Saguaro National Park (Tucson, AZ)

I had recently been to Tucson on a long overnight with a pretty awesome crew. While we were there we talked about how great it would be to rent a car and drive a few miles east to the east side of Saguaro National Park to do a hike.
The next week while I was on reserve, I was able to self-assign a trip that J was able to trade into as well. And we had 19 hours in Tucson.
We rented a car.
I found this great map on the National Parks website for hiking in East Saguaro (I'm glad I had the foresight to print it before I left because they don't have maps unless you go to the main visitor's center).
The Deer Valley Loop seemed to have it all. So that is what we did. 4.1 miles round trip, 2.5 hours of hiking (even with all of the stops for photos, and to chat with a donkey named Peaches...didn't catch the rider's name).
We saw javelinas, saguaro forests, washes, a cristate, and mesquite trees to start. Eerily beautiful landscape, and surprising as well: I had no idea how many saguaros there would actually be!
Take our hike with us; photos below...enjoy!

These were my fuzzy little tree-bush things. Possibly my favorite!

Close-up of the beautiful saguaro's spines.

Pattern of the spines.

Enlarge this photo...the amount of saguaros will blow you away.

This is the cristate. More on those here. (Links to NPS)

Another cactus-ful picture!

For a different kind of cactus.

Hiking in the wash. Those are mesquite trees all around us

J in the rugged landscape.

A leaved and spined plant.

Fancy photo of saguaros in the sunrise.

Here is J to give us some perspective on their size.

Me, imitating nature.

-TJ

Last Days of Summer (Belated September)

Okay so maybe not the last, last days of summer, but still.

I just realized when I wrote the last post that I had another file of photos I was hoping to post along with it. So...

J and Thai take-out and biking. This park is just east of where we live, and it's a short walk let a lone bike ride, but this was just such a perfect day.

J and I biked down to the Broncos-Ravens game (first game of our season) to tailgate at Mile High.

One morning we made pancakes with our blueberry-ginger jam from Maine and sat out on our balcony and enjoyed the awesomeness that is our life.

The jam was really good.

Seriously, everyone.

September is also the time of year that our little neighborhood holds its Harvest Fest: complete with a whole ride set up, hours and hours long parade, street side vendors popping up, and hay bales everywhere.

All the businesses get in to it.

J modeling a vendor stall. This was early in the morning. We skipped away from the parade after a while to see what would open later.

J is modeling a giant pickle. I had a lime-mint soda.

J and I and our hay bale. 

Yes, all the other pictures are of our current 'hood, but we still pop in to Golden from time to time for dentist appointments and nostalgia. This is Clear Creek as seen from the bridge in Clear Creek Park (the one close to the library aka my old backyard

Thank you for humoring all of my catch-up posts! 

 

-TJ

A Lot Going On, At The Moment (October & November)

Hello friends!
I need to post before December comes around. J and I are currently enjoying one day off between trips and reserve blocks and just put up our Christmas tree. We are enjoying the rest as J became sick with all of our crazy travels and lack of sleep and then I finally caught remnants of his illness (though not to the same extent).
So what's been going on? I was trying to think how to best organize everything. At the beginning of October J and I both stood up in our friends' wedding. Then we saw Matt Nathanson in concert at the Gothic Theater. Then it was my birthday. Then J and I invited our aforementioned just-married friends (Kelsie and Josh) to join us on an overnight in Seattle. Then we went to Chicago to visit my family and good peeps. Then it was Halloween.
Then November rolled around. J had vacation and I didn't, so I worked a lot and J traveled to New Orleans and went sailing on his dad's boat with his dad, his mom, and our good friend James (who is about to become a dad in January with his wife, Kristy, also another very good friend of ours). Then we worked, had a day off, and worked some more. In between we enjoyed that our little downtown main street had put up all of their lights for the season. I love it here so much (a love letter to our neighborhood is forthcoming). Then we traveled to New Orleans for the wedding of John and Megan, which was really fun. It was a Catholic wedding at a beautiful church. We then second-lined down to the reception venue, taking a detour down Bourbon Street on the way. It was an absolute blast and we are so, so glad we were able to make it.
That pretty much takes us up to decorating our Christmas tree with one exception (and that will be another blog post, refer to the love letter to our neighborhood comment).
So yes! A lot going on and lots of pictures to go with: I'm hoping I don't overload your Internet! I did keep it under 50 pictures though. :)

After the rehearsal for Kelsie and Josh's wedding. Shannon, the bride, and I.

We all stayed at a mountain house in Georgetown. This was during a morning walk. (And kind of a preview of our Christmas cards...those were taken on a drive up through Guanella Pass.)

Beautiful fall color.

Shannon and I preparing the day of the wedding.

J doing the same.

My favorite bridesmaids shot.

Jeremy and the groom. :)

J and I at the wedding reception.

I love this. Sometimes I forget that I'm actually a "Mrs." because I never have a chance to use the term. :P

Celebrating the bride and groom.

Shannon and I were in love with this horse. This beauty lived in one of the paddocks along the way on the drive up to the venue. At first a little skittish, Shannon and I eventually were both feeding him sugar cubes.

Matt Nathanson, the evening before my birthday! Bonus: We saw Joshua Radin as an opener, too! There is an article about the show here.

We always sit in the balcony section.

The next day was my birthday. We did a small lunch down the street, and then had a fabulous Italian meal for dinner with drinks at out favorite tavern as a nightcap. Also, we did not go to the place pictured here.

We have to work some time right? Alex Trebek was on our flight!

Josh, Kelsie, me, and Jeremy. On our way to Seattle!

Jeremy having fun being a T-Rex.

Jeremy having fun eating a Twizzler.

Jeremy and I both having fun. Maybe I was joking when I said we had to go to work... :P

Seattle was a huge success. We took Kelsie and Josh down to Pike Place Market (there's me eating a cannoli) and we also took them to Etta's, a fantastic restaurant just past the market and off the water. I believe I have mentioned it before. Seriously wonderful food....no one we have taken has ever had anything bad to say about it.
Other places we visited: Perennial Tea Room and White Horse Tavern (right next to each other, awesome!)
Goorin Bros. Hat shop...which leads me to these next two photos:

J's new hat! A flatcap.

My new hat: a cloche.

Then it was off to visit Chicago. We don't have any pics with the fam or with Scott but I do have this one and the next. Here is J with his little furry friend.

And me and Mals!

Then it was Halloween, which was just awesome. We spent it at our friends' Kristy and James' house: carving pumpkins, answering the door, making food, and catching up.

We hiked Mount Galbraith, a personal favorite.

We had our first snow.

I took my huge out-of-control mint plant and chopped it in to ten, new mint plants. That's basil and wildflowers on the left.

The mint is doing well and I finally gave it all away except for the one I kept myself.

Also, the succulents are doing ridiculously well. I'm not even sure what to say.

It's also still fall...

We enjoyed our neighborhood on our time off as well. Here is J's favorite snack place and guilty pleasure: Mannekin Frites.

Cookies from my favorite snack place and guilty pleasure: Rheinlander Bakery. These remind me very much of cookies we made when I was growing up.

The water tower from the movie theater parking lot. It's becoming so dark, so, so early.

The main street of our little neighborhood, all lit up! This was taken a few weeks ago and J and I just drove by the other night and they were starting to decorate the tree in the big plaza!

Another street off of our main street.

Time to switch gears to New Orleans. Love the beads hanging off of everything.

J and I stayed at the Prince Conti Hotel. One night we had to ourselves and we tried a restaurant called Cane & Table. Kind of a colonial-Caribbean feel. The decorations were minimal and nautical. The food was phenomenal (we had jerk chicken with black eyed peas and stewed tomatoes). The drinks had tasty, tasty rum...but they were beautifully balanced and not cloyingly sweet like your usual, run-of-the-mill rum and coke. They also had an outdoor seating area in the back that was gorgeous with lights and, tile, and beautifully, simply painted doors.

They also had an outdoor seating area in the back that was gorgeous with lights and, tile, and beautifully, simply painted doors.

Afterwards we walked to Cafe du Monde. Usually a crazy place, it was chill with seats actually open. We ordered some beignets (for me) and chicory coffee (for J).

Sugar high.

Building facade near where we were staying. Also worth noting, we stayed right across from a place called Erin Rose. It's a pub/tavern type place with discounted Bloody Marys and mimosas. Points are detracted for allowing patrons to smoke indoors which still annoys and surprises me to this day. But we took our drinks to the smaller back area where Killer Po'boys operates and we feasted on the shrimp and veggie options. It was the perfect lunch.

Yellow bike on Conti.

This is on descent into Denver, after our second snow. We missed all that action.

I will sign off with that. I hope you enjoyed! J and I will be mostly working in December and staying close. But I hope to publish my love note to our neighborhood at the end of the month, in the least.  ;)

-TJ