THE Trip, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior Arizona

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Warning, this post is graphics heavy.

One of the most suggested things to do and see while we were in Gold Canyon was the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  Almost everyone said so.  Seriously, my bestest gal friend from high school who now lives in Mesa strongly suggested it.  She and I had not chatted for more than 5 minutes when she asked, "have you gone to the arboretum?"  So Man and I made it a point to visit.  MOC (Montana Owners Club) friends Ray and Coleen had arrived in the area and when we assured them that the walking paths were easy going they agreed to go with us.

The paths are indeed easy going, in fact, for most of the walk they are so well maintained, level, sturdy, that you can use a wheel chair or stroller.  There are, by way of warning, some areas that wheel chairs are not permitted, but, believe me, you can see much from a chair!  The condition of the walking path was of concern as Ray has loss of feeling in his lower legs.  Due to the terrific condition of the path we all made the 1.5 mile walk around the park.  We not only made it, but we all admitted it felt great to be out there walking!

A map of the park can be found here, we walked the "Main Path".

We saw lots and lots of beautiful specimens of flora. Many of these will appear over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna over the next weeks. We saw flowering cactus, hummingbirds, butterflies, and:

The Smith Interpretive Center & Greenhouses

Above: Barrel Cactus, is this not over the top beautiful?
Another shot of these will appear on Reflection's
Flora and Fauna soon.  It will be different!

Above: Perlite (ya that stuff we use for gardening) is found around
Superior, it is processed nearby.  Here it is in the raw.

Man and Ray, checking the map and sittin' a spell,
nice view eh??

And, of course, outcrops of rock, in the most wonderful shapes!

This passageway was a bit narrow, we were glad for the railing.

Berber Suspension bridge over Queen Creek,
dedicated April 23, 2004.  It was quite sturdy, but
if you jumped up and down hard enough it shook.

We also found some statuary, a delightful herb garden (Man really thought that herb garden was fabulous!)  And, last for today, this delightful water works:

After our slow and easy and totally enjoyable walk around the arboretum, Man and I and Ray and Coleen had a lazy lunch in Superior and then headed back to Gold Canyon.

If we had had the time, Man and I would have enjoyed doing this sight seeing stop again.  It was well done, the plants were spectacular, it deserved another visit.  Thanks to Ray and Coleen for going with us, it was so much fun to enjoy the discovery of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum together.



.