SNOW ON THE DESERT AND OTHER SURPRISES

Yes, we do get snow and we got a bunch, for us, this last week!  At least our mountains got snow and a lot of the higher areas around Tucson.  In the twenty or so years I've lived here, I've seen snow accumulate right here in town on only two occasions, to the best of my recollection.  One of those times, it was on Easter Sunday! 

Hopefully, with all this moisture, we will have an amazing wildflower display this coming spring. 

This afteroon hubby and I took a little drive so I could take some photos without all the utility poles and lines and all my neighbors' rooftops cluttering things up.  Unfortunately, a lot of the snow had already melted.

Here's what it looked like on Saturday morning from our back yard.

A palm tree in the foreground....looks kinda weird with a snowy background, doesn't it?

The snow level was pretty low as you can tell by this picture.

Sunset on snow....how gorgeous!

These are from our Sunday afternoon drive.

This is Mt. Lemmon.  They had 75 mph winds up there which knocked down a lot of big trees and left them with no power.  The folks at the ski resort are probably biting their nails over that!  We wanted to drive further up the mountain but the road was closed due to downed trees.

Brrrrr.

Brrrrr!!!!

This is Thimble Peak.

Here are more of Thimble Peak and other formations...no snow...but I couldn't resist.

It's amazing what a little change in perspective does, isn't it?  Yes, these  pictures were taken the same day as the other ones with the snow in them.  I promise!

I had heard the The Rillito was running so we went to have a look.  We were too late, but it was obvious that a lot of water had run through it yesterday.

We took a walk down in the riverbed.  I love the patterns the moving water made in the sand.

We found some very colorful rocks.

And this one which looks exactly like a piece of bread!

When I was taking pictures of the snow from my back yard on Saturday, I was lucky enough to catch these two Gila woodpeckers.

And while we were at the river, look what we found!  A baby woodpecker!  Well, he is obviously not a tiny baby, but he's a youngster, for sure.  He just wouldn't get into a better position for me but I was delighted to even get this shot!

Snow is wonderful.  Snow is beautiful.

I'm always delighted to look up into our mountains and see it there.

"THERE."

I must admit that I am infinitely grateful not to have to deal with it HERE.

Goin' To The Mountain Top

Most people would be very surprised to learn that Tucson is virtually surrounded by mountains. When you fist move here, that’s how you get your bearings. You have to learn the following:

Santa Catalina Mountains=North
Santa Rita Mountains=South
Rincon Mountains=East
Tucson Mountains=West


http://www.visittucson.org/visitor/about/geography/

Yesterday, we went north into the Santa Catalinas. Most people here just call them the Catalinas. What most people don’t know is that those are MY mountains! Yes, my very, very own. But I share them with everybody else. ‘Cause I’m such a loving, kind and generous human bean.

Now, I’m going to share them with you.

First, a little dry data.

The elevation of Tucson is right around 3000 feet.
Where we’re headed, to Mt. Lemmon, way up in the Catalinas, is about 9000 feet. We will travel through 8 different ecological zones by the time we arrive at the Mt. Lemmon ski lodge. That’s right. I said ‘ski lodge.’ The southernmost ski lodge in the entire country is right up there on MY mountains! How cool is that!!!!

Got your seat belt fastened? Here we go.

This is where we begin. Hmmmmm. Doesn’t look real inviting or ‘mountain-y’, does it?

Just you wait!

This is a dead century plant. I told you about those in a previous blog entry. This one is probably about 15 feet tall. Yep, we’re still in a desert area…but not for long!


It still looks quite dry and barren and desert like but this gives us hope for what's to come.

I love all the craggy cliffs....
Last time we drove up here, I saw a man about half way up-or down-this cliff. It scared me just to see him looking all like Spider Man. I sure hope it made it back up-or down-safely!

And I love these weird looking rock formations...

They’re called hoodads! I just love that word!

HOODAD!!!

I took lots of pictures of HOODADS....I'll probably show you more another time.

Do you see the highway we just came up???? Yeh...at times it's kinda scary.


Good grief! Even up here, there’s construction! And what's that I see. Could it be, gasp, TREES!!

I hope this guy gets paid big, BIG bucks…’cause it’s a long way down from where he’s precariously perched on his overgrown Tonka Toy.

AHA! Look what we’ve found!!!!!!!!! Real, live, gigantic pine trees….like on a real mountain! Eureka!!!

We had terrible winds yesterday. But all that dust in the air, while sort of blurring things, also made the many layers of mountain ranges visible. If the air is really clear, they all just blend together and you don't realize the depth and breadth of these awesome mountains.

I have no idea what that blur is on the left. Remember, most of these pictures were taken from inside our moving vehicle. Places to safely pull off the road and stop to take perfectly framed pictures are few and far between.



A little color is beginning to show here and there.

We're almost at the top now and WOW! Just look at that!!! A pot of gold at the end of the highway!




A few years ago, there was a massive fire on Mt. Lemmon. So much was destroyed but it's growing back.

Almost the entire mountaintop community of Summerhaven was destroyed. It's being re-built, but it will never be the same....except for this...............

Very Special Mt.Lemmon fudge!!!!!!!!! OOOOOH Baby!!!!! This picture is a little blurry, but it is because I wasn't nearly as interested in taking a good photo as I was in cramming this delectable hunk of chocolate heaven in my drooling, salivating mouth! Yes! Every bite of it! All mine!!! This, I won't share. I'm not THAT good of a human bean.

I’m not sure how many photos I am going to be allowed to post on this here blog. So, I’m going to stop now…give it a try…and see what happens.
Stay tuned.
More to come.

I am grateful for MY beautiful mountains!!!!