Spring in the Desert

This past weekend I had the opportunity to head out of the city and go explore somewhere I've been meaning to visit, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Arizona has had quite a wet winter. Tons of rain in the deserts and even more snow in the mountains. This means that the desert has blown up in color!

I've heard many great things about the arboretum, how it's an oasis in the desert, and it really was. April is one of the best times in Arizona, cool mornings and temperate afternoons. Even though we were there in the middle of the day it was still totally comfortable to spend the day walking around just due to the amount of shade available from the various trees.

As you walk around you'll have the opportunity to explore various collections of desert plants from around the world. They have desert plant collections ranging from the deserts of Australia all the way to South America, and of course everything native to the Sonoran desert which the arboretum finds itself in.

You'll also come across two houses at the arboretum one of which you can go in and one that was closed off to the public. The first was the Clevenger House which was built in 1913 into the wall of the surrounding canyon. It was cool to go inside and see how people lived back then, and how in an era of no AC they used natual methods to stay cool. The other propety you will see is up on the hill overlooking the entire arboretum called the Picket Post House which started construction in 1918. Although this one we were unable to go into, but looked like it was probably quite large on the inside and much different than the house built just a few years earlier.

Everywhere you look there's the beatuy of the desert surrounding you picturesque views.

With the amount of rain that had fallen all of the winter season you could see Queen Creek, which runs through the middle of the arboretum, trickling. Most importantly all that rain meant just endless amounts of color from the wild flowers and various desert blooms.