Our Second Tucson Trip

Here’s what New Mexico looked like when we left. Sleet and headwinds.

I had a sore throat and knew I had a cold was coming on, but I was determined to get to Tucson. We were blown around by the wind most of the trip; it felt like being on an airplane in turbulence. But we made it to Tucson! Here’s the view out our window when we got there that evening. The hotel was an inexpensive one that John found on the north edge of town.

The first time we went to Tucson this fall, we didn’t have time to go hiking and just did some in-town activities like the botanical gardens. This time we had an extra day, and getting out to hike and bike was one of our main goals.

The first morning we went on a bike ride. I was definitely sick, so we didn’t ride very far, but we were amazed by the miles and miles of almost empty paved bike trails. I’ve never seen anywhere as good for biking.

Here is a very boring, 36 second low-resolution movie. Don’t expect anything to happen. It was just really nice to be out there. https://youtu.be/GtZPqxv0fmw

That afternoon we went on an easy flat hike in a wash. John decided to show off and play with the cholla (pronounced choi-ya). We have cholla in New Mexico too, so he should know better.

Cholla releases little balls of fishhook thorns that adhere to everything.

If there’s any breeze at all, it’s like the plant is tossing them at you. And they will stick and you can’t get them off!

You don’t want to touch cholla. Seriously, not even the slightest touch. LOL, John deliberately picked one up and then couldn’t get it off his hand for the longest time. I was laughing!

Here’s me with saguaro (pronouced suh-wah-roe). No, I didn’t touch it.

More great cactus pictures.

And even some flowers.

The next day we went on more easy flat hikes (there are also strenuous hikes near Tucson, but I was still sick, so we stuck to the easy ones).

I was lucky I felt well enough to get outside, which was my whole goal. And the weather was wonderful.

I had pictured brown desert, but I was startled by how beautiful and green it was. It’s not lush like the Pacific Northwest, but it seemed very green compared to this time of year in New Mexico!

Here’s pictures from a hike we did on the second afternoon we were there.

We got to see our relatives too, but I wasn’t feeling well and only met them for dinner and didn’t take any photos. They live there all winter, so I’m sure we’ll see them again next time we go.

The weekend was over too soon, and we had to come home. Here’s what my neighborhood in New Mexico looked like this week. It seemed so brown after Tucson. I never thought of Tucson as being green, but it’s a lot greener than New Mexico right now!

At least it is mostly sunny and the snow is almost gone! We got a wet winter, which is what we needed, so now I’m hoping for a early warm spring.