Climbing out of the desert

Today we left the desert and climbed up to Prescott, Arizona, transitting the Prescott National Forest along the way. Only 60 miles of riding, but about 7500 vertical feet of climbing. It was nice to have some variation in the terrain, and a change of vegetation. I could feel the effects of all the miles the past four days, plodding up the long climbs.

Prescott is a really nice town. We passed all sorts of interesting looking restaurants on the way in, including Indian, Thai, lots of Mexican, and a wine bar/brick oven pizza place. Very civilized. We even stopped at the local Starbucks, the true indicator of civilization. I also met a local bike rider when I was in the national forest, who was born in Massachusetts, but swears he will never leave here. Paradise. The elevation makes it a lot more comfortable in the summer than most of Arizona.

In the morning, before the ride, I spotted a peacock at the hotel.
This seemed odd, but then I realized that he was just looking to hang out with some of his own kind:

Hail Britannia!