Saturday

Oak Creek Canyon

alOha : ) 

   Hope everyone's having a great New Year !! We were just going through some pictures and thought we'd introduce you to a little hideaway of ours, Oak Creek Canyon. This special place is nestled between our snowy, pine-scented perch in Flagstaff and our next favorite southern town called Sedona.


   Every couple of weeks, we descent the narrow, winding two-lane highway from Flagstaff down into Oak Creek Canyon. These cold days, our hunt is limited to Blue Gold - fresh spring water from a very conveniently tapped source just off the road. (We call it the Drive Thru spring because it seems like the fast food version of collecting spring water compared to the journey we used to make back in California to reach our fountain of youth ((many miles by car, hoofing it up a mountain, through the stream, poison oak, amongst snakes, hungry bugs, and strapped with backpacks and totes heavy with water)).

   At Oak Creek, we just reverse the truck up to the spring and fill weeks worth of crisp, clean H2O, but back in the warm months, the land holds even sweeter rewards...


   The shallow water in the creek stays nice and warm : ) 


And life springs up in all forms and textures. 


Some of the most delicate and juicy treats lie amongst a bed of thorns ... 



These made a delectably sweet and tangy spread for our morning buckwheat pancakes : ) 


They were everywhere !!


And from the very same patch, just a few steps off into the shade of the trees, the buffet continues with a nutty, rich King Bolete mushroom.  This was just a random goodie .. but since finding this little fungi, our appetite has been whet, and we have another woodland blog on the way where you can join us through an enchanted forest to a mushroom land of stir-fried delights : ) 


   But the most exciting wild treat (at least to us) was living on the branches of the scruffy looking trees below ....


Fresh, sweet, and plentiful heirloom APPLES : ) 


  We found green ones and red ones and yellow ones, and after picking a mixed bag for juicing, we crawled under the shady branches, and resting up against the tree trunk, snacked on a few of these bite sized nibblers. While we were down there, planted in the cool dirt, I picked up a few fallen apples that looked perfectly fine, and wouldn't you know it - they were the sweetest ones of all. I guess the giving tree knows best when it's time to offer her fruit to us land bound creatures.  MMmmmmMmmm : ) 



Until the bees play Cupid between these flowering trees, and the fruit returns again, we'll think our time of picking and plucking and remember you well. 

night, night, love, 

 -p&j 

3 comments:

  1. The new scenery looks absolutely amazing. It makes me want to leave the city even more! Just gotta convince my hubby...

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