Da Butte

Saturday we loaded up the kiddos and headed out to Gold Butte. This time of year there are usually tons of wild flowers and we wanted to go check them out before the summer sun dries them all out!

On our way down the long bumpy road we encountered this little guy!

Don't worry... Dustin took these with the telephoto lens. We didn't get very close to it.
Hello Mr. Turtle, come out and play!!

The kids were very intrigued!

Allie and Estefan wanted to know if it was a Ninja Turtle. Well of course it is. :P

After saying good-bye to our new friend, we kept on down the road to our picnic spot.
We stopped at the corals at Horse Springs.

The kids loved to run up and down the alley way.

When we went exploring at the spring, we found these two. At first we thought it was just one really huge frog, but it turned out to be two frogs. One was giving the other one a piggie froggie back ride!

We sure weren't disappointed by the wild flowers. These little white ones carpeted the entire desert floor.
It was amazing.

There were tall purple ones too!

Near the corals and right above the spring, there is this super long Great Wall of Gold Butte. We aren't sure who built it or what its purpose was, but its some kinda wonder! It starts at the right hand side of the photo (imagine me pointing) and goes clear up to the mid-center of the photo!

Another shot of the pretty purple flowers. I think they were my favy!

After we ate our delicious Tuna sandwiches with a side of Cheetos, we went up a mountain trail. When we got to the end of the trail we came to this amazing view!!

The next stop was to visit the Azure mine. This was the old mine house.

Peek-a-boo! I spy Estefan. :)

Allie was giving us the run down on how she would decorate it, if it was her house. We stayed here and played for quite a while. Its may seem funny, but it was nice to relax for a bit inside and imagine what it would have been like to live there.

The Mine

Estefan is our little billy goat. He'll climb anything!

There were more of these little yellow flowers all around the house.

Mark walking through the flowers. He even picked me a handful. :)

Mark's tough guy pose, look at those muscles!!

Seriously, there were flowers ev.ry.where.

I love how the pink cactus flowers contrast with the yellow. Amazing, beautiful, breathtaking.

Then we stopped at the windmill for a bit.

Our last stop was Million Hills.

We had a little snack and finished off the Cheetos and splashed in the cool stream.

Is there something wrong with this picture??

A huge fence maybe?... something to think about...

I always thought the burned up Joshua Tree's looked like they belonged in a Dr. Suess book...

and I was right. I found this little guy running around out there.

It was a beautiful, fun filled, family day.

I hope we are able to spend many, many more there in the future.