February 7th

Super Bowl Sunday!

We were awakened early this morning by heavy rain on the tile roof. They don't install rain gutters on house in the desert so when it rains it makes a racket. As California continues to be hammered by seasonal storms, we are the recipients of what is left over.

Dana went off to church this morning to pray, I think for sunshine. I spent a busy morning mentally preparing myself for the day ahead. Right.....

After a light lunch we headed for the Rillito wash for a run, as it turned out in the sunshine. I did 12k, Dana did 8k. It was my last long run before I tackle the Lost Dutchman 1/2 marathon in Apache Junction next Sunday. We are still both dealing with exercising at 2,600 feet elevation. Also, the dry air has an affect on breathing. Luckily Apache Junction is only 1,700 feet elevation.

After a short trip to a not so local Ticket Master outlet to pick up our tickets for the Accenture World Golf Championship which is being held next week at a golf course near Tucson, we headed home in time to catch the kick-off of the Super Bowl game. As Canadians this is the first time we have been able to see the special super bowl commercials, and the game. I heard last week that a national poll was done in the U.S. concerning the commercials. The result was that 51% of respondents indicated that they watch the game to see the commercials. I'm not in the 51% but I have to say, some of them were very funny and I did find myself staying tuned in during the commercial breaks. It helped that it was a great game.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day. Note the snow on the mountain peaks which was new over night.

February 6th

Today we bid farewell to Jo and Bud who loaded their car and headed north to Canada. We wished them safe travels and happy birding on the return trip home.

While Jo and Bud headed north, Barry and Dana headed for the pool for an hour of sun before lunch. As it was a clear day we decided on a road trip to the top of Mt. Lemmon. As I have previously describe the bottom 7 miles, let me try to describe the remaining 17 miles to the 8,000 foot elevation marker. To help, I have included several photos that Dana took from the 4Runner as we went up, and as we descended. Apart from the amazing rock formations on the rapid ascent, there are a few interesting features of the landscape. One is that unlike our mountains back home where the tree line means where the trees end, here the big trees, in this case Pine, grow above 6,000 feet. You go from desert cactus to oak and sycamore to big beautiful pine trees. And, at this time of the year there is plenty of snow over 6,500 feet. Being a weekend there were plenty of locals from the Tucson area up the mountain playing in the snow. The "pull-off" areas were cramped with cars and trucks. In open areas you could see some kids and adults on plastic sleds while others loaded large snowballs or made snowmen and put them on the roof of their vehicles for the drive down the mountain. On the way down the mountain it was easy to see where the snowmen met their fate as they fell to the pavement. Keep in mind it was 70F in the valley and around 40F up the mountain. It seemed that the snow was a bit of novelty for many of the locals.

After our return down the mountain we enjoyed tea and coffee at Le Buzz, a local coffee hangout for cyclists. Then it was grocery shopping and time to head home for dinner. Got to watch a bit of Hockey Night in Canada on the cable TV Service. Although we missed the game, it was great to see the Canucks end their 2 game mini skid today in Boston.

Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow. We'll get to see all those great commercials and hopefully a great game. I've no "favreate" as my team, the Vikings lost to the Saints a couple of weeks ago. Plan to enjoy a cold MGD and the game.

That's all from the desert. Cheers!

The walking tour of downtown Tucson will wait. Today it was time to RIDE!! While Jo and Bud were packing up, they head north tomorrow, Dana and I headed for the Rillito wash for a 30km morning ride. What a great morning to be outside. Sky was blue, temp warm and just a slight (to stiff) headwind on the return leg. The wash is 20km long. We went out 15km and then turned around after Barry took a spill in the sand. Lucky for Barry he only brushed the cactus on the way to the ground. Ouch! That could have been nasty. Someone needs to remind him that his Trek is not a mountain bike.

Here a couple of action shots from this mornings ride. I took these while on my bike.

February 4th

We rose early today to bright sunshine. After a good breakfast we loaded the 4Runner and headed for Mexico. Actually our destination today was Sycamore Canyon in the Coronada National Forest. The National Forest is located just north of the Mexican border, east of Nogales, Mexico. The 1 1/2 hour drive from Tucson on hwy 91, then on hwy 297 was new territory for Dana and I, although Jo and Bud had been to this location a couple of times before.

I say our destination was Sycamore Canyon, but in fact we did not reach our planned destination as the recent heavy rains in the area caused a couple of washout of the road. We got as far as Upper Thumb Rock park. Not as interesting as Sycamore Canyon would have been but when you travel on the roads less traveled one has to be prepared for the odd disappointment. I have included a couple of pics from our short lunch stop at the park. As you can see it is quite mountainous. I should point out that although there has been some heavy rain of recent, this area has been in a drought for about 3 years.

An interesting feature of this area of Arizona is that due to it neighbouring Mexico there is a heavy presence of U.S. Border Patrol. Without exaggerating you can't drive more than a few miles without seeing a Border Patrol truck or car, or both. On the highway returning to Tucson we had to stop at a Border Patrol check stop. This was about 30 miles north of the border. This isn't our first encounter as there are Border Patrol check stops on all roads near the border. Normally the officers see the B.C. licence plate and just wave us through. One time we were asked what we were doing so far from home. Boredom must be the biggest issue facing these men and women.

Also on the return trip we stopped at the small town of Tubac, Arizona. "Artsy" is the word I would use to describe this small town. In some ways it reminded me of some of the Alaska cruise ship stops. Lots of jewelry, paintings and sculptures. We did however find a store that sold Navajo and southwest indian rugs. We ran out of time and want to return to browse the rug collection, which is very interesting albeit pricy....

We ended the day with a visit to a local Mexican restaurant that has a Mariachi Band. What a treat. The food was delicious and the music authentic Mexico. The band asked us if we had a request. When I said, No, the band member asked us what we preferred, romantic, traditional or Mariachi hard core music. Of course being MBHC (Mt Baker Hard Core) ourselves we chose the hard core music. It was fantastic. They really revved it up. Very fun! Dana wants to go back and enjoy the music and food another time.

That was our day. I think we made up for the quiet day yesterday. Tomorrow we plan to take a walking tour of downtown Tucson.





Naturally, this is "Thumb Rock".


The local terrain.


One of the local inhabitants, a Mexican Jay. Click on the picture for a better look.


Dana and some new friends (Ravens) outside a shop in Tubac, Az.

February 3rd

The theme for the day was "Domestic Duties".

The day started with a good 8k run for Barry and Dana. Then showers and breakfast. Laundry, grocery shopping and some housekeeping. Even on holiday domestic duties need to be taken care of. Not very exotic or exciting, but there you are. End of day. Tomorrow? Well, there are plans but most are weather dependant. You'll just have to stay tuned....

February 2nd

Today Dana had a big birding day with Jo and Bud at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. This is located about a 3 hour drive, southeast of Tucson in the Sulphur Springs Valley. Dana reports seeing about a million sandhill cranes. She later amended the figure to around 30,000, still a lot of poultry. She reports the sky was full of "strings of noisy cranes". Jo described it as "they came in wave after wave, after wave". It reminds me of my childhood out on the flats of the Creston Valley. Granted there were no cranes but many ducks and geese. Different kind of birding, but similar scene....

Ok, no pictures today. You will have to make do with pictures at the website noted below. Pretty cheesy, but there you go.

http://www.arizonabirder.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=13&pos=18

Barry had a "spa day". Rest and relaxation. Slept in, hung out at the pool. Nice...

I thought I would throw in a couple of pictures of our trip south. The Oregon Coast and the Redwood forests of northern California remain etched in our minds. Here are a couple of pictures from the first and second days of our trip.


The beach at Manzanita, Oregon


Taken near on the south end of the Oregon Coast


"Typical" beach scene on Oregon Coast. This one near Gold Beach, Oregon



Dana with Giant Redwood in Stout National Forest, Crescent City, California

February 1st

Yesterday - 10 mile training run. Today - 10 mile forced march! We got up in time to be out on the trail at 0900. We hiked up the 4 mile paved road through Sabino Canyon and then ventured off on the 5 mile Phone Line mountain trail which took us up high in the canyon and then down fast back at the Sabino Canyon Park entrance. All told, by the time we wondered back to the townhouse at 1:00 we'd logged about 10 miles. Here are a number of pictures from the hike. You will see in one of the pictures a road that is covered in water. Yes, there is water in the desert. This stream crossed the paved road 9 times over 4 miles. While two of the crossing were dry, the rest looked very similar to this one. It was actually quite refreshing to wade through the cool mountain water. The rest of the pics are of some of the views and vistas from the Phone Line trail. There was one trail called "Rattlesnake" trail, but fortunately we didn't have to go on that one. btw: I am told that the snakes are still hibernating so the likelihood of seeing one is about zero. After lunch it was back to the pool to cool down. Yes, it is a very tough life here in the desert....



Looking back from where we came. Yes, that is the trail we climbed...




The trail beyond is halfway up the distant mountain on the left. If you click on the picture you get a bigger picture...


One of the nine crossing on the paved road to the trailhead.