After finding a parking spot in the shade, we went to the visitor center and gift shop. It is a new building built with passive solar to take advantage of natural light and heat.
We learned about some of the upcoming events, including some behind the scenes tours and Shakespeare in the park - we will be adding several of these to our calendar.
Besides beautiful plantings, there are some interesting sculpture.
We started out on one of the handicap accessible trails that leads to the amphitheater where some students and teachers were being introduced to the center by local docents.
From there, the trails were easy to walk through the woods of the Prescott National Forest.
We came across this small bed of cacti growing in a boulder on the side of the trail.
The Prescott National Forest is a working forest. Besides areas for recreation like the Highlands Center and the nearby Lynx Lake, the forest is managed and harvested.
We passed a small spring which created a narrow ribbon of green riparian area.
We came across several park benches, all of this style with memorial plaques telling who was being recognized by the bench.
But then we came to this different bench.
On the bench were these small critters - that were made of metal and welded to the bench.
We sat there for a few minutes enjoying the quiet and the dry stream bed before us.
On the tree next to the bench we saw numerous decorations, including gems and angels.
And the bench was labelled with a sign reminding us that "All you need is love."
From that bench, we turned and headed back to the center. Along the way we had noticed several of these buildings powered by solar electric power - we will have to search more to find out what they are monitoring.
We also saw signs showing the boundary of the Highlands Center within the Prescott National Forest.
We also passed a monarch waystation and a meadow that was being restored.
It was a great day to walk in the woods - light breezes, temps in the low 70s, trees, blue skies and a few white wispy clouds.
We learned about some of the upcoming events, including some behind the scenes tours and Shakespeare in the park - we will be adding several of these to our calendar.
Besides beautiful plantings, there are some interesting sculpture.
We started out on one of the handicap accessible trails that leads to the amphitheater where some students and teachers were being introduced to the center by local docents.
From there, the trails were easy to walk through the woods of the Prescott National Forest.
We came across this small bed of cacti growing in a boulder on the side of the trail.
The Prescott National Forest is a working forest. Besides areas for recreation like the Highlands Center and the nearby Lynx Lake, the forest is managed and harvested.
We passed a small spring which created a narrow ribbon of green riparian area.
We came across several park benches, all of this style with memorial plaques telling who was being recognized by the bench.
But then we came to this different bench.
On the bench were these small critters - that were made of metal and welded to the bench.
We sat there for a few minutes enjoying the quiet and the dry stream bed before us.
On the tree next to the bench we saw numerous decorations, including gems and angels.
And the bench was labelled with a sign reminding us that "All you need is love."
From that bench, we turned and headed back to the center. Along the way we had noticed several of these buildings powered by solar electric power - we will have to search more to find out what they are monitoring.
We also saw signs showing the boundary of the Highlands Center within the Prescott National Forest.
We also passed a monarch waystation and a meadow that was being restored.
It was a great day to walk in the woods - light breezes, temps in the low 70s, trees, blue skies and a few white wispy clouds.
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