Back To Life

I liked Tucson even more the second time. Though we did not do as much outdoorsy stuff as our first visit, we certainly enjoyed it. I'll present a few highlights here.

I only put in a couple mornings of running. Below is one of the roads I utilized on the route. Everyone I encountered either in a vehicle or walking along the road was nice. Waving. Exuberant "good mornings". A breath of fresh air. In fact a lot of the encounters we had with people were very positive.

This image captured by Mrs is from a visit to Tohono Chul Park. We spent a good bit of time walking through the botanical gardens. A really nice spot to visit. Below that is a Lesser Goldfinch getting a sip of water from one of the fountains.




On Monday 3/16 we went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We were here on our last trip, but wanted the in-laws to see it. We happened to catch the live raptor show which I normally would not go for, but this gave good opportunity to study Harris's Hawk up close and learn some things about them.


After the museum, we stopped at a picnic area not far from the museum for a bite to eat. Really nicely done area with limited impact on the desert, and some great views.



On 3/17 we took a ride over to the west side of town to see the San Xavier del Bac Mission in the San Xavier District. Ok, not really up my alley, but definitely worth seeing. The place was swarming with people, but somehow we managed to snap an image without them.



After visiting the mission, we headed down to Tubac, AZ. We liked this place on our last visit so we decided to go again. Mrs had a watch that she purchased here last time which needed a repair of the band. Below are a few images that only give a slight hint of the colony.




Wednesday 3/18 was a bit of a lazy day. I walked down to Agua Caliente Park for some sunrise birding. Below is an image of a Vermillion Flycatcher that I was able to capture with the point and shoot through my spotting scope.

Saw some good stuff and am very happy I went.

Later on we took a drive up Mt Lemmon to Summerhaven so the in-laws could see the sites. And then on 3/19 Mrs and I returned to do a little bit of hiking on The Sunset Trail. We saw some good birds here including Pygmy Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, Stellar's Jay, Juniper Titmouse and Western bluebird.



After the hike, we headed to the top beyond the ski area to get into what was left of the snow. We did this last trip so, of course, I had to do it again.



On Friday, 3/20 Mrs and I took a ride through Saguaro National Park (east) after spending some time in the Visitors Center.




We saw our only (live) snake of the trip here. It was in the roadway, so we hopped out for a closer look and to move it along so it would not be killed. I identified it as non-venomous and I am certain it was a gopher snake. It was fairly large and moved rapidly off the road and disappeared.

On the way back to the house we drove around to look at some homes with For Sale signs in front of them. We happened to be driving by a Geocache, so I had to stop and get it. A clever hide...


The day before we left, we went back to Agua Caliente Park to view art work by Ruth Canada billed as "Birds With An Attitude". We had purchased a couple small prints on a visit earlier in the week and wanted to take a second look. With luck, Ruth Canada was there. We ended up purchasing one of her original pieces and are anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

So, not a bad trip and so nice to be in a place where layers of clothing were not needed.