{"id":12967,"date":"2015-08-29T12:50:15","date_gmt":"2015-08-29T19:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettiesworld.com\/?p=12967"},"modified":"2017-06-28T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T04:00:00","slug":"august-with-emma-at-the-ranch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.adoptedjoy.com\/?p=12967","title":{"rendered":"August with Emma – At the Ranch (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bright and beautiful was the dawn on Saturday morn, day two of showing Emily the ranch. We discussed many options for our sojourn, and decided the coolest and prettiest option was to head up to the White Mountains and see the trees and lakes. Our first stop, outside of Springerville, was one I have awaited all year long. There is a particular wildflower that grows plentifully along the roads up north, my absolute favorite, and August is peak season! It is the Helianthus Annus,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>a tall, spindly wild sunflower with a smaller head than the variety grown in places like Kansas and North Dakota for their edible seeds and oil, but nonetheless, an extremely pretty and happy flower. It grows profusely\u00a0in the Becker Wildlife Area, along the River Walk that moseys along beside the Little Colorado River. The river was higher than normal after plentiful rains, and was nearly overflowing the path in places. It was only after we had walked along for a ways, gradually getting squashed between the tall marshy growth on one side and the river on the other that we realized – this wasn’t really the walking path. Oops! Had to turn around and make our way back to where the real trail had gone in the other direction. \ud83d\ude42 Anyway, although the sun was surprisingly hot that early in the morning, I managed to get my fill of foliage photos before we headed up to our next stop, further up and further in.<\/p>\n