New Car

On December 26th we went to Tempe and bought a new car. We had been up to the dealership on the 20th to drive it but it had a couple scratches that needed fixed and it needed window tinting so we didn't buy it that day.

It's a 2009 Toyota Matrix. Our first car purchase since 1997. I've been telling people it's my Christmas present.

We took the truck up and I drove the car back. It's just a bug speck in comparison to the truck!

I want to get a hatch-mounted roof end spoiler like this one that is on one of the XRS models. Ours is a base model. But Toyota doesn't offer them yet.

Tucson Mountain Park and Gates Pass

Tucson Mountain Park is not far from where we are staying this winter so we decided to go there for a desert hike.

These are chain-fruit chollas (rhymes with goya). Believe it or not, there are 28 varieties of chollas.

This is a teddy bear cholla.

Just one of the many mountains in Tucson Mountain Park. This one is more rock than the others and is very colorful.

This is a prickly pear cactus. There are maybe a dozen varieties of them. Notice the heart shaped pad on the left.

This area has a lot of saguaro cacti too. That's pronounced sa-war-o.

Ok I saw a movement off to the side of the trail. Look closely right in the middle of this photo and you can see the tops of a jack rabbit's ears. He stayed still for quite a while.

I think these houses are actually in a part of Tucson. We had passed a sign telling us we were leaving Tucson but I think a part of it is still south of the road.

This is the skeleton of a cholla cactus.

There were a few large rocks around.

Then we headed north on Kinney Road. It had a lot of dips and curves. Fun on a motorcycle.

Then we headed east on Gates Pass Road. The bikers like this one even though it isn't very long.

There was a scenic stop right before the ascent over the pass and into Tucson.

Arivaca Road

A friend recommended we take a trip down Arivaca Road so that's what we did today. This is a curvy road so Nolan didn't get many photos.

Well he did get me going around this curve. We had to be so careful because it was open range and there was sand in the road on a lot of the curves.

We stopped at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge to see if we could see any wildlife.

The BANWR covers a lot of territory.

I reached for a brochure and saw the only wildlife we found in the park.

The "pond" is barely there because of lack of rain.

No Gila Monsters here.

This sure is a big tree.

We continued our ride through Arivaca west to AZ 286. Don't know the name of this interesting peak.

In the middle you can see the observatory on top of Kitt Peak.

There were other interesting mountains but we didn't always stop for a photo.

Mission San Xavier Del Bac

Some work was being done on the front of the mission while we were there. The mission is in the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation just south of Tucson.

Pictures of the interior.

The wash basin had drains. Looks like the water could be heated here too.

This is a scale model of the mission and grounds.

Chapel hill is just to the east of the mission but is not part of the mission property. We climbed the hill to see what we could see.

Well what do you know... Arizona isn't all brown. Looks like fields of alfalfa to us.

We could see "A" Mountain aka Sentinel Peak from here.

The mission from Chapel Hill.

Mt. Lemmon

Only 27 miles from Tucson there's a ski resort at the top of Mt. Lemmon. We decided to take a ride there along Sky Island Scenic Drive.

As the road starts to wind up the mountain, the vegetation is paloverde trees and saguaro cactus.

At the first vista point, we could see the road we came up.

As we climb higher the saguaros disappear. Biologically speaking, the drive up the mountain is like driving from Mexico to Canada. Watch how the vegetation changes as we go.

Just a few photos of the windy road.

We could see Tucson on the valley floor.

This is Barnum Rock, named for Willis Barnum, Tucson Boy Scout leader in 1916. See how we are in the trees now?
This is the San Pedro River Valley. On a clear day you can see New Mexico from here.

Looks like there has been a fire recently.

We rode to the summit of Mt. Lemmon and walked on two of the summit trails. This is where Meadow Trail and Lemmon Trail diverge.
Meadow Trail. Mt Lemmon is 9,157' tall so we got out of breath quickly due to the elevation.

View of rocks along Lemmon Trail.