We've added a bunch

of new pictures. Wow, we've been here nearly two months. Work is finally starting to feel more routine, and we are able to find our way around a little better. The temps have started to cool just a little, and even though it still gets bloody hot in the middle of the day, the mornings and evenings are often very comfortable and sometimes even cool. We haven't been doing a whole lot to speak of, but take a look at the pictures to see some stuff we have done in the past 2 weeks.

On Wednesday our friend, Mindy, from work took us 1hr. and 45 min. southeast of Tucson to her hometown of Willcox, to pick apples...that's right, some real fall action, though it doesn't feel a bit like fall to us. And then on the way back we saw this nasty diamond back rattler on the road, our first wild snake sighting. Uck!

Last week we went on a 2 day trip to Sedona, AZ, the land of the red rocks, about 4 hours north of us. It was breathtakingly beautiful, though very touristy. We also went to this little town Jerome, which was an old mining ghost town until about 15 years ago when artists and hippies started turning into a funky, artsy place to visit. It is built up into a steep mountainside and has great views. When you walk around you see nearly half the buildings are still falling down and uninhabited. Very cool place.

And last but not least, we tortured our beloved furry friends by putting this sweater on them. They were hysterical.

Ok, everyone, that's all for now. Come visit us!!! We miss you!

What we did between work this week.

The pictures below are from our visit to the De Grazia gallery/ museum in Tucson, and the desert museum, as well as some from hiking around.

Here we are at De Grazia Gallery in the Sun.
(Gracias to Matt, the photographer)

The entrance to the gallery.

A statue of the Native American deer dancer...or was it rain dancer...in the courtyard.

A solitary lizard by a solitary chair.

A view in the courtyard.
See the old saddle on the tree?

There are a lot of these rocks that must have a lot of copper
and other minerals in them, they turn really beautiful blue colors.

This odd cactus is flowering, and they look like sea stars,
the roundish things are the buds.

Flowering barrel cactus.

Thought Bubble: (..hmm, this is a really small lake)

...this is Rose Lake up on Mt. Lemmon.
Quite exciting to find water, actually.

Hi from Greybie, who found himself a spot to perch.

It was worth it...

A couple of days ago, we hiked at the top of Mt. Lemmon, a trail called the Aspen Loop. It was challenging about 65% of the time, including the entire first half, but then we got to this spot where there were big rock formations we climbed to the top of, and the views were awesome, if it hadn't been hazy, we could have seen about 4 mountain ranges from up there. Note the sky, it has been quite overcast/rainy at times. But it is different here, because the sky is so big that it is spotted over the landscape, so you can be standing in sunshine and see 3 or 4 rain/lightning storms around you. Very dramatic.

On with the show...

Ok, we finally have internet at out apartment. So, like before, we plan on posting quite frequently, so check back often. We finished the first week in the hospital and it was really tough, but we think it will be good once we adjust, things are just done very differently here. Last Wednesday our cousin Dave took us halfway up Mount Lemmon to go rock climbing, you can see some pictures below from that trip, it was really fun!! We've been going up the mountain to hike quite a bit actually, we live right at the end of the only road that goes up. We've also been biking some, and we've gone to garage sales and thrift stores to find furniture for our place, which is coming along nicely. We have a nice, big balcony that you can see some mountains from. It will be a great place to hang out once it is not quite so caliente. Tons of new pics below, check them out...

This is Dave, setting up the ropes, you can see the view we had from
the top of the rock. That's Tucson off in the distance.

Bryan climbing. The face was about 70 feet tall.




A view out from the base of where we climbed.



Liz at the top, Look Ma, no hands!

Climbing shoes are MUCH tighter than normal ones, you kinda stuff your feet in there. This is Matt's foot, next to his magnum-sized clodhoppers. Ha-ha

Matt and Bryan made it out to this rock peak, Liz stayed behind
to take a picture, and take in the view.




Liz's view.




View of Liz (note the authentic hat).




Canyon tree frog (Hyla arenicola), that was up on the rocks, isn't he cute.



Bark scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda), when we looked him up in our field guide
we found out he is the most poisonous species in the Southwest.

See the young hummingbird buzzing Bryan's head?

First Days in Tucson...

We've been in Tucson 5 days now, sorry no posts until now, but we have to go to an internet cafe to get online. Don't have time to write much but here are some pictures of things we have seen so far. Enjoy!

Beware rattlesnakes at the rest stop!

We are at La Posta, a great Mexican restaurant I used to eat at with my grandparents when I was a kid. It is in Old Mesilla at Las Cruces on our way to Tucson.

Could this be Tucson?? This is a floodplain, though there is no water flowing in the wash,
and things are pretty green and humid here thanks to what locals call the monsoons,
a rainy, humid period that last about a month and a half.
In a couple more weeks the skies will be clear and blue.




And here is the dry, though muddy wash (riverbed).
Aren't the mountains great?!


This is a big, gross lizard we saw, about 14 in. long!




During a hike we were able to coax this tarantula out of his hole,
our legs were shaking after that!