Category Archives: family friendly outings

Usery Mountain Regional Park (Arizona Family Fun)

Growing up in Arizona I’ve had the opportunity to see the natural desert my entire life. Saguaros, tumbleweeds, lizards, scorpions, and rattlesnakes are all part of my everyday surroundings. I didn’t really appreciate all the beauty in my natural surroundings until I started exploring photography and getting comfortable behind my camera. Today, being in the quiet desert with a camera, is one of my favorite places to wind down. Last week my daughter and husband came with me to Usery Mountain Regional Park for a photography opportunity.

The Maricopa County park covers just over 3,600 acres and has a large variety of plants and animals in their natural environment. Hiking trails, picnic areas, and play parks are just a few of the reasons why I love visiting.

My cousin and his band brought their instruments out into the desert for amazing photos. As the photo shoot was ending, dark grey clouds were rolling in. There’s something magical about the smell of rain in the desert.

I wrapped up the session and our family headed over to the nearby nature center at the park. Just as we were driving into the parking lot, my daughter noticed a beautiful double rainbow. We knew the rain was coming so we hurried inside.

The nature center is located near the entrance of the park. It is full of amazing educational opportunities and plenty of Arizona keepsakes for those visiting from out of state. Each month experience rangers lead a series of educational programs at the park. This month’s first featured program was the animal flashlight walk. We didn’t quite make it to the evening walk because my daughter was exhausted after a fun day in the desert but we were able to stay and listen to the lecture portion of the event. We enjoyed a fun and informative session about coyotes. Then we observed the onsite critters. Seeing the active snake, tarantula, and scorpion was definitely my daughter’s favorite part of the day.

Just before we were leaving, my husband captured some amazing photos of the bright rainbow behind a tall cactus.

The wind and rain really picked up as we hurried to our car. My daughter asked to open the top of our sunroof to watch the raindrops fall above us. Watching the rain in our car with my husband and daughter was a perfect family moment.

This month the Usery Mountain Regional Park is featuring quite a few different interactive educational opportunities with experienced rangers.

My family will definitely be attending a few of the educational opportunities to learn more about the Arizona desert!

Usery Mountain Regional Park May 2013 Calendar of Events

5/15 10:00 am - ”Just for Kids” Storytime in the Desert - kids will learn about the desert through a fun story, game, and a short nature walk

5/17 12:00 pm - All About Cactuses - one hour presentation about cactus

5/18 7:00 pm - Venomous Reptiles – Live! - exciting presentation of live venomous reptiles

5/22 12:00 pm - All About Wolves - one hour presentation about wolves

5/24 7:30 pm - Full Moon Hike - two mile hike under the glowing light of the moon

5/25 9:00 am - Archery 202 - archery class for participants that have completed Archery 101 course

5/31 6:30 pm - All About Scorpions - one hour presentation about scorpions

5/31 8:00 pm - Scorpion Hunt (first one of the year) - one hour/one milk walk searching for scorpions with black lights

There is a $6 per car fee to visit the park and/or educational events.

Which event sounds like the most fun for your family?

Desert Botanical Garden {Arizona Family Fun}

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This morning my daughter and I visited the Desert Botanical Garden, a beautiful garden with over 50,000 plant displays showcased in outdoor exhibits. The garden has been dedicated to preserving the desert’s natural beauty for over 70 years. Each year almost 1 million visitors go to the garden.

We saw many beautiful cacti, plants, and flowers.

I grew up in Arizona and have seen Saquaro cacti every day. I’m still in awe of their beauty.

My daughter is fascinated by insects and was amazed by the Spring Butterfly Exhibit.

The butterfly exhibit is open for several months each year. We feel very fortunate for our experience today as this Sunday is the last day the exhibit will be open this season. The exhibit is full of hundreds of butterflies.

My daughter pointed out so many different colors and patterns.

Her best part of the experience was when a butterfly landed on her shirt.

There were many opportunities to see Arizona wildlife including lizards and birds. My daughter spent a lot of time watching a snail crawl along the edge of the butterfly exhibit.

The garden has many learning opportunities and is very family friendly. We enjoyed learning fun facts about caterpillars and butterflies.

The garden has several exhibits featuring local artists. They also host many research and educational lectures.

We really enjoyed our visit and will definitely be back!

To learn more about the Desert Botanical Garden, connect with them on Twitter and Facebook.

Shamrock Farms Tour {Arizona Family Fun}

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A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I were invited to visit the Shamrock Farms dairy farm. I have lived in Arizona my entire life and this was my first visit to their farm. We had an amazing experience.

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The farm began in 1922 with just 22 cows. It is now the largest family owned farm in the Southwest and is currently in operation under their third family generation. The farms sees 10 to 12 thousand visitors each year. Each visitor at the farm has access to Roxie’s barn, a large space filled with plenty of learning opportunities. I really enjoyed learning about the farm history.

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We boarded a tram for the tour and were able to see all the areas of the farm. The tour guide was very informative. My daughter is four years old and this tour was packed full of great opportunities to teach her about the importance of eating well.

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She was intrigued by everything she learned about the cows. Did you know each cow consumes 35 gallons of water and 100 pounds of food to make 8.5 gallons of milk each day?

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My daughter had so much fun at the playground. Her favorite thing to do there was slide out of the cottage cheese tub.

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After our stop at the playground, we went inside for a view of the cows being milked. Touching the pipes to feel the warm and cold milk running from the milking area was neat.

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Next we received a close up view of the sisterhood, the hundreds of cows that call the Shamrock Farm their home.

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Each cow stays with the same herd their entire life. These girls really are a sisterhood!

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Our next stop was to feed the calves. This was absolutely my daughter’s favorite part of our day!

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We went back to Roxie’s barn for lunch. Would a day at the farm really be complete with out a chocolate milk toast and ice cream?

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One of my favorite experiences of our day was getting to sample the new Shamrock Farms flavored sour creams. They are delicious and I’m already thinking about the fun recipes I will be using to incorporate the new products.

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We had a great day at the farm! I came home and went straight to the grocery store to stock our refrigerator with milk. I have no difficulty getting my daughter to drink milk and she is a big fan of Shamrock Farms Calcium Plus Milk. I love that it’s her preferred milk because she is getting 100 percent more calcium per 8 ounce serving than in regular milk. My husband says it tastes creamier and my daughter is now an even bigger fan because she saw the cows it comes from!

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