Trying to blog while on hotel internet is always a bit of a challenge. I'm trying to upload photos of the animals I've spotted on holiday so far. First was the famed javelina, which seems a lot like a wild boar only smaller. We saw a mom and her baby cross the street a car ahead of me. In an effort to alert my friend Gisela and her hubbie, driving in back of us, I honked and made Mommy Javelina rush into the bushes. No real photo only this lovely statue in tribute to her. They're usually grey coloured not pink.
At every rest stop in Arizona there's a sign warning of dangerous snakes and poisonous scorpions. I keep my eyes peeled but never spotted anything but this lovely lizard. Let's hope my photos land close to my description. No such luck. This must be what publishing children's novels was like in the early 20th century.
At the Arizona Desert Museum, we saw mountain lions, rattlers, bears and racoons. In the Grand Canyon Park, we saw these mules. You can ride these guys down Angel Trail to the bottom of the canyon if you book a couple years in advance and pay a few hundred dollars.
Then I saw this black Lab at the canyon. He was very friendly, wagging hopefully anytime anyone came within patting range. His owner told me his name was Kay-oh-
tay. "Oh, he doesn't look like a coyote," I said. "No," he explained, "Kayohtay means wolf in First Nations." Yeah, well he doesn't look like a wolf either.
Why I took his photo was Kayohtay was desperately trying to join his owner on this stone fence. Where is this fence? Overlooking the Grand Canyon. "Noooooo! Don't stand there!" I wanted to shout. "I wrote about this once and it doesn't end well, trust me."
Finally, I spotted this brave squirrel who posed for me in an effort to extract treats from me.
"No feeding the wild life!" I told him as I snapped away. His good natured scurrying about against the vastness of rocky beauty behind him still makes me smile. We should never be daunted.
