Arizona flag

When it comes to flag design, I have to give the state of Arizona an A+.
Very well done.

The Palace restaurant

The Palace Restaurant and Saloon is across the street from the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona.

It's a relic of the old west and American history.

Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Doc Holliday and other notorious gamblers and law men used to frequent The Palace.






There's a booth in an out of the way corner marked "Big Nose Kate", where Doc Holliday's "girlfriend" (as the waiter referred to her) likely sat.

The old carved bar from the 1880s was saved in a fire when patrons carried it out of the building and across the street.  It's still in use today.

In the late 1800s, the Palace was a center of talk and information on politics, business and town gossip.

You can still go in through the saloon doors to enjoy an old west "watering hole".

Watson Lake

Watson Lake is really a reservoir, built in the early 1900s.

As the water is caught between granite cliffs and rock formations, it makes for a very pretty view.

Downtown prescott

 You can walk down the streets of Prescott and wonder if you're in the 1880s.

There's an interesting mix of people on the streets.

Cowboys at stoplights.

Saloon girls on sidewalks

The old west is still peeking out in this town.

Yavapai County Courthouse

The center of down town Prescott

is the Yavapai County Courthouse.

Though it's in the middle of the Old West, it's a Neo-classical style building, very symmetrical, tall and imposing.
Maybe that was to tame the west and wipe out any last ideas of lawlessness or vigilante justice.
It does look very official.

Prickly pear

The prickly pear, nature's bounty.

Right?

Baloo says so.

We tried it.  And by "we", I mean I didn't do any work but only documented that it happened. 

So prickly pair growing along sidewalks are plenteous right now.  But they are sharp little things, and obtaining a bucketful was not without some pricks and tears.

 To get rid of the prickliness, the pears were held over an open flame just long enough to singe them all off. 

Prickly pears have good color.

 And a pretty purple juice once you strip off their skin and squeeze it out of the pulp and seeds.

 The juice was boiled with half a cup of sugar.

The yield of twenty prickly pears was a very small amount of syrup.  Less than a cup.

Worth all that work?  Maybe for the wisdom and experience gained?
Perhaps. 
If I really have a hankerin' for it, though, I'll probably let somebody else do the work and buy prickly pear jam at the store.

Swimming legs

 Spotted at a nearby pool:  legs.

Baby ones

 Grown up ones

Kid ones.

It's kind of like looking in a fishbowl of humans.

Go carts

If you've not yet gotten your driver's license, the go-carts can seem super exciting.

To be allowed to drive, that's a rite of passage.

But even grown ups like them.

They don't go so fast, they don't drive smoothly.
Yet people line up to drive mini cars around a track. 

Arcade

He's mesmerized.

 Caught in the hypnotizing carpet.

 Undone by the flashing lights, bright colors, and beeps and explosion sounds.

The arcade is a created to draw in susceptible humans to trade in their money and time for plastic, molded into shapes that easily crumble to pieces.

It's incredible how it works.