One of the very best things about where we live is "our backyard". The part of our backyard that we own is nice, but small, but the part we don't own is much bigger. Our house it at the top of town. The area used to be called "sand town". And rightfully so. Red dirt, sand and red rock is what it is mostly. But it is also so beautiful. And it is a designated part of the the Red Cliffs Reserve. That means it is protected and no one can build a big fancy house on the cliff behind me. It is full of desert animals - we've seen desert tortoises, foxes, raccoons, tarantulas, deer, Gila monsters, and of course, lizards and snakes. And there has actually been a mountain lion up there before (he came further down into the neighborhood and had to be darted and taken away, thank goodness!). I'm sure there are lots of other critters out there too. It is so nice to have this little bit of wild land behind us and so available to enjoy via the Owen's Loop Trail which we can access right behind the house. There's also Brook's pond just a street over with it's ducks that we can visit with the grand kids. It's a pretty great place to live, and we love it!!!
