Desert Props...

It was like being in an old western, minus the horses, the cowboys, and the indians. Just the cactus. They are awesome! Weird how they just pop out of the ground. They only grow a little bit a year, some sources say an inch, others less. Guesses at their age range from hundreds to a thousand years. Our guide said they MIGHT get arms at 75 or 80 years of age...who knows.

We had a fun day. We went on a 4X4 tour. The guide was a little opinionated, but we had funny anyway. We got to see saguaros, barrels, choyas, and “jumping cacti.” It is a cactus that breaks off to make more cacti…budding. I thnk it is actually called a teddy bear or bearded cactus. We got a taste of the interior of one…your basic plant taste, if you’re curious. We saw a few lizards and a bunny and a squirrel. It was a very pretty locale.
We went to lunch at the Sonora Brewery. Good beer. I think Cora already mentioned it…so I won’t elaborate. We did climb “Hole in the Rock.” At Papago Park. That is near both the Zoo and the Botanical Garden. The weather was great today. I love it. Cora says I have a bit of a burn, but I think it is simply your run of the mill red tan. She also questions the utility of having sunglass marks on my face. I like the “raccoon in negative” look.
We dropped by the zoo after climbing to see the rock. There is a bridge across a lake/pond. There were tons of turtles basking in the sun on some logs. There were also several LARGE koi…something like 2 foot long koi. BIG.
We came back and Cora lay down because she was tired. I laid down next to her with the computer on my chest putting our pictures on it. I was not tired at all. An hour later I woke up and finished putting the pictures on the computer.
Tomorrow…hmmm, I don’t know what we’re doing maybe the botanical garden…how many times have I mentioned botanical garden in my blog so far? Probably enough times to convince the average person I am a plant lover, or a botanist, or just a nerd…I think the latter is the best approximation of my interest in plants that are not native to my home area. Weird. I know. I get that a lot. Mostly from Cora. She likes Cacti too, though, look, I can prove it!

So far we have had SO MUCH fun! Cora asked what we are doing next year…hmmm…camping? Probably not.

Below you see Cora inspecting a saguaro skeleton...cool, huh?

This is the wonderful family we went to dinner with last night. That poser in the middle of the back row is the wonder student...history student? the perfect student? She seems to like history... some think that is just weird... I think it is the way it should be. It was a fun evening. They surprised me with the Lychee Fruit birthday dish...it was great!