Today was our second trip to the Queen Creek Olive Mill. in three years. The mill has grown. The Queen Creek Olive Mill is a family owned company that grows and presses olives for the production of high quality extra virgin olive oil, direct from their farm to your table.
I stood in line to purchase our guided tour tickets.
I don't remember breads and cupcakes being sold here on our last visit. We came home with four lemon cupcakes.
We also enjoyed lunch at del Piero, the mill's Tuscan inspired eatery.
We walked out onto the grounds to wait for our tour to start at 12:30. Don is looking for a place to sit.
Found it!
Norm and Lori were so gracious to offer their vehicle with the larger back seat for our day trip to the olive mill.
Temperature reached 73 degrees today, with a mild breeze.
Have you ever felt inclined to pray for a complete stranger without any contact at all?
We waited under the white gazebo for our tour guide.
The olives are harvested by hand with this type of rake.
At first glance, our tour guide, Shelley, looked Italian, however,
the more I watched and listened to her the more Greek she looked to me. Wherever she's from, she was a good tour guide and very knowledgeable.
This is the press room where the fresh olives are processed to extract the oil.
Some patrons choose to eat on the covered patio.
We had a great time at the Queen Creek Olive Mill and came home with a couple of products.
The second highlight of the day was, just as I had finished telling Norm and Lori about a very rare Saguaro cactus named the Crown Saguaro, I spotted one off the highway to the right!!!
Norm turned the truck around and drove back a few hundred yards to a place to park and we all piled out of the truck with our cameras. A barbed wire fence separated me from a good picture of the Crown in better light, so..... Norm climbed through the fence and took my camera out about 75 yards to the crown to get a better picture.
He got some great pictures of the Crown! Thanks, Norm!
Nearby was this Saguaro. While looking at this picture, I noticed how straight the ribs are and then I looked again at the picture above. The ribs on the Crown Saguaro are not straight at all above the second set of 'arms.' I'm guessing that could be the reason the 'arms' form the crown instead of normal 'arms.'
I am not exactly sure where the Crown is located, but it is somewhere south of Florence on AZ 79 on the west side of the highway. Since learning last year how rare this cactus is, you can imagine how excited I was to find one. Last year, I found one down close to the San Xavier Mission.
Just another picture of Picacho Peak from a different direction.
After arriving back at Sunscape, we rested for about an hour and then Norm and Lori came over for paninis and cards and ice cream drizzled with strawberry balsamic vinegar (reduced) (purchased today at the mill) and the wonderful lemon cupcakes. A great finish to a wonderful day with amazing friends!
Wish you could have been with us.
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