Our Girl Scout troop went on a super fun horseback ride before our intense summer heat kicked in and just had to share a few photos.  I will never show anyone’s faces for privacy on this blog beyond our own family so these are more view oriented. We rode with Ft. McDowell Adventures in our beautiful Sonoran Desert – not a building in site (OK the casino was behind us on the highway just outside of the bustling town of Fountain Hills …. but at least we could drive a ways out on the dirt road long enough to get here that we FELT like we were in the middle of God’s beautiful earth without civilization.)

We had panoramic vistas 360 degrees and could see all the way to Fountain Hills, by the Verde River, and over towards what I ‘think’ is Brown’s Peak and surrounding mountains.

All of the horses were very gentle – despite a near disaster with another horse getting close to my horse’s rear end… he did NOT care for that !! ;D The girls had a most memorable time and enjoyed playing with the local dogs in the store-stable as well.

Wanted to mention that Ft. McDowell really specializes in large group rides where others can not accommodate.  Many of our riders were under the age minimum to do the 1.5 popular ride through the Verde River so they were flexible to our needs and budget and did a 1 hour ride instead.  The river would have been neat but we did enjoy riding through the desert and watching the hawks swoop over our heads!

Perhaps the most exciting discovery though was when we were leaving!

Crossing the road were WILD HORSES !!  We heard that there were a lot of wild horses in the area and there they were….looked like one of them was smaller than the others?

As we were climbing up the hill from Fountain Hills to Scottsdale we were blessed again by another beautiful Arizona sunset.

Needless to say Pebbles and I were beyond thrilled and so grateful for this special day together with our friends.