find the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden.

This is only 10 minutes from downtown Phoenix and attracts millions of visitors a year.

Arizona Hikers Trekking To The Top Of
The Butte With The Hole

My current hometown, Fort Worth, Texas, also has an unusual feature about 10 minutes from its downtown, called the Tandy Hills Natural Area. The Tandy Hills Natural Area does not attract millions of visitors a year. Nothing in Fort Worth attract millions of visitors a year.

Oh. I forgot about the sporting goods store, Cabela's, which sold Fort Worth a bill of non-sporting goods, promising, in exchange for tax breaks and other perks, to give Fort Worth the #1 tourist attraction in Texas.

I digress.

Kids Coming Through The Hole In The Rock

I was very surprised at the large number of little kids making the trek up the redrock butte to the hole in the rock.

In Papago Park, in addition to the trail to the top of the redrock butte you see in these pictures, there are many miles of other trails for hiking and biking.

I saw a lot of mountain bikers today, in Papago Park, which made me feel very nostalgic for Moab and my mountain bike.

From the Hole in the Rock you can see a white pyramid. This is known as Hunt's Tomb, due to this being the burial location for Arizona's first governor, George W. P Hunt. Since Arizona is currently celebrating its centennial of being a state, this would seem to indicate that Mr. Hunt became the governor of Arizona in 1912.

Kids Inside The Hole In The Rock

I have already mentioned my noticing the huge reduction in the number of balloon people that I am seeing in Arizona compared with all the balloon people I see in Texas.

This particular Saturday, in the urban zone of Phoenix, is instructive as to why there is such a big girth differential between the two states.

Today I would hazard to guess that there were likely no more than half a dozen people on Fort Worth's Tandy Hills. Granted, the Tandy Hills are not nearly as scenic as these redrock buttes in Papago Park, but that really does not explain the difference in outdoor activity levels.

My Sister Looking Through The Hole In The Rock

That difference in outdoor activity levels sure would seem to go a long way to explain why I'm experiencing the same thing I experienced the last time I had spent way too long in Texas and then flew to a skinnier part of the country to find myself thinking the people looked as if they've had the air let out of them

Today I saw 100s, maybe 1000s of people out and about, hiking, biking, boating, climbing. Every butte or hill we came upon, today, had people either hiking or biking, or both, on it. Including a very steep paved trail on something called A Mountain, in Tempe, near Lake Tempe and Arizona State University.

My sister's pedometer indicated by the end of today's trekking we had trekked about 4 miles. Much of that trekking involved elevations gains.

I do not know what is in store for me tomorrow. Church has been mentioned. My mom just came into my quarters to give me a church worthy shirt. Against my will I was fed dinner tonight. My mom was unsuccessful  in her turkey leg hunt. I have heard Sweet Tomatoes mentioned multiple times this evening as a possible dinner zone for Sunday. Along with my sister....

Saturday In Arizona Hiking Desert Botanical Gardens With Papago Park Holes In Rocks Declining To Hunt For Turkey Legs

Pedestrian Bridge Over Lake Tempe Dam

I have had me a day, so far, this Saturday, and it is only 3 in the afternoon, with a lot of hours left in the day. I'd take myself a nap if I were nap enabled, which I am not.

My sister took me away from my mom and dad's Sun Lakes abode about 7 this morning. Our destination was the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. More on the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden in a subsequent blogging.

After visiting the Desert Botanical Gardens we headed for another location in Papago Park, that being the hole in the rock. More on the hike to the hole in the rock in a subsequent blogging.

After hiking to the hole in the rock we left Papago Park to go visit my brother and sister-in-law's new location in Scottsdale. I rather liked it. Basically they live in Melrose Place, except in Scottsdale, not Los Angeles.

We left my brother's hungry, after not getting the pancakes that had been promised the night before.

So we headed to another of those cool restaurants called McDonald's. I had something called a Southern Spicy Chicken Sandwich and a Double Cheeseburger. I think I have the names right.

As my sister and I waited for our gourmet food we watched a very skinny lady blocking the drink bar whilst she squeezed the fat out of a couple dozen McNuggets. My sister grew impatient with the lack of access to the beverages and asked the skinny fat squeezer to move.

The skinny fat squeezer then told us her doctor told her she had a coronary condition and should try and squeeze all the fat she could out of her food. We watched as she cut the McNuggets into pieces with a knife and ate the pieces very furtively and bird-like.

It has been my observation that McDonald's attracts interesting customers.

The sequence of events that followed McDonald's I may have a bit confused. At some point after McDonald's we went to my youngest nephew's apartment and his big brother's house. The apartment was in Tempe, with the house being in Scottsdale, which leads me to think we may have gone to the house first.

In Tempe we walked across the new pedestrian bridge you see above. This bridge is above the new dam that replaced the failed dam that made Lake Tempe next to Arizona State University. You may remember that dam failing during bad flooding in Phoenix a year or two or three ago.

At some point, after walking across the bridge, I think we were in Mesa, where we dropped in on my favorite brother-in-law's sleeping mother. I've always found my favorite brother-in-law's sleeping mother to be very nice. But, she did not remember me.

Leaving Mesa we headed south, back to Chandler, where we drove by the Pacific Seafood Buffet. I've not been to a seafood buffet in a long while. Let alone a Pacific seafood buffet.

Eventually we were at the core of downtown Chandler, where my sister drove us around the Chandler town square. It was being festive due to St. Patrick's Day. This location sort of reminded me of Taos. Which makes sense, sort of, with New Mexico being the next state to the east.

Finally I was re-delivered to my mom and dad's in Chandler. My sister left and soon my mom was asking me if I wanted to ride with them to Maricopa to get a bougainvillea and turkey legs. I declined the offer.

I was too tired to go turkey leg hunting.