Tucson

Right now the Tour of California bike race is going on. We went last year with some friends and had a great time. Months ago, Scott scheduled the time off in case we'd be able to swing it this year and it didn't happen. We weren't sure what we were going to do with this long weekend and hadn't committed to any plans until 5 days before. For a while I wanted to go play in the snow, but after being sick, the last thing we needed to do was roll down a mountain and get a ski pole in my eye, so we headed south to some sunshine (I know, we live in a desert and flew to more desert). It has been just what we needed. Lots of R&R and some beautiful scenery.
The flight here is quick, about one hour from Vegas. I sat next to a very sweet old man and we chatted the entire time. He turns 80 this year and you'd never know it. It was a fun way to start the trip. We spent the next two days hanging out in the spa and being bums. The place we are staying is nestled up in the mountains near the city so they have accessible hikes and trails. We've been exploring the city, eating meals at random times, watching sunsets, etc.
Here are some shots of what we have done so far.

Here is the sunset the other night we went shopping. I stood on the bench to take this photo. It was incredible. You can't see it very well in the shot, but there were actual fanned orange rays beaming from behind the mountain. I couldn't see Jesse James on his horse, though....


Here are some pics from the Saguaro National Park. Lesson #1: Say it with me, folks: Sa-WAH-ro. Ges. Put on yourl somblelo and say lik that: sa-wah-ro. Gracias.
They are the coolest cactus. They are everywhere and I like them. They are friendly and wave at you when you look out the weendow. Hola, leetle sahwaro! I wish they would grow in Vegas. Do you know why they don't? Well, I do! They cannot survive sub freezing temps. They also live to be hundreds of years old and... well, you can Google them or read my 8th grade level report called 'The Saguaro and You'.










We went on a little sunset hike last night. The route we took put us on a loop around a mountain, so we missed seeing an actual 'sunset', but it was so beautiful. Here are a couple of pics from that. Awww, here we are a little flushed from the work! See how high we went? See? Si.








Now we are going Mountain Biking. Um, yeah. I haven't done that in a loooong time. We'll see how that goes. Adios!