Friday, April 13, 2007
spring break - part 4
i forgot to mention one thing about the grand canyon . . . while we were sitting on the edge of our rock eating lunch, we got to talking about the size of this huge canyon. and deborah said, i bet if you shouted into this thing it would echo and echo for eternity. "like in the cartoons and movies and stuff?" i said. yeah, she replied. "i dare you to do it, d. shout!"so, she shouted.
and. nothing. happened.
her voice stopped just around her mouth, hung out for a bit and disappeared.
we did a double take and stared at each other. wha - ?
i tried it. nothing. my voice dropped into deadness without so much of a ring.
the grand canyon is so effing huge that even a shout gets lost in it.
nuts.
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so, moving on to tucson arizona.
we have a friend named bonnie who used to live in oregon and was pretty good friends with our family. she moved back to tucson a few years ago. so, we decided to hook up with her while jake was at work.
but first we slept in and took our time getting showered. a long day of driving really wears one out. :)
then we went to the epic cafe on 4th street - LOVELY area - and had some coffee (or non-coffee if you are deborah) drinks, while trying not to get sprayed by the street cleaners.
bonnie picked us up outside the epic. she had brought her mother along. this woman is the CUTEST. FUNNIEST. WOMAN ever. she says what she wants, when she wants, in this cute little old voice. and i want to be like that when i am her age. oh. seriously.
they drove us out through the saguaro national forest, passed Old Tucson (where they filmed john wayne movies and such) and to the forest museum/zoo. this place has all these animals, plants, snakes, bugs, etc that are native to the area around tucson. i don't really like zoos much because animals are kept in such close quarters, but this zoo wasn't that bad actually because they try to replicate their environment so that it seems authentic . . .
here are some ocotillo cacti by where we parked our car:
we didn't get to see everything at the zoo because it started raining on us and we all got soaked - especially me because i didn't want an umbrella. i wanted to expeirence the big fat raindrops in the middle of the desert. it was glorious.
here, you can see the rain rolling in:
that's the awesome thing about tucson. it is located in this valley surrounded by mountain ranges (the catalinas, the ringcons . . . not sure the others or if i even spelled these ones right) and you can see for miles. you can see weather coming and you can see it happening miles and miles away from you. way cool.
anyway, i was wearing pants and a sweater so i was fine. but poor deborah on the other hand was wearing flip flops, a skirt and a short skirt. she thought we'd be in the desert all day so she dressed prepared. :) and then it rained. so she was pretty cold for the rest of our time there. here are d and b pretending not to be miserable:
here is one of the unique and amazing plants that we don't see in oregon (i have no idea what it is called, it is just cool to look at and photograph):
we saw these crazy cats (i wanted to ride one like a furry tractor):
i guess otters are native to the desert . . . we got to see them swimming around. b loves ferrets which are related to otters so she watched these guys for a long time :)
some more (potted) cacti:
unpotted and blooming:
this one was wild! it isn't native to the area, but check out the things sticking off of it! i think they look like hairy spider legs . . . it's like "watch out guys! don't try to eat me cause i am a poisonous spider!" genious.
not a tree:
and the vew of the area after the rain has passed over:
after our trip to the zoo, we met jake for dinner. we almost went to this taqueria where bill clinton went when he had come through tucson, but the waiting list was over an hour so we went across the street and were sorely disappointed. the salsa there was like spagetti sauce or just plain tomato paste or something . . .
after dinner, debs, jake and i went to rent a video . . . we watched "nach libre," drank chocolate soy milk and ate nutter butters.
perfect acitivies for a school night.
and no, i didn't take any pictures. :)
say it don't spray it 9:25 AM
4 i heard that
