Dispatch from Up North, Part 2: Bootleg Lake, Arizona
This week, we’re visiting Bootleg Lake, Arizona, a small reservoir on White Mountain Apache land outside Pinetop-Lakeside. Long-Suffering Husband and I happened upon this place while driving around exploring. We saw a sign that read Bootleg Lake and pointed down a dirt road. Unable to resist either lakes or dirt roads, I said, “Let’s check it out,” and off the pavement we went. After a mile or two, we arrived–here:
Yes, that’s a lake, but this part is covered by lots of duckweed. According to a site for Arizona fishermen, Bootleg Lake disappears and reappears from year to year depending on rainfall. There’s been a lot of rain this monsoon season, and the lake looked pretty full (not that you can tell from this picture).
Please keep reading for more photos of this gorgeous place plus the usual batch of meme-y nonsense, but first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Grab treat, have a seat, and let’s go exploring!
We spent over an hour wandering along paths and dirt roads around the lake, taking in the beauty, the scent of ponderosa pines, and the silence.
This road led partway around the lake:
I’m drawn to both dirt roads and trails. There might be something cool just around the next curve–and in this case, there definitely was.
One of the greatest joys of travel is serendipity. I’m a planner by nature, but I’m getting better at leaving room for wandering, for exploring, for stumbling across something lovely at the end of a random dirt road.
See last week’s post for more pictures from our Pinetop-Lakeside getaway. And there will be more next week too.
Nothing new and exciting happened this week, so we’ll get straight to:
The Memery
I wasted entirely too much time scrolling social media this week, but my loss is your gain. Here we go:
If only I’d done that, “close the internet” thing, I might have gotten more writing done.
Yep. Definitely should have closed the internet. But if I had, I’d have missed this gem:
In case that one wasn’t bad enough, there’s this:
And this:
Even I need a palate cleanser after that one.
Meownidas is plotting revenge, but I don’t think the Persians will be his target–unless whoever put that thing on his head is Persian.
I found that one almost a week ago, and I’m still laughing at it. Tells you pretty much all you need to know about my level of maturity and sophistication.
In the WTF department:
I kind of want to recreate this and attach a hidden camera to my truck to watch people’s reactions. I’ll compile still shots of their faces into a collage and call it, “50 Shades of WTF.”
Let’s switch gears and pay a quick visit to the wonderful world of work:
And on that note, I’d better sign off. I have a boring show Zoom call coming up.
Anyone have any fun weekend plans? I’ll be writing and cleaning. It’s nonstop excitement down here at Camp WTF, I tell ya.
16 Comments
Bobbiem91
Adore those memes. Have no idea of where you find them, but they are good. My weekend plans. 1. Get over cold Al gave me for my birthday. 2. Paint office. Finally got all the sanding done (in reality gave up on making all pretty) Have the ceiling half done. 3. get some writing done. (maybe that should have been first, but want my office usable) 4. Stop playing on the computer and actually work.
Janet Alcorn
I find the memes when I’m scrolling Facebook instead of writing—I need to follow your plan #4! Sorry you have a cold, especially on your birthday (happy birthday BTW!). I ended up getting some writing done but not much else.
Natalie
Janet, Thank you for your weekend coffee share with beautiful pictures of Bootleg lake and funny memes. I agree with you that one of the greatest joys of travel is serendipity. Have a great week!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Hope you have a great week too!
trent
What in the hell is it, Hollywood Squares meets the Brady Bunch? Whatever, I agree, boring. I saw the Phillip’s head screwdriver earlier this week and almost spit out the coffee I was sipping. OK, because I was laughing so hard, not because of the thought of, well, Phillip’s head. The only meme I saw his week that I thought was funnier was a picture of a bumper sticker on a Honda Odyssey that said “My other car is an Iliad”. Uhm, all of that being said, even without the sign I most likely would not break the window to let Cthulhu out, no matter how hot it is! Glad you followed the dirt roads to find Bootleg Lake and it’s less weedy echo. Have a great week!
Janet Alcorn
Yes, Zoom meetings are the unholy (and boring) offspring of the Brady Bunch and the Hollywood Squares.
“My other car is an Illiad”—blahahahaha!
leannelc
Hi Janet – oh my goodness all that duckweed! I added a little bit to our raised pond and it totally took over – so I can see how it’d run wild in a lake with the right conditions. I still like it – but in moderation. Great memes as always and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed your holiday.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! I tried adding duckweed to the pond at our last house but the koi ate it before it could get established. They’d have loved Bootleg Lake.
Gary A Wilson
Hi Janet,
I’m collecting lots of reasons for hating WordPress.
Lately I’ve been trying to figure out what I now need to do to read the weekend coffee shares (which still works fine) then ‘LIKE’ someone’s post (which mysteriously stopped working in the past week sometime) and add a comment because that’s where relationships grow but these have been a moving target of functionality and in the past week almost failed except the ability to answer someone’s comment to me – that always worked.
Anyway – today I tried something to again see if I could find a path that just worked as expected. What I tried was allowing pop-ups from certain blog sites, like yours. And just like that – I could LIKE and, I hope, post this comment to tell you that I enjoyed your bit of water in Arid-zona and, of course, you remain my only trusted source of memes that I understand and enjoy.
So – I did all of the above, I think I can now rejoin the weekend conversation by telling you that I enjoyed your coffee share. Life should not be this difficult.
Janet Alcorn
Yeah, WordPress is weird and sometimes much harder to use than it needs to be. Glad it worked and that you enjoyed the post!
Gary A Wilson
ooooo
Looks like it worked. . .
Now – I’d love to know why almost all the sites I visit now want my email, name, and URL to accept my comments. That’s just a pain, but I don’t know what’s changed to cause this.
– – – sigh – – –
Janet Alcorn
If they’re WordPress sites, it’s possible you need to log into WordPress again. Then it should recognize you.
Joanne
That is a lovely lake! My husband and I just returned home from a long weekend trip and we spent the whole 4 days just wandering and stumbling upon things to see and do. I rarely do something without a plan but it is so fun to just “be” on vacation and see what happens. We had some really fabulous hikes.
Janet Alcorn
I usually have a plan too, but sometimes it’s wonderful to just wander. Glad you and your husband had a good trip!
Julie
In the first picture, I could not tell if there was a lake. It looked like a grass field because of all the duck weed.
Janet Alcorn
Yep. I had the same first impression in person!