Saguaro National Park-parking lot, Arizona, United States
First stop this morning: the Avis counter to turn in the "minivan" and get something more reasonable. Something more reasonable turned out to be a Hyundai Sonata. Big improvement.
Now the vacation can begin!
We spent the morning at the western unit of Saguaro National Park. It was already over 90 degrees when we arrived at the visitor's center. A sign outside says that when the heat is over 100, you need to finish all hikes over 1 mile by 10:00 a.m. In fact, by 10:00 a.m., it was already over 100, so we stuck to short hikes. We did one of about 3/10 plus another 1/10 add-on, and we took one more hike of about 4/10 of a mile. We also drove a scenic loop on a dirt road, so we had a lot of time immersed in the landscape, which is very beautiful in a way completely different from Virginia's.
We left the park about 11:30 to head north to Gold Canyon, where a friend of ours and his partner live in a house they built on top of a hill. The real appeal of the place is the views, which, because they are on the very top of a hill, are 360 around. The walls of most of the ground floor are glass and the views are, indeed, spectacular. We had a very nice visit with them. It was very nice to have a chance to see them--we hadn't seen Dale in at least 10 years. They gave us a lovely spread of snacks--crackers and cheese, hummus, nuts, and so on. That was plenty for our dinner. We headed back to Tucson, arriving about 8:30, and we were in bed by 9. Jetlag really is a thing!
Comments on photos.
Tomorrow, we head south to another NPS site.
john n
2024-10-12
LOL, didn't expect cars!! I'd love to see a cactus live. Nice land and sky scapes. Have fun!!