We decided to do some exploring today, so after breakfast we all loaded into the Suzuki and headed out to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge located about 18 miles South of Blythe, CA, but just over the border across the farmers bridge into AZ.
We got there before the information center opened, so we just proceeded onto the drive loop for a couple of miles, where we were able to park and go on a walk for about a mile and a half or so.
It was a very interesting walk, spotting all the different birds, poop signs that there were some coyotes and cougar somewhere in the park, and a few lizards. Between the three digital cameras present, I think that the number of poop pictures, was more than all the rest combined. We had to excises the delete key a little bit after the pictures were downloaded.
About 10 AM we were back at the information center and after asking a few question and trying to decipher just what kind of birds that we had photographed, we were ready to leave.
We had read about a fire agate mine near where we were, so we decided to try and find it. It turned out that we had to do some backtracking to get to the mine, and then drive about 9 miles on what is probably better described as a 4 wheel drive trail to get to the Opal Hill Mine although I never did put it in 4 wheel but did think about it a couple of times.
We found the proprietor and since children can dig free, he agreed to just charge us for just one adult, and he then proceeded to give us a lesson after which Barb, Christopher and Jessica spent the next hour or so digging. We probably came up with 2 or 3 gems that were keepers, but I think he felt sorry for us, so when we paid him the 25$ for the day, he showed us a bunch more gems that he had and gave us an additional hand full of stones. It was a very interesting experience and since you can dig all day for the 25$, it might be fun sometime to come and spend a day if there was a little cloud cover. Barb did manage to find a few shady spots to hang out in though. Jessica was more interested in the shiny rocks so she spent here time trying to collect those.
After returning to the coach and cleaning up, we joined some of the other park members for a spaghetti dinner, put on by the park. After dinner, Christopher and Jessica wanted to have a run off Animal Idol, but we compromised and let them preform without the benefit of judges. So ends another fine day in the Arizona desert.
Red Lion Man (& Lady)
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