Still in Tucson

We liked the Tucson area so much, we decided to stay another week. On Tuesday it was "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and what a game it was!


The spring training "hometown" Chicago White Sox took on the Anaheim Angels. The game had a classic finish. It was the bottom of the 9th, two on, two out and two strikes on Nick Swisher when he hit a solid double down the right field line to win the game. A good time was had by all!



At the south west edge of town you can find Arizona's version of the Garden of Gethsemane. Sculptor Felix Lucero was a soldier in WWI. He vowed that if he was spared he would dedicate his life to sculpting religious figures. In addition to the Last Supper, there are statues of Joseph and Mary and one of Jesus in the tomb.


Tucson is surrounded by five different mountain ranges. To the north are the Santa Catelina mountains and that's where we chose to do some hiking and sightseeing this week. First we went to Sabino Canyon. This state-run recreation area allows people access to nature at its best. Unlike the Desert Museum, the wildlife in this area are not in cages so one has to be careful where you hike as you could run across a mountain lion, bobcat, a gila monster and the dreaded rattlesnake (and apparently there are numerous varieties of venemous snakes that call this area home).










Fortunately, the only wildlife Jim and I ran across was the cardinal and a black feathered bird that looks remarkedly like the cardinal

The Sabino River runs through the canyon. It is completely devoid of fish of any type. Difficult for the fish to survive during the 5-6 weeks where the river is completely dry each year. This river has no springs feeding it - it is totally fed by snow melt from Mt Lemmon.








Speaking of snow runoff, the tram driver told us that Arizona is the only place he knows of where bridges are built with the intent of having the water flow over them......












This explains all the signs we see along the roads that state, "If flooded do not enter," DUH!

On Sunday we heard about all the snow that had hit eastern Canada and I guess we got a little homesick. To cure that we took a a 27 mile trip up Mt Lemmon, 8000 ft above sea level. In high school I remember our geography teacher, Mr Best, talking about how the changes in altitude can resemble changes in longitude and the trip up Mt Lemmon certainly demonstrated that. It was like travelling from Mexico to Canada!




We started in the desert at 2400',








travelled through evergreen forests at 6000',


















and hit snow at 8000'

On Wednesday we head out to Phoenix. if you get the Oilers/Coyotes game on Hockey Night in Canada, keep your eyes peeled for us. We'll be sitting up behind the Coyotes goalie