Hiking above Shoshone, the badlands by China Ranch and a Birthday party

I thought when we got to the desert we would have more time to relax and hang out. We have been just as busy as everywhere else  The desert has its own kind of beauty. I went to college in Arizona and fell in love with it there.  It is so nice here. It is so quiet that you can hear the wings on birds flapping. They make fun of me because I look both ways before I cross the main street. You can hear the occasional car before you can even see it. At night it is so dark. The sky is lit up with so many stars. The air is clear. It is warm, in the 70's and sunny. We have been hiking the trail up above town once a day, 3 miles. Today we went to China Ranch-a date farm to hike the badlands. The crop of dates is so big this year they haven't harvested them all. Before they harvest them they cover them with cloth to keep the birds off. Mostly old clothes from the thrift store. They say the dates have their skirts on. The bad lands at sunset are pretty incredible.They are kind of light brown, but early am and evening they turn pink. We have not seen anyone on any of our hikes.

John and Judy hiking the trail above town. And the trail.

A metal sculpture in a local sculpture garden.

George is not a sculpture. I put the party had on is head and he scowled at me. It was his 85th birthday party. Behind him is his guitar. He and another man entertained us with country western music after the meal.

Above is the bad lands on the way in. The rest are sunset. Very nice.