Riparian Preserve

I am almost sure that if you say Riparian Preserve over and over again you'll end up biting your tongue.  I haven't tried it.  Just sayin'.  :)

Oh bloggies I'm sorry that I haven't been writing so frequently.  I don't seem to have much fodder so it's been a bit slow going as of late.  Today though my friend Julie and her dog Bella took Shila and I to the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, AZ and it was so beautiful that I just had to share.

I have to be honest that I was shocked to learn of this Preserve.  Having been in AZ since '02 I thought that I would have heard or seen this place before.  It's tucked within the city of Gilbert - almost smack dab in the middle.  If you blink, you'll miss the entrance and being inside the Preserve, well...it's just amazing how easy it is to feel that you're out in the rural areas of AZ enjoying a gorgeous walk in nature.

I wouldn't describe our experience as a hike as there aren't any hills...mostly leveled paths which to be honest I was happy with as I haven't hiked in quite a while.  You'll find all of the expected local AZ vegetation here but what I love the most are the lakes.  There are quite a number of them and each are filled with lovely birds.  I don't usually get too excited about birds but today was different.  I just couldn't believe that I was in the middle of the city of Gilbert amongst all of the wildlife - it really made me appreciate these gorgeous birds from simple ducks to geese to hummingbirds...the list goes on and on.  We saw many a bird enthusiast as well!  And I have to admit that there was one point when Julie and I noted that it would be fun to have a pair of binoculars on us.  We then promptly looked at each other with despair as we realized how old we sounded!

Before we move to pictures, I have to let you know how much of a proud Mother I was today of my boo Shila.  Since I adopted Shila she has had a mild form of leash aggression which means that when on leash she appears aggressive to other dogs if they aren't close to her.  Once close to her she is fine but from far, she acts very cooky (Lizzie, I used your word!!).  Today though I used the inside squeaker of a toy that the dogs had mutilated and every time we crossed paths with another dog, I squeezed the squeaker.  It worked FABULOUSLY and Shila did so great!  You have no idea how proud I was of my little Shila!!  It is a joy to take her on a walk when she's not acting like a maniac every two minutes!

Well, here are some pictures.  Now listen I'm going to tell you now that they aren't impressive.  These pictures simply don't do justice to how gorgeous the preserve is.  I have vowed to come back on my own with my camera and take another shot at capturing the beauty.

 

I swear it was prettier than this picture lets on

 

So serene...

 

Duckies galore!

 

The Preserve backs up to many houses and many of them have farm animals.  I couldn't resist but see Shila's reaction to a pony.  It wasn't good at first but then she got really curious and got as close as she could.  Cute!

 

These geese were on show for us.  They lined up and began a little production!

 

They look like they're dancing, huh?

 

The two middle ones suddenly got shy

 

And then they scuttled off, exit left (their left)

 

Julie and I (please excuse my head that looks 1.5 times bigger than Julie's)

Peace!
~kavita