Adventures in Florida: The Callihans Take Tampa: Two For Tucson: Part 1

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Two For Tucson: Part 1

Hi Everyone!

For those of you who may not know, my parents have become snowbirds and go out West over the winter. This year, Glenn and I went out to visit them at their Tucson rental house, which is beautiful and truly out in the middle of the desert, off of a long dirt road and a million cacti.

Glenn and I climbed a small mountain behind their house and took this picture from near the top. Well, this is fairly zoomed in. This next one gives you a better perspective.

We can zoom out even further - here's a peek at Tucson from the plane.

The landscape out here is like something from another planet. My parents' house is like a pretty little oasis. This is their front courtyard.

This is out back.

They have a bunch of bird feeders out back that attract quail, woodpeckers and other pretty little birds. Also, you have to imagine the sound of windchimes....it's very zen.

They also have giant jackrabbits.

They also have coyotes, which we heard from a lot but did not see. One morning, they woke us up - it sounded like they were right outside.

So anyway, the first evening we were there, we went to Saguaro National Park for a sunset walk. Saguaros are those giant cactus with arms. (Note: they say each arm takes like 75 years to grow, which means the cacti with many arms has been growing for hundreds of years.)

I bumped into a cholla (that's the fuzzy looking cactus in the front of this pic) and am still pulling out needles a week later.

These tall, spikey thorns are called the Devil's Buggy Whip.

Thus, the sun sets on day one.

The next day, we headed to Mount Lemmon, the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains at an elevation of 9,159 feet. We didn't go the whole way to the top, but the views were still pretty spectacular. Sit back and relax as we share a ton of photos...