December 29-30, 2020 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

 56 and partly cloudy.

We went though yet another border patrol check station, we did not even have to stop here, it had  a sign that said to drive on through. We drove through Why, AZ. They named it Y for the Y in the road, but the post office would not let them have a name of just one letter, so it is Why.  Water tower, sign entering town and the Why not travel store and gas station. 

We are now in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It is a really pretty place. The organ pipe cactus is the one with all the branches coming up from the ground, it is pictured here with lots of saguaro cactus. This is the northern most range of the organ pipe cactus.  A couple of saguaro with hands on their hips.

This cute little fuzzy looking piece of cactus, is not cute. They are called jumping cholla and have fish hooked needles that grab onto anything that gets near them, like your skin and don't come out easily. If you grab it with your hand to pull it off it sticks in your hand. They are vicious. The sign at the visitors center said 'many visitors have been attacked by them'. The best way to get them off is with a comb, They fall off the cactus to the right of the photo. creosote seeds backlit, and some tiny fishhook cactus. Organ pipe cactus.

The current masterpiece is coming along. The center is a glass dichroic turtle I fused and the beads have frogs on them. The twin peaks the campground is named after at sunset.

Full moon rising below the clouds in the sunset.

Full moon rising above the clouds at sunset. The full moon stuck on a cactus. 

John is on top of the bus washing the solar panels. There are no hook ups here so we use solar and our generator when needed.  A bird  on an ocotillo in the campground.

The basket in progress. I am done adding needles, but have some finishing touches left to do. There were almost no clouds for sunset tonight. But nice color.

The few clouds there were are here for sunset. 

December 26-28, 2020 Tucson, Arizona

 74 degrees and sunny.

We started the day at Tucson Mountain Park on the west side of Tucson. It is a very beautiful area of the sonoran desert. Looked like there were many good hikes in this area. We didn't have time to hike any today.

View west from Gates Pass. Red mountain in Tucson Mountain park.

Saguaro National Park west is right next to Tucson Mountain Park. we stopped at the visitors center and walked on the Cactus Garden trail. View of desert flora.

Looks like Rudolf the red nosed deer crossing, a cactus wren and some petroglyphs in the park. The CCC built this stone picnic shelter at Ez-Kim-in-Zin picnic area. Along the scenic drive.

Petroglyphs on the Petroglyph trail at the Signal Hill picnic area.

Petroglyph on Signal Hill. John on the petroglyph trail.

Tucson seen from Saguaro National park west. We had dinner with Mary and Dave in their beautiful new home in Tucson, socially distanced in their backyard. They recently moved here from Breckenridge. I worked, skied and hiked with Mary in Summit County. It was great to visit with them. 

Moon between two flags on a neighbors RV. Sunset tonight. 

Sunset the next day and with the moon.

Sunset and moon shots from the fair grounds.

And one last moon shot with the RV parking at the fair grounds.

December 25, 2020 Tucson, Arizona

 70 degrees and partly cloudy to sunny. We had a quiet Christmas by ourselves. John BBQed some lime cilantro shrimp. 

Frances our rubber guard snake dressed for Christmas. She almost died this morning. John got a call from the office saying-Stay in your bus, do not to outside there is a snake under the bus and they were sending someone to kill it. John reassured her it was rubber, but he said  it was 45 degrees, snakes don't come out when it is cold. I look our and there is a guy staring at the snake from a distance. John goes out and the guy starts yelling, DON'T COME OUT, DON'T COME OUT-SNAKE!. John laughed, picked up the snake. The guy and the guy in the golf cart who came to kill her both laughed. I put the ribbon on after that so she would not look so threatening. Today we drove up to the top of Mt Lemmon. It is 7,000 feet higher than Tucson, in 26 miles. We started in the Sonoran desert zone. 

Cool rocks on the way up. Looking back at Tucson below.

One of the many hoo doos on the way up. There was someone climbing this one. There were patches of snow in the shade on the way up. Big traffic jams at each one. We decided to do as everyone else was and I took a photo of John in the snow.

At the top was the Mt Lemmon ski area. It is not open yet this year. Burnt trees near the road from a previous forest fire.

Looking down into Bear Canyon. It is next to Sabino Canyon we hiked in yesterday. It has water in it sometimes, so there are trees. Looking up Bear Canyon.

Looking down Bear Canyon. On the other side of the ridge to the right is Sabino Canyon, we hiked in it yesterday. Back in the Sonoran desert on the way back down.

Looking up a canyon from the road on the way back to Tucson. The ski area was closed and blocked off. These two signs were there, one said NO SNOW PLAY, authorized personnel only and North Pole closed. Flowers on the side of the road on the way down. This graph on the bottom shows the elevations and climate zones you go through on the 26 mile drive.