Saturday

It’s 100 degrees here. We wanted to go for a hike today, so we got up early. Up and gone by 6. (It’s easy to be a morning person when you’re traveling west through time zones.) It was only 70 degrees when we hit the trail at Red Rock Canyon.

Judy has downloaded an app on her phone called “My Tracks”. It tracked us for 5 miles over the course of 3 ½ hours (we stopped to look and listen for birds a lot), with a total elevation gain of 1,700 feet. A nice hike in spectacular desert mountain scenery. (And it had warmed to 90 degrees by the time we finished.) We timed it just right and headed back down the hill for lunch.

Got some cool birds: Anna’s Hummingbird, Gray Vireo, Western Scrub-Jay, Violet-green Swallow, Juniper Titmouse, Verdin, Phainopepla, Black-throated Sparrow. All unusual for us, but not unusual for here. It’s fun to go different places.

Judy checked in with the dogsitter. Guess what. She says Annie and Henry are the best dogs she has ever dogsat! Imagine that! Annie is quiet and just wants to mooch treats. Henry plays all day. When it was time to go to bed last night, she told them to get in the crate and they both did and slept all night. No trouble at all.

Tomorrow we check out of the Holiday Inn Express, and check into the Aria. That should be different.