Me, Dea and the girls: 2006-04-02

Mission San Xavier del Bac

We visited the mission on our way to the airport. I wish we would have had more time to spend there. None of the photos I took inside came out very well, but it was beautiful. I love old churches; they smell of incense and there is a feeling of solemnity that you don't get in modern church buildings.

This mission is located south of Tucson on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. The oldest part of the mission dates to 1753, but most of the structure was built starting in 1783.

This is the view across the Tucson basin to the Santa Catalina mountains. Interestingly, the Tucson basin has 7000' of fill before you reach bedrock. Over the span of geologic time, rocks and dirt have washed off the surrounding mountains (Tucson is surrounded by 5 different ranges) and filled the valley. Imagine how tall the mountains must have been before erosion.

This is a grotto at the mission; it is modeled on the grotto at Lourdes, France.

The hill where the grotto is located.

View from Seven Cataracts

This is a photo of the waterfall named Seven Cataracts. It is about 600' tall. I couldn't see any water, but I could hear it.

Sorry, but I don't know the name of this outcropping, but it sure is beautiful.

Sunset over the Santa Catalinas.

View from the top

This is the ski run at the top of Mt. Lemmon; it is the southernmost ski area in the US. We are thirty road miles from Tucson, but less than 15 as the crow flies. Before we got to the end of the road, I saw a family sledding in a ditch beside the road. I never would have thought that you can go from a desert environment to a boreal forest (usually found in Canada) in less than an hour.

This is the view north from Mt. Lemmon to the town of Oracle, AZ, approximately 4000' below me. Oracle is best known as the home of Biosphere 2.

Hoodoo

This is the most prominent hoodoo at Windy Point. A hoodoo is a column of rock that is left standing after the other rocks around it have eroded away; the Wile E. Coyote cartoons are full of them. Interestingly, some people associate hoodoos with the spirit world, like a type of natural totem.

Windy Point - Tucson, AZ

I'm thinking about becoming an adventure photographer. Notice the man rappelling off the cliff.

We are at 6500' looking down into the Tucson basin.

Dea at Windy Point; the Rincon Mountains are off in the distance.

Tucson, AZ

The bark of these trees contain chorophyl - notice the green hue - that allows them to photosynthesize year round.

We drove up the Catalina Highway from Tucson to the top of Mt. Lemmon (elevation 9100'). This is the view into Tucson from about 3000'.

You can't see them very well, but the hillsides are covered with saguro cacti. After you reach about 3500' the cacti disappear and trees begin; little scrubby trees at first, but by the time you reach the top of the range they are full-size evergreens.

Westward Look Resort - Tucson, Arizona

View of the Santa Catalina frontrange over the tennis courts.

Me amidst the desert foliage. I couldn't look directly at Dea without squinting, so there were several other pictures that were just funny.

Dea standing next to a very mature (over 200 year old) saguro cactus. The larger cacti were full of holes in which birds built their nests.

Gas Guzzler

In anticipation of the new baby, we had to buy a larger vehicle. I couldn't stomach the prospect of a minivan, so we purchased a Honda Pilot. Very large, very comfortable, but the gas mileage is horrible. I think we are going to sell the two Subarus and buy a Honda Civic to get around town.