And this is what I saw...

Saturday we drove to Thatcher for Nick's band competition. I have never been to the Gila Valley area before. We went through Miami and Globe, which are mining towns. I was not impressed. However, when we reached Pima, Safford and Thatcher I was so excited to see cotton fields! Cotton has been a favorite crop of mine to observe since I lived in the San Joaquin valley in CA. I got to see the modules sitting on the side of the road waiting to go to the gin...

We saw several fields of cotton; some were still green, others had been defoliated, and others had been picked. We even saw a huge cotton picker at work. (didn't get a picture of it.)

It felt good to get out and look down the rows. I love the feel and smell of the cotton plant. It is certainly unique to any other crop.

It was fun to show Rod the plants up close and personal.

I guess that one should expect to see cotton in a town called Pima, eh?

And then as we were driving down the road, totally out of the blue, I saw a golden statue gleaming in the sun. Right there off to the side of the road was the new Gila Valley temple. It is still under construction, of course. I had no idea we would get to see the temple on this trip. We were thrilled! It was interesting to see that the Angel Moroni was already in place, yet there were no front doors. We could see ladders and scaffolding inside.

A fun trip with exciting sites to see on the way!