The Superstition Mountains are east of the Phoenix (Salt River) Valley and the north end of them, just out of Apache Junction, is very imposing and a place we want to explore. But first we went to Home Depot to buy, as it turns out, a Queen Palm for the north end of the pool. Jeff had removed a flowering bush from that area and needed to fill it in with something that looked nice and didn't fill the pool with loose vegetation. So we planted the palm there. (By we, I mean Alesa and Jeff with guidance from Danielle and I) It was then a perfect opportunity for some pool time to include lots of water volleyball. We keep buying and patching beach balls due to a couple of 'spikey' plants near the pool and the wind is rather unforgiving on a high, poorly hit beachball. Alesa has named all 7 of them and we have to either patch them or bury them. There are another 5 in reserve. After lunch we drove out to the mountains. Driving through the desert, passing a commercial 'ghost town' we arrived at the Lost Dutchman State Park at the very base of the mountains. It was beautiful and very imposing. We went into the office/gift shop and the ranger was very helpful explaining all the trails and activities available. We weren't hiking because of the heat of the day so she gave us a complimentary 30 minute pass so we could check out the facilities. Alesa bought a hat similar to mine and Jeff was interested in the night and overnight hikes because the stars are spectacular from the heights and away from the lights. She even showed us a tarantula by the front door and took Alesa on a short tour of some cacti. (not exactly sure why). Back at the house we picked up Danielle and Bridget (home from school) then off to get Bailey for dinner with Annie Brown who was in town on business from NYC. From Bailey's dorm we walked to a restaurant which had recently gone out of business and no one was happy to have walked quite a distance in the heat. So we trudged on to another place which couldn't seat us for another 2 hours so, UGH. Jeff Ubered back to the car and after Annie arrived we happened upon a very nice quite place where we had a good meal and visited. Great fun including the hardships which serve to make it even more memorable.