Boyinks4Adventure

We sometimes have visitors or our park that ask if we have a lake or river and it always amuses us because we are located in the middle of a, you know, desert.  The forces of politics and commerce were too strong to resist, however, so Arizona has added water features so that the necessary dollars can be spent on boating and sport fishing. We already visited Canyon Lake a…   Read More >>

The last time we stayed at this park Storybird became enamoured of the cactus life in the Sonoran Desert - to the point where she bought her own identification guide and eventually asked “Can I be a cactus expert”? Since we began camp-hosting here she began building relationships with both the on-staff Interpretative Ranger and the other camp-hosts and attending just about every program they lead. Some days she will…   Read More >>

At nine o’clock in the morning, Harrison and I walked out onto our shaded patio and watched while people gathered just outside of our campsite. A bright array of bows was laid out on the table. DIfferent colored shafts and fletchings rose up out of orange cones. Ranger B and Charlie were leading an Archery 101 class. Harrison and I were hoping for openings. As Ranger B checked people off…   Read More >>

This morning Storybird and I attended a photo walk led by local photographer Steven Lewis of Western Skies Photography.  The photo walk was in Usery Mountain Regional Park - where we are currently camphosting. While I’ve taken lots and lots of photos over the years there is always more to learn about photography, so it’s always good to find a group of fellow shutterbugs and just listen in on the…   Read More >>

The Chainfruit Cholla is a very popular Sonoran Desert cholla, along with the Teddy Bear Cholla. The Chainfruit and Teddy Bear often get mixed up, but the Teddy Bear is usually shorter than the Chainfruit and never has the fruit. The fruit is edible, but it tastes very bad and is not good for you, so don’t eat it. The Chainfruit Cholla is also called the Jumping Cholla, because it…   Read More >>

Thinking about escaping suburbia?  Finding it hard to meet people with similar thoughts?  Rest assured, they are out there. UnrulyGrownups.com is described as An oasis for those courageous souls who relish in rejecting the status quo and choose to live creatively. Site owner Brandon recently learned of our story and contacted us for an interview.  The interview covers our thinking behind launching ourselves out of suburbia, how we stay connected…   Read More >>

The park we are working in borders the Tonto National Forest - indeed some of the archery range we are parked by is actually in the national forest land. When we were here last time we explored Tonto very little - basically just heading up over the hill that our park is on to see what was on the other side. I want to see more of it now that…   Read More >>

Since we’re stopped down for a few weeks camp-hosting and are a bit short on “we went here and did this and saw that” kind of content I thought I would take the time to write a more reflective post. We really don’t get a ton of email from our website (a mixed blessing as it’s nice to know our ramblings are being read but then who wants to answer…   Read More >>

Imagine your body. You have hundreds of thousands of veins, arteries, and capillaries, running all under your skin. Those veins, arteries, and capillaries carry blood all over to bring oxygen and other necessary nutrients to the muscles and everything else. Desert washes act the same way. Hundreds of thousands of washes criss-cross the desert. During monsoon season, water rushes through them, bringing water and nutrients all over to the plants.…   Read More >>

Have you found TED talks? TED talks & conferences are all about “ideas worth spreading” about Technology, Entertainment, and Design (see where the acronym comes from?). A while back I re-discovered a TED talk that I had seen before, one by Graham Hill entitled Less Stuff, More Happiness. I’ll embed it below so you can view it if you haven’t: After viewing the talk and the related notes I was…   Read More >>