Blogs from Tucson, Arizona, United States, North America - page 22

Tucson got gobs of rain and Mt. Lemmon turned white. This is always a wonderful sight in the desert. The saguaros are plumped up with water and the desert is green and beautiful. But, best of all, the mountains surrounding the city are covered with snow. It is just lovely! The rain has continued to follow us on our trip west, but it hasn't been too bad. Our first week in Tucson was spent hiking and going to U of A basketball games. The hiking was a bit chilly and the basketball games were both terrific wins for the Wildcats. From Tucson we drove to Yuma and spent a very rainy day there. They had more rain in the one day we were there than they usually have in the month of January and February!! The ... read more

Well, I have hit all my old territtory. From the Classic Chiricahua Mountains in the East...To Tombstone, Ghosttown of Gleeson and ultimately, the Santa Ritas. The Chiricahuas are still my favorite in the area. Got to Tucson...Did some final bike work with a mechanic in the states before heading south to Mexico. Caught up with Josh Waggoner and his wife, Lyra, at an awesome restaurant in the foothills overlooking Tucson at Campbell and Skyline. It was great to hear their stories of the past 8 years and share some stories. They got engaged at the White House so that story is one for all time!!! They said Charlie was doing great! Chuck, shout out to you man in Seattle! Wish I knew you lived their! Got to ski at Crystal Mountain last year and my buddy, ... read more

Day 11 Okay, we’ve made it safely out of North Las Vegas. After missing one turn, we pulled a U-turn and made it on the correct interstate. We crossed the Hoover Dam. Benji’s quote when it came into view: “Dam!” We had to be inspected before crossing. Benji was going to warn the officers that our camper was a mess inside. His thought “It looks like a bomb went off in there.” Bad choice of words, Ben Ben. Luckily, he kept his mouth shut and we passed inspection without incident. Off to Wickenberg! Lunch will happen there and we’ll get some information about the ghost town. I may have to turn this into a Scooby-Doo blog for a day. So we’re in Wickenberg. No sign of this Vulture Mine or whatever it’s called. They do ... read more

This may verge on the incoherent - because of all the 3:30am bedtimes I’ve had this weekend. The pictures are entertaining though, so I’m writing anyway. Mark drove us to Tucson on Friday afternoon, to show us his old uni (he graduated last year) and introduce us to his friends. Tucson’s smaller than Phoenix and everything feels closer and more accessiblel. On Friday afternoon (in 100+ degree heat) we walked around the campus. It’s a lovely uni - massive, and so fixated on the sports arenas (their teams are all called the Wildcats - apparently outstanding at Basketball and sub-standard at American Football). We went into a café Mark’s friend works at (he seemed to know everybody we saw) and got some free ice water, then went back to the car. We had no idea what ... read more

Where it's 97 degrees! and where everyone likes to assure you: "but it's a DRY heat". :) We stayed with friends Kerri and Carter and their sons Josh and Chase. Echo enjoyed the pool...until Paul threw him in...and we relaxed. There were some skiddish moments, like when we saw our first rattle snake, or when Kerri told us about all the scorpions that are on the sidewalks, the rocks, and even used to pop up in the bathrooms. One day we went to the Saguaro National Forest. Saguaros are the type of cactus that predominantly grow there, and all of the cacti were in bloom. Luckily, we didn't see any snakes or other creepy crawlies, only a few bunnies and lizards. At night we'd hang out and play ping pong and pool with the boys, ... read more