Fantastic Friday at Piedra Falls

[Friday pictures]

Friday dawned bright and clear.  Matt started out with a refreshing and kind of intense bike ride around the lakes around the area.  A doe and her two fawns walked right across the road in front of him.  Upon his return the balloon was going up again and passed right overhead (giving a unique photo op).

We had homemade McGriddles for breakfast as we try to clean out the fridge (frozen waffles toasted with an egg, cheese and bacon in the middle).  Yummy!

We made the journey to Piedra Falls to the end of County Road 637.  It's the longest 8 miles that we've ever driven because it's so full of twists and turns.  Oh - it's also one lane!  We were the first people in the parking lot though a family was striking a campsite (they'd obviously stayed the night).

We were actually able to cross the Piedra River below the falls (for the first time).  Again - it made for some photo opportunities that we've never had before.

We hiked up to the falls and had a lot of fun taking pictures from all different places and angles and poses.  That's probably obvious from our photo gallery for the day...

We wrapped up the day with a couple of errands and activities (besides getting our stuff ready to go).
We made our pilgrimage to the Choke Cherry Tree and sampled the delicious comestibles therein.  And of course had to buy some of them...yum yum and double yum.

We found a great recipe for homemade energy bars (the ones you eat - we're not splitting atoms or anything...).   It was in the Prevention magazine.  We made four batches in preparation for the family gathering next week in Flagstaff - we'll share them with everyone on our appointed meal day (Monday).
You start with a base of some cereal (rice, wheat, corn, muesli) and add a little flour.  Then you can add two or three extras (they suggest a nut and a dried fruit).  You glue it together with sugar/honey/brown sugar (your choice), egg whites, salt and optional vanilla or almond extract.

Here's the flavors we made...
- "It's Just Nuts" - Rice cereal with almonds, pecans and walnuts
- "Rooty Tooty Fruity" - Rice cereal with dried blueberries, tart red cherries, pineapple and mango
- "Cran Ban Coco" - Muesli with dried cranberries, banana chips and shredded coconut
- "Blue Cran Almond Joyful" - Rice cereal with almonds, dried blueberries and dried cranberries