Storm Watch

Greetings from South Mountain Park. Who goes out to the desert in the middle of the summer? Why the Chicklet and I , of course! Notice the family resemblence?
The morning news reported partly cloudy skies and chance of thunderstorms for this week. I encountered rain storms driving out to California and back Thursday and Sunday nights. Since I drove in the evening there weren't any photo ops. Sure got a show with the lightning flashing in the distance.
Monday was on and off overcast and I was hoping for more rain. We have some down time between camp pick up and the Chicklet's swimming lessons. I was in the mood for a drive. We usually visit South Mountain Park on windy days for the clear view or in the Spring to see the wildflowers.

It turns out the roads up the mountain are closed during the week for construction. (The roads up are open on weekends). Instead of heading up to the summit we made our way to the Big Ramada. I'm actually pleased with one or two pics the Chicklet took of me! She's getting more comfortable with my digital SLR. Yea! Of 200 pics we took this weekend at our family gathering only one or two were of me and I always end up regretting not having photos with my family.
Hello Phoenix! Hello urban sprawl, ugh!

We took the scenic route by driving from South to North Phoenix up Central Ave. There's still some light rail construction Downtown but it's much improved. Traffic moved pretty smoothly. We saw some cool sculptures/structures outside of the Phoenix Art Museum that reminded me of Monets paintings of haystacks but look like conical topped cupcakes. We're going to check them out on another afternoon excursion this week.

I guess I'm looking at it as a kind of a challenge. What can we find to check out around town between 3:30 and 6pm? (And not get too fried doing it). We have a membership to PAM so I have no qualms about popping in and out for an hour. I'm hoping for a cloudy morning this weekend. I want to go back downtown, wander and take photos. I love the patterns and the reflections of the newer buildings but I also miss some of the old, beat up buildings that are disappearing faster and faster.

My sister Lynn shared some of her photos with me this weekend. I noticed she likes to take pics of unusual things like I do. Too bad she's in L.A., I'd like to have a partner in crime to go explore. The Chicklet's a trooper but she's going to cut me off soon I'm sure.

Things have been slow this summer but there's a lot to share so be on the look out for more posts this week. If anyone wants to join me for a wander around Downtown Phoenix this Sunday, give me a holler.

Marissa