I've been to Tucson a dozen or so times, and each time I'm down there we manage to find something else I haven't done. This time was no different, but I'll get into that a bit more.
Let me back up to Friday.
I had an 11:30am flight out of Seattle. I normally leave at the butt-crack of dawn to get down there so I have an extra day. This time a not so early flight which allowed me time to dilly dally in the morning before heading to SeaTac. I left my house, assuming traffic during rush hour, and headed to airport with plenty of time to dump the car, get on the shuttle, get through security, get my coffee and have about 40 minutes before boarding. See, I'm one of those "give-me-as-much-time-as-possible" people. I hate being late to the airport. I hate "running" to the gate. I like to not feel any stress when I'm traveling. So I had plenty of time. Or so I thought.
I pulled into the parking lot I was going to leave Sparky. The shuttle picked me up right away. I hopped on and stopped in my tracks. Immediately turned around and announced "Crap, I left my wallet at home." The guy getting on behind me said, "That sucks. Hope you live close." Redmond is not close.
I hopped off, pissed that I could leave something as essential as my wallet and headed back to Sparky. Calculating the entire time how much it would take to get home, get the wallet and get back to the airport. Would I make it? I got to the car and thought, "Wait. Check your camera bag before you go blazing home." Sure enough, the wallet was in there. Phew. Crisis adverted.
I found the shuttle a couple rows down and hopped back on. By this time it was about 2 hours before my flight.
Inside the airport, I got to security and not a single person was in line. No one. I couldn't believe my eyes. So I sailed through security, got to get the full body scan and pat down for no extra charge. That's the most action....ahhh... never mind.
My flight to Tucson, which normally would take 2 hours 35 minutes, was going to take me 6 hours. SouthWorst schedule...and free tickets equal long flight. We stopped in Oakland, but I didn't have to de-plane, then off to LA, where I would have to change planes and wait for 2 hours before my next flight. Left Seattle at 11:30 and got into Tucson at 7:10pm. I was pooped.
But hungry-ish.
The MomUnit AND DadUnit (couldn't believe he actually came to the airport) picked me up and we headed to Mr. K's BBQ. Puck felt like he had to "grab the bull by it's horns" only to realize he didn't have hands to do said "grabbing".
With only two days in Tucson, I hadn't really planned on doing a whole lot. If we got out to do something, great, if not, hanging at the house was fine by me. The sun was out and it was in the high 70's so I was content.
As usual Count Beau of Hershey was glad to see me. He told me how neglected he is and how no one plays with him ever. Poor Puppy!
Yah right!
Puck wanted to size Schuester up to see if he could "take" him in a fight. Since Schuester's paw is bigger than Puck, Puck decided to just let Schuester sleep.
The MomUnit threw together a caramel apple pie / crisp thing. OMG it was so good. I'm not a dessert person generally, but this pie was so tasty, and not overly sweet. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
Sunday, the MomUnit and Couzin Jeannette and I headed out to Tucson to see a few things I hadn't seen. Namely, St. Augustine Church, "A" Mountain (which is really a hill) and Tanque Verde Ranch.
"A"Mountain was first.
From "A" Mountain you get a pretty good view of Tucson. If you look real close you can see a few tall buildings, that's downtown. It baffles me to see a "downtown" with no sky scrapers in it. Seems weird to call it "downtown."
Puck wanted to climb "A" mountain, but since he can't climb it without me, he had to settle for a photo op just with the "A".
Tucson seems so flat to me. Even though I know there are mountains all around, its still so flat. I love Tucson. It reminds me of LandScatter (aka Lancaster, California). The heat, the desert, the wind.
From there we headed to St. Augustine Church. I love photographing churches. There's something so peaceful about churches. Most Catholic churches I've "photographed" are overly ornate, but St. Augustine was simple and elegant.
Following the church, the MomUnit was so thrilled to be out of the house, she just didn't want to go home. So she took Couzin Jeannette and I to Tanque Verde Ranch. It's an active Dude Ranch apparently. It's also one of those places where everyone gets married or has receptions or whatever. Gorgeous place.
When we arrived, I think the MomUnit just thought about driving in and driving out. But I hollered, "STOP THE CAR." There was a corral of at least 50+ horses just begging me to take photos of them. Puck and I hopped out and went on a shooting spree...a photography shooting spree that is.
This guy apparently thought something was funny.
Puck suddenly decided he wanted to be a cowboy and was going to pick out his horse to ride off into the sunset with.
This guy had an itch.
This guy thought Puck was an apple, or carrot or something. He attempted to eat poor Puck. I managed to convince him that pink ducks were too game-ey!
This guy just sat and licked this salt lick. Made me thirsty.
Cowboy Puck was not satisfied with any of the horse there. They all seemed only interested in eating him, and he just couldn't see any of them being his friend.
All in all it was a good weekend. The DadUnit looked good and acted like his old self again. Its sad to me that we had to bring him home under hospice, take him off all his medications, and now to see him back to his old self. He was making jokes and participating in the conversation, just like he used to. Goes to show that being medicated, while it may prolong your life, doesn't necessary, give you life.
I took the long route home too, stopping in LA, layover in Oakland then home. I managed to catch ANOTHER cold (if you're keeping count that's three in 5 months). My ears wouldn't pop decending into Oakland either. So in Oakland I couldn't hear a darn thing. It was so painful descending that I thought I was going to cry. The right ear finally popped when we took off out of Oakland. The left ear still ain't popped. It's better, but still plugged.
Got home to an ice cold house too. I thought perhaps because I had been in Tucson for a couple of days that the house just felt cold. Turns out the heater died sometime over the weekend. The Landlords will have to replace it and I won't have a new one until Thursday afternoon. In the meantime, Pookie and I are bundling up and keeping as warm as we can.
Pookie found his spot in front of the fireplace yesterday and didn't move.
This morning it was a balmy 53F in the place. BRRRR. I came to work just so I can warm up. Well that and a pay check.
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