Day 21: Redding to Bend via Crater Lake; 378 miles

We started off at 7:38 and soon passed by Lake Shasta.  There was some water (but very low) to the south, but the northern part of the lake was dry or nearly dry.  We drove around and saw a houseboat launch area that was completely dry.

After leaving the lake, we started to encounter great snow-covered views of Mt. Shasta.  The snow was thin, but better than what we had seen two weeks ago.  We stopped at a vista point which had a trail of footprints in the cement with factiods about the volcano every so often.  We learned that the last eruption was in the 1700's and that you can see Mt. Shasta from 150 miles away.

We pulled off the highway at Castle Crags State Park and took a windy 1-lane road up the hill to a trail head for a view point.  Too many trees here to have an unobstructed view.  The trail was only 1/4 mile so we took off camera in hand.  It was a curvy trail through the woods, but we were rewarded at the end with a great view of the rocky Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta.

Back on the highway, we passed "Truck Villiage."  I thought T had made that up, but that is the real name.  At the villiage you pass by a number of multi-colored trucks.  We entered Butte Valley National Grasslands and soon spotted the giant flag at Dorris, letting us know we were close to Oregon

When we reached Klamath Falls, we decided to go along the back side of the lake.  We went by Moore Park (where T was married) and north to the Fort Klamath area where T had lived when she first joined the Forest Service.  Near Fort Klamath we saw a sign that said," 36 miles to Crater Lake."  T and I looked at each other.  T said, " how many pictures do you have left on your card?"  I said, "How much gas do we have?"  Concluding that we had both picture space and gas, we turned left and headed for Crater Lake.

There was no snow on the road, but that changed by the time we got to the park.  By the time we got to the ridge, the snow was piled up over our heads (although the road was nicely cleared).  We were worried that we wouldn' t be able to see the lake.  We parked in the lot which was cleared and started following footsteps in the snow.  Once we got on top, there it was.

And it was beautiful.  The reflections were so clear and the snow beautifully framed the lake.

We spent some time tennis shoe-ing in the snow, sinking down to our knees from time to time, but the effort was rewarded with great views and hopefully some good pictures.

On the way back to highway 97, we passed the Klamath Agency, where T lived when she first came to the area.  We stopped for gas at the Kla-mo-ya Casino again and headed north to Bend.  I noticed that there had been some significant clearing of trees along the highway.  T said they had been doing that to make a clearing so deer wouldn't just junp out of the trees into the road.  You had a chance to spot them.  It also made the view from the road less clastrophobic.

Soon we passed the fake police car, then Sun River and we were at T's house. Some take out from "Thai on the Fly" and it feels good to be home (for one of us). I'll take the bus back to Portland Wed. morning after some R and R (rest and re-packing).

Day 20: Sebastopol to Redding

After sleeping in (a treat), a good visit, and unsucessful atempt to locate Lu's parking pass (which J found suspicious), we headed out to Sebastopol for brunch.  We toured the town which is not quite a tourist town (no T-shirt stores), but vey much a northern California, wine-country town.  We had a great brunch at the Gypsy Cafe.  After the obligatory family photo, we bid farewell to Sebastopol and family and headed to Redding where C lives.

We traveled along highway 12 which boosts a number of wineries along the way.  We passed through the "Valley of the Moon."  Having passed through the "Valley of the Sun" near Phoenix, I found this interesting.  There are a number of hot springs in the area.

We passed through the town (10,600 pop.) Of Sonoma and happened to see the "Home Ofice" for Mary's Pizza Shack  the right.   After some road construction wew finally reached highway 505 and proceeded to I-5 north.  After a short stop at the Olive Pit in Corning for tasting, we arrived in Redding just as it was getting dark.  We checked into the motel and walked down the street to a great Mexican place called Cicada that C recommended.  Afterr dinner, T took C home and we turned in.

Tomorrow we will be back in Bend.

Day 19: Tehachapi to Santa Rosa: about 350 miles

As we drove through the hills, we were greeted by the haze (smog?)  of Bakersfield.  The fields were green with crops.  This was more green (verde) than we had seen in the last 2+ weeks.  But once we gott to Bakersfield and headed north up highway 99, we were back to brown.

We followed our route of two years ago  and cut over to I-5 at highway 46. The almond (we think) trees are now in full bloom with pink flowers.  We noticed stacked white boxes here and there under the trees with what we surmised were imported bees.  This theory was confirmed later as T cleaned our windshield.

We passed the feedlots at the Harris Ranch exit and after consulting my previous blog determined that we had spent the night at this stop on our last Tucson trip.      

We traveled along the California Aquaduct which does still have water and passed by "Pea Soup Andersen's" in Santa Nella.  The hills were touched with a green tint (unlike when we traveled this way 2 weeks ago).  Then we came to fields of crops which had signs identifying them as oranges, mandarins, and lemons, and encouraging us to "Eat More Cirtus."

At Wesley, we gassed up, cleaned the windshield, and changed drivers. R got up up 580 to 680 and into Benecia.  Along the way, we passed through another forest of wind turbines sticking up from the rolling grass-covered hills much like the saguaros in the desert.

Ms. D was having fits.  It turns out that T had set her to avoid toll roads and we were headed straight for a toll bridge.  Once the operator error was corrected, Ms. D was back to normal.

We dropped off R at her home in Benecia  and stayed for a pleasant reststop on her warm (80 degrees), inviting patio.  She has a huge Meyers lemon tree, and T and I left with lemons and pleasant memories of a great trip.

T and I headed north to Santa Rosa.  We made a stop in Petaluma to pick up T's son  C and proceeded to our aunt Lu's house in Santa Rosa. After a pleasant visit, Lu recommended we have dinner at a local Italian place called Mary's.  Ms. D could only find a place called Mary's  Pizza Shack -- that didn't sound right--So we let Lu guide us to the place after a stop at Walgreens.  Somewhere between Walgreens and Mary's, we lost Lu's handicap parking tag.  So T had to search for another parking spot after dropping us off at Mary's.

Turns out this was Mary's Pizza Shack.  Still it had a local feel.  That is until C said, " They have one of these in Redding."  The food was good.

After dinner we drove to Sebastopol and broke into cousin's J & J's house.  We watched the Olympics until they returned and after a short visit, we turned in for the night.

Day 18: Zion to Tehachapi, CA ; many miles in the desert.

We bid Zion farewell after breakfast and drove through the beautiful multi-colored hills of Utah to the freeway. Once we were on I-15 we passed through St. George and soon we were in Arizona again passing through the Virgin River Gorge.  The highway cuts across the northwest corner of the state.  It is beautiful country with no development -- like passing through a natural reserve.

We were looking forward to some warm desert weather before heading back to the lands of recent torrential rain.  The rain has probably gone in California, but it is still raining in WA (and probably will be raining until July.)

Soon we hit Nevada and civilization on steroids.  Casinos, hotels, golf courses, and palm trees.  Just outside Las Vegas we spotted our first Joshua trees.  We passed right by the strip with a tall gold building labeled "Trump."  There was a building with what looked like a carnival ride on the top many stories above... not for me.. Huge hotels, castles, etc went on and on.

We went right through with no problem and stopped at Prim which is a Nevada border town.  It is a small town but managed to sport two huge casinos, an outlet mall, various fast food places, a huge rolly coaster, and a monorail to get you over the traffic congestion.  We managed to get gas, find McDonald's for some lunch and get out again, but it wasn't easy.  It was like a mini-Vegas. R noticed that they even had city-wide wi-fi.

Once we were into California, we soon came to the Mojave National Preserve and turned  off onto Cima Road.  If yoo want to see Joshua trees, I recommend you take exit 272 off I-15.  The world's largest concentration of Joshua trees grows on the slope of Cima Dome.

Joshua trees can grow to be 40 feet high.  They are not really a tree, but a species of yucca.  We also found a number of banana yucca (I renamed this plant: "spear-you yucca" because of the sharp, pencil-thick spikes on the plant that will stab you if you accidently bump into them.)

The desert also boasts many strong-scented creosote bushes.  These bushes are said to be the world's oldest living things.  Some colonies in the preserve are over 11,500 years old.

We spent some time in the preserve enjoying the nature and taking pictures.  We visited the train station/visitor center in Kelso and then turned north and traveled by sand dunes and lava domes  as we made our way back to the highway.

We turned off I-15 onto highway 58 at Barstow and stopped for the night in Tehachapi.  It is a very nice small town surrounded by more than 4,500 wind turbines.  They advertise that the town has "four seasons."  I guess that means we are finally out of the desert.

On to the Santa Rosa area to visit with relatives tomorrow.                                                          

Day 17: Zion National Park

We got up this morning to find 3 deer grazing on the hill behind our room.  Then T and I went for a short walk before breakfast and ran into about 7 more.  They don't seem to mind people much and we could get quite close to them.  I got a lot of pictures.

After breakfast we drove to the Visitor Center and T and I took a hike up the Archeology Trail for some pictures.  We found another herd of deer who kindly posed for us.  Once we got back, we all headed out on the Pa'rus Trail along the Virgin River.  The trail was closed after .8 mile for maintenance, but it was a nice walk and very scenic.  We saw more deer.

After our walk we strolled over to a shopping area just outside the park.  Found a store that was taking 50% off all silver and Native American jewelry.  We spent some time and money in there.  We went back to the care and headed out of the park to Springdale for lunch.

We had lunch at a cute Mexican Cafe (huge portions) and then checked out the town.  The have a number of great galleries and craft stores.   We dubbed this hike the "Shopping Trail."

After a Dr. Pepper pick-me-up, we headed back into the park for more hiking.  We walked the River Trail but stopped at the point that you have to actually get in the river to continue to 'The Narrows."  We did see some hikers that were dressed in waterproof wear that had obviously been in the river.  We saw a mom and girl (about 8 years old) who were returninng from the wet hike. T asked how deep the water was on the girl.  The mom said neck high when she fell, but normally chest high.  T said she saw children much younger returning from the trail....

We stoped at several other viewpoints.  Zion is very majestic and we have now had the experience looking down into the Grand Canyon and up from inside the canyon in Zion.  It is hard to describe the beauty of these parks.

We returned to the lodge in time for dinner.  We are packing up and will be headed for home tomorrow.

Day 16: Grand Canyon to Zion : about. 250 miles

Got up and bundled up for sunrise again and wasn't disappointed.  How can you be at the Grand Canyon.

We met for breakfast and then packed up and headed east.  We didn't say goodbye to the canyon yet.  We took the desert view road and stopped at Grandview Point (it was), Moran Point and  Desert View.  All points gave us great views of the Colorado River far below.  There was a watchtower at the Desert View area.  The tower was very distinctive and you could climb up four stories under a domed ceiling.  The walls were beautifully decorated with Hopi drawings and artwork.

After leaving Desert View we did say goodbye to Grand Canyon and headed through Navajo country towards Zion.  We stopped at a Navajo regional park on the Little Colorado River Gorge.  Not nearly as majestic as its big brother, but very impressive.  There were a number of stalls near the parking lot selling Navajo jewelry and handicrafts.  R had a necklace specially made for her while we waited.

Back on the road, we turned north on highway 89 headed towards Page.  About 30 miles outside of Page we discovered that the road was closed due to a rock slide and turned onto highway 89A.  Fortunately this took us to our destination as well, but the road went through some mountain passes.  It also took us right by the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.  These are beautiful orange mountains towering over the flat desert.  We also encountered a wind storm which whipped up clouds of red dust and bombarded us with blowing tumbleweeds.  After the cliffs we started climbing and passed the exit for the road to the Grand Canyon North Rim which was closed for the winter.  T got some relief from struggling against the wind in the mountains, but the wind returned as soon as we got to Kanab.  We ran into some road work, but soon got to highway 9 (the road to Zion).

There were ranches and cabins along the road and we saw our first (of many) deer It was a doe and her fawn.  The deer jumped over the log fence and the fawn jumped the quarters of the fence height between the top two cross beams.

We entered the park and went down a windy road and a tunnel that was a mile long as we decended into the canyon.  We stopped many times for pictures.  It was beautiful.

We got to the lodge and checked in.  Our rooms have porches which face the cliff behind the hotel where they told us wildlife like to hang out.

We had a good dinner at the lodge and capped off a long day with Utah-style prickly-pear margaritas.

We will explore the park tomorrow.

Day 15: Grand Canyon

Got up early and rushed to the rim to catch the sunrise with a number of other folks.  I bundled up well since it was down into the teens (no more Tuscon summer.)  Sun rose at 7:13 and we met for coffee at Bright Angel at 8:00.  We are staying in the Thunderbird which is much nicer than where we stayed before.  It is very nice to be right on the rim.

We got on the bus around 9am and got off at the visitor center to look around.  Then we got on the orange line and took that out to Yaki Point (you can only get there by bus.)  The view was great as it is from everywhere.  We tried to keep T from getting close to the edge -- she likes to get off the path.

The rim trails and viewpoints all go right along the edge of sheer cliffs.  At some points there is railing, at others only rocks leading to the edge.  People are taking pictures everywhere and sometimes posing close to the edge.  Last time I was here I saw a Japanese man taking a picture of his wife as she was close to the edge and telling her to back  up.  Today, I saw several cases where parents put their kids on the rocks to take their pictures.  And a Japanese couple perched on a rock over the canyon.

Then when we were at Mather Point that juts out into the canyon, I saw some parents with a child way over the path, guardrail and one fence telling him to go out a little further.  T saw the horror in my face and pointed out to me that there was another fence on the other side of him as he grabbed a toy football he had presumably dropped.....

Later R pointed out to me that there was a thick book in the bookstore that described all the accidents where people had fallen over the edge (some in cars, some not).   We didn't get the book, but I understand how those accidents (and some suicides can happen.)

We spent the day visiting various vistas and hiking along the rim trail and the trail of time.  And had time to visit a few gift shops.  We met back at the room at 4pm and got into the car to take a ride out west to Pima Point.  We could see the Colorado River and some rapids from there.  We could even hear the rapids from several points on the trail.

We bypassed a stop called "the Abyss" and went on to Powell Point for the sunset.    There we met two couples from Nebraska that were traveling together.    We took turns taking pictures of our group and theirs and shivered in the cold wind as we waited for the sunset.  It wasn't all that good because of the clouds, so we finally gave up and went back to the lodge.

The only parking place we could find was a parallel on the left.  T was struggling with it because the car behind was about 3 feet over the line and T's backup warning buzzer was going crazy,  A hotel staff person saw our problem and offered to park the car for T. T didn't feel so bad when she had the same problem. She finally got parked and went back to the room for some local wine and crackers as we waited for 7:45 when we had dinner reservations at the El Tovar.

Dinner was great.  Their dinner special was 10 oz prime rib and T bargained with them for a 5 oz portion.  And they charged us half price.  It was delicious.  We split a chocolated covered strawberry cheesecake.  Yum.

Then we were off to pack and get ready to move on tomorrow after another early rising to catch the sunrise.

On to Zion tomorrow.

Day 14 : Sedona to Grand Canyon; 125 miles

After a good night's sleep, we had breakfast at the motel at 8:00 then packed up and left.  Before departing the area we took a drive up Upper Red Rock Loop Road for a spectacular view of the other side of Cathedral Rock.  Then we drove up to the airport viewpoint for a very impressive panoramic view of Sedona and the red rock formations.

We drove back through "Uptown" and onto the road through Oak Creek Canyon.  We saw snow beside the road, but fortunately the road was clear and the temperature in the high 40's.  It was a nice, clear, sunny day.  T manuvered a number of horseshoe curves as we winded up the canyon.  We stopped at a viewpoint at the top of the canyon which had an expansive view of the road and the canyon.  There were a number of tables at the viewpoint where Native American artisans were selling beautiful silver jewlery.  T bought some earrings.  It is nice to be able to buy from the craftsperson directly.

After our rest stop we skirted Flagstaff and got onto I-40 (the old Route 66.)  We stopped off  where R got a Route 66 coffee cup. We were only on R-66 for a short time until we arrived at the Grand Canyon exit and turned north for about 50 miles to the park.  We are staying at the Thunderbird Lodge on the South Rim.

We have been exploring the rim trail and the historic sights along the path.  It is partly cloudly and we are anticipating a great sunset.  We will be bundling up since the low for tonight is supposed to be in the teens.

More Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Day 13: Oro Valley to Sedona -- Goodbye to summer and saguaro : 238 miles

We packed up and headed north today.  As we descended from Tucson (about 2,000 feet) to Phoenix (about 1,00 feet) we noticed that there were fewer and fewer saguaro and the earth became very sandy -- even more desert-like.  We passed by and through several Indian Reservations (Tohono O'odham and Ak-Chin) and passed through the Casa Grande area.  This area around Phoenix is known as the "Valley of the Sun" for good reason.

We got to Tempe which was originally a ferry stop across the Salt River, although we saw no signs of water  just dry creek and river beds.   Tempe is now the home of Arizona State University.

The Phoenix metro area has about 4 million people and is spread out in  the valley.  The highway system is described as "L.A. - like."  It is confusing, but R got us through and we headed north to the mountains above Phoenix.  This was higher ground (Sedona is at 4,500 feet).

Just before we got to the Sedona cutoff, we turned off for Montezuma Castle National Monument and discovered why there were so many people on the road and at the reststop.  This is President's Day weekend and the National Parks and Monuments were celebrating by making all three days "fee-free" at the parks.  We enjoyed the pueblo-like ruins of an ancient Indian village despite the crowds and the 15% President's Day discount in the gift store.

As we took the road to sedona we began to see those beautiful red-rock cliffs.  We stopped at the Ranger Station for recommendations and found some prickly pear syrup that I had been looking for.  The ranger recommended that we go to Chapel of the Holy Cross just before the Sedona interchange.

We stopped at Oak Creek for lunch and happened onto a local market and fair featuring belly dancers -- a surprise.

Then we headed out past scenic Bell Rock and others and turned off on Chapel Road and headed up a hill.  As we got half-way up we encountered a traffic jam (evidently the ranger had been telling everyone to go here.)  As the car forward car by car into the limited parking lot, I got out and took the ramp that went up several stories to the chapel which was perched on the hill.  T and R soon joined me for a magnificent view of Cathedral Rock in one direction, Bell Rock in another, and the red cliffs behind us.   The chapel was simple, but elegant.  We had a wonderful view in all directions.

Next we headed for "Uptown" Sedona -- the main tourist area.  We enjoyed browsing through all the shops and the view of the red cliffs behind the town.  Sedona is really a charming area.  Then off to the motel in West Sedona and a trip to Safeway for some lotion for T's sunburn.  Then early to bed for good night's sleep.

On to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Day 12: Oro Valley

Today we stayed close by.  In the morning T and I set off for a hike in near-by Catalina State Park.  It was forcast to be near 90 today, so we started off early.

We entered the park and drove to the "trail head."  there were a number of trails, all well marked, that started from this area.  We chose the Canyon Loop Trail which was about 2 and a half miles.  The trail started up an incline to a ridge  with a wonderful view of the Catalina Mountains.  Saguaros were everwhere and the scenery was awesome.

About halfway through the loop we encountered a number of steps going down to the river bed below.  There was a bench at the top with two very tired hikers who had just hiked up the stairs going the opposite way on the trail.  There were quite a few steps going down and we decided that we were glad we had started in the other direection.

Once we reached the bottom of the steps, we found ourselves walking along a creek bed and there was actually water in the creek.  It was cool and refreshing and made us once again appreciate the value of water in the desert.  Eventually we found ourself on hiigher ground inhabited by a number of majestic saguaro.

We noticed signs in front of some which gave the name of the saguaro, stating that the suguaro had been adopted.  We found a sign that said "crested" and sure enough that suguaro was crested (only the second one we have seen.)

After completing that trail, we drove to the trial head for the Romero Ruin Trail (.75 miles) .  This trail let up to an archaeologcal site that includes the remains of a Hohokam village dating back to about 500 A.D. It was very interesting.

It was getting warm so we opted for a hike through Walmart out of the sun.  And we found that the Walmart actually had shaded parking under a carport structure.  Most of the cars were parked out in the sun, so we had no trouble finding a shaded place.  We couldn't understand why more cars did not park in the shade.

We got some tortilla soup for lunch and when we arrived back to the condo for lunch found that R had taken a hike down the wash and seen another Cardinal.  After lunch we packed and spent some time out at the pool.  It was very relaxing after a busy week.

About 4:30 T and I started off for another hike.  We went to Honey Bee Canyon again (we were there yesterday).  This time we took the entire 3 miles (up and back).  We knew there were ancient petroglyphs somewhere on the trail.  The trail ended an a rocky area and we spent some time looking for the petroglyphs to no avail.  So we started back and about halfway back spotted a rock with ancient pictures carved into it.

We made it back just in time to experience the wonderful Tucson sunset.

Tomorrow we leave Tucson and head for Sedona.

Day 11: Tucson; Art and Science Day

After an unsuccessful attempt to duplicate the havelina sighting of yesterday, we got in the car around 9:30 and headed east to the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.  Ted DeGrazia is a famous Tuscon artist who believed in a simple life.  He moved out into the desert and without any construction training built a chapel, a house, and a gallery himself out of desert mud.

The area has since been surrounded by suburban Tucson.  He died in 1982 and his compound is now a historic site run by a non-profit that he set up to avoid a heafty inheritance tax.   Glad he did.  It is a beautiful gallery and has so many of his originals that they need to rotate exhibits.  They even had a painting he did of the San Xavier Mission.

DeGrazia was the son of Italian immigrants and grew up in a mining town.  He moved to Tucson to attend the University and stayed there. His first paintings were published in "Arizona Highways."  His rise to fame and fortune came when his painting "Los Ninos" was chosen as an Unicef greeting card  and sold millions.  He almost literally went from starving artist to millionaire overnight.  But money did not change his attitudes or lifestyle.  He has done a number of different style paintings  and a number of different media including pottery, fabric design, and jewlery.

We arrived at the gallery just in time to join a privately arranged tour which was very informative.

It was getting hot (they are having record setting temperatures this week)  so we decided to head out to the Biosphere 2, which is about 20 miles north.  We hadn't had lunch yet, but when we got there they told us to go down for the 1:30 tour and that the tour would be about an hour.  We noted  a cafe on the way down and figured we would have lunch after the tour.

It turned out that we had a large group on the tour (about 40) so the tour took  two hours instead of one.  At times we wondered if we were going to be involuntarily part of a new human experiment.

The tour took us through about 5 different habitats from foggy desert to rain forest all enclosed from the outside world.  They even had a small ocean.  Biosphere 2 was originally built in 1991 with donations from one individual to see if humans could live in an artificially created environment.  There was a 2-year human experiment followed by a 1 year experiment which ended early.  After that the Biosphere was opened up to tourists and used for earth science experiments by universities.  In 2011 the University of Arizona was gifted the facility and is using it for research.

Some facts about Biosphere 2  (note that Biosphere 1 is the earth itself):  It is a glass-enclosed facility of 3.14 acres, 91 feet tall at its highest point and sealed from earth below by a 500-ton welded stainless-steel liner.

We left the tour at about 3:30, tired, hot, and hungry.  After hiking back to the Visitor Center we discovered that the cafe closed at 3:00. Fortunately, we had brought along some emergency protein bars in the car.  We found some prickly pear syrup in the gift store and bought some to try with our margaritas.

We went back to the condo for a late lunch and rest before starting out at about 5:30 to find a local park named Honey Bee Canyon Park.  It was only two miles away, but hard to find the entrance to  the parking area (you can only get to it from one side of a divided road).  We drove slow and found it.  It has a nice loop trail through a wash (dry river bed).  It was close to sunset so we just walked a little way and hiked back to the parking area which was on higher ground to try and take a good picture of the sunset.

As we were looking for a good vantage point, T noticed a number of folks with cameras and tripods up a short trail on the other side of the lot.  Sensing a good photo opportunity, we headed that way and discovered their cameras were pointing away from the sunset at the mountains.  They told us they were waiting for the full moon to rise over the mountains just after sunset.  The moon took its time, but when it arrived, it was spectacular.

We headed home to our prickly pear margaritas feeling that this was a special day.

Tomorrow is a free day -- our last day in Tucson.

Day 10: Tuscon Gem Show - Part 2: Convention Center

About 8:30 t went out for a walk.  I left a little later and headed to the wash.  Just as I got to  the end of the parking lot, I spotted  havelina crossing the road.  then I spotted T standing there within 20 feet of the javelina.  It crossed the road and went down the path to the wash and then another appeared.  It went down to an area next to the condo complex.  t said that 6 had crossed the road and I ran back to the condo to get my camera figuring that the animal would be long gone by the time I got back.  He was still there and looked right into the camera (like he was posing) and then took off into the brush.

We slowly walked down into the wash and saw two animals on the path.  They took off into the bushes as we approached.  As we were coming back up the trail we saw several desert bunnies.  A good start for the day.

We drove off for Tucson about 9:30 and got to the Convention Center just after it started at 10:00.  We made a wrong turn and ended up at the Convention Center parking area, but decided it was worth payinng $8 for parking and went in.  there weren't many places left, but we had no trouble parking.

We got in a short line to get our tickets and had no line at all to get into the show.  It was a grand show and we spent the day wandering through the multitude of venders.  It was nice to be able to talk to the folks that actually mine the stones and make the jewlery.  We found a table outside in the food court and got some lunch.  Pretty soon a couple asked if they could sit at our table.  The wife went off to the food court and the husband talked to us.  He was a volunteer at the "free  booth."  This is the booth where youu can get free raffle tickets.  We told him we had tried that two years ago, but didn't win anything.  He encouraged us to try again.  So after lunch we went down to the free booth and got our free raffle tickets.

We had a great time but no luck with the raffle until the last one of the day at 5:00.  They called out my number.  I was so suprised.  I went to the free booth to claim my prize.  I won an Ethiopian opal.  They told me it was donated last year but no one had claimed it so they gave it away this year.  They gave me the booth number of the donor so I could go and ask about my prize.  They were nice people, surprised because the show did not tell them last year that the prize was unclaimed.

We left the Convention Center about 5:30 and headed downtown for a coffee.  Most of downtown seemed closed up but we found a small pizza slice and coffee place next to the tourist information booth which was closed.  we had some coffee and then followed the tourquoise line from the information center back to the Convention Center parking, found our car and headed home.  We stopped off at Safeway looking for some prickly pear liqueur we heard about from our tour guide yesterday.  They didn't have any, so we settles for some pre-mixed berry margarita mix and headed home to our left overs.

 Tomorrow we are off to the De Grazia Gallery in the Sun.

Day 9: Tucson: Agua Caliente and Sabino Canyon

Today was a nature day.  We packed water and protein bars and headed east to
Agua Caliente County Park.  T and I remembered the park from our last trip as a beautiful oaisis.  Anything with water is a big attraction out here in the desert.  They are definitely having a drought.  All the riverbeds and washes are dry now.  Evidently the rainy season here is in July and August, described as monsoon season.  There are plenty of signs near the dry wash areas warning not to enter the area if wet.  I guess the rains can get intense.  But this is the dry season.

Agua Caliente is an old ranch that was originally located near the source of two springs, one hot and one cold.  One of the series of owners wanted to increase the flow in the springs and blasted into the rock,  The result is that now the property has one warm spring.  Because of the water, this area was a stopping off point for many humans and animals during the years.  It is now a park with the spring feeding into 3 ponds.

Because of the drought, only one pond had water and the level was quite low.
One of the previous owners planted a number of date palms around the ponds and property.  They are not native because they need too much water, but they seemed to thrive here and were very beautiful reflected in the pools.  Ducks and water birds were active in the shaded areas and we saw some woodpeckers pecking on the tall palms.  Sign of note : " Beware of venomous creaturees."

After taking a hike around the dry and wet ponds, touring the ranch house with a guide, and a little bird watching we headed back west to Sabino Canyon.  R's "golden pass" got us into the parking lot and we bought tram tickets for the ride to the top of the canyon.  There are 9 stops and you can get on or off at each one and take the road or various trails back down.  We trammed to the top with an informative guide/driver.


R has been looking for a Red Cardinal since we left California (they don't have them there.)  Immediately after we got off the tram, we saw one.  And then another.

We walked down to station 2 where R and I sat down to wait for the tram.  T walked on down to the visitor center. We planned to meet there.  In the meantime a tram came by stop 2 going up and informed us that the tram coming down was full (due to a tram breaking down).  He suggested we get on his and go back up, then down.  So we went on the tour for the second time -- it was still interesting.  We tried to call T but had no reception in the canyon. So T became a little concerned as 3 trams emptied and we weren't there.  Finally as we were in the home stretch, my phone rang.  "Where are you?"  I told her we would be there soon.  "I have a Dr. Pepper for you," she said.  And there she was on a bench as we pulled up.  We spent some time in the Visitor Center and Gift Shop and headed home.

We went out to a local restaurant for dinner.  The food was excellent, but we had to wait nearly an hour for our food.  They apologized and offered us a free dessert.  Turned out they meant one free desesrt and not a free dessert for each person inconvenienced.  So after two hours and two deserts we didn't expect to pay for, we left for home.  We did get enough in our takeout boxes for dinner tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are off to the big Convention Gem Show.