Back in Tucson

Mon - March 22nd



Overnight we went from winter to summer. We did the west section of Saguaro National Park the first time we were here, so we decided to go for a

hike in the east part this time. Flowers were starting to bloom and it was almost noon when we
got there. We chose a three mile hike and both took a big bottle of water. Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up hiking at least four miles. It was 85 degrees and our water was all gone long before we got back to the car. Air conditioning never felt so good. Once again, I'm only the cook. The navigator forgot to bring the trail map with.



In spite of the heat, it was a beautiful hike. There was lots of green and the flowers were starting to bloom. With over 50 varieties of cacti, Saguaro National Park is the most diverse desert in the nation.

And just correct what you may have learned from cartoons, the roadrunner is not the coyotes enemy and he does not say, "Beep, Beep!".

There was some sprong run-off and pretty yellow flowers blooming along the creek.

Here is a couple of close ups.

We saw lots of bicyclists on the paved one-way winding loop thru the park. It looked like a really fun place to ride. The ocotillo like this look completely dead and dried up most of the time. When they get some moisture they become totally covered in little green leaves in just a couple of days and get red blossoms on the end of each branch. They are just starting to bloom in this picture.

This is an interesting and wierdly deformed barrel cactus. They usually just look like one little round barrel.




I think this is a chain fruit cholla cactus.

This one is a staghorn cholla. They are kind of purple colored. When they are smaller with just a couple of main branches, they really do look like a set of antlers.

This is a set of teddy bear cholla in front of a saguaro.

Back at the car finally. I found out something new about my hubby today. There was a kind of slow, dreamy song on the radio and I said that it reminded me of prom. He said that he wasn't allowed to go to prom.....all the girls voted. Now don't you feel sorry for him.