Friday 13th - Mt. Lemmon Scenic Byway

Friday 13th

Firstly, Happy Birthday to Kris, Ian's partner.  Hope you have a great day at home in Wales.
Ok, we decided that Friday 13th would be the day we would see if there were any bugs in the house!!!!    
I have been getting bitten by something and I'm not sure what it is but could be fleas, ugh!!!  Co-Co has had a flea collar on but maybe it hasn't worked or maybe my bites are something else.  They are not bad but I want to get rid of whatever is causing them.  So far, we haven't seen anything or any evidence of anything which is kind of strange. We decided to get a bug bomb and let it off in the house.  Of course this meant we had to go out for at least two hours with CoCo.  It has been a little hot to go walking for that time here so I looked for a road trip we could take.

I found the Mt.Lemmon Scenic Byway, so we put things away, covered things up, packed a lunch, food & water for CoCo and set off the bug bomb and left.  We made sure to tell the camp host what we had done in case anyone saw smoke or smelt anything funny and were concerned.

It wasn't long before we were on the scenic roadway.  I was amazed how the terrain changed for one minute to the next on this trip.  Of course we were getting higher and higher in the mountains which was the reason for the different vegetation but the weather also kept changing as we rounded bend after bend.  Bob Bowers describes it far better than I ever could here.
We started at 3,000 ft above sea level and climbed to 9,000 ft above sea level. We started with Saguaro Cactus, yes Ryan I know how much you love cactus.

You can see Tucson in the background

 When Ryan was young and we were visiting a garden center he thought it would be a good idea to hug a cactus.  Of course he was too quick for us to stop him totally and got some needles in his fingers, which we had to pull out one by one.  We felt terrible for him and I think the incident was nearly as painful for us as it was for him.  Obviously, this has led him to have a dislike for cactus, and I am reminded of the incident whenever we see cactus, which is quite often when you live in the desert.
Back to the roadtrip -
We saw oak trees, pine trees and some amazing rock formations.

What different shapes or faces can you see in these pictures??

As you can see the skies were blue but as we ascended the mountain there were some dark clouds looming.

 I got a little worried that we would have a torrential downpour but as quickly as they were there you rounded the next bend and they were gone only to return a few bends later.  It was very strange and beautiful.
We stopped at one of the parking areas and got out so we could all stretch our legs.

We reached the little village near the top of the mountain and the road came to a dead end, so we turned around to begin our return trip.  There was a restaurant, post office, fire station and couple of other buildings here but we didn't stop to look at any of them.  We passed the turning for the ski area and continued on our way down as we were ready for our lunch and we had decided we would stop at one of the picnic areas on the way down.  The temperature had dropped 30 degrees from when we started the beginning of the drive to the top and it was a chilly 60 degrees which was why we decided to go back down the mountain to find our lunch spot.

We found Rose Canyon Lake.  We parked and walked down to the lake. 

We found a log to sit on and eat our lunch.  It was very peaceful even though there were school groups and anglers there enjoying the nature.  There were also signs warning about the bears.  As this is a tent campground as well, it was telling you to keep your food in the bins that are provided.  Didn't realize that there were bears in Arizona but thankfully didn't see any evidence of them.  They obviously weren't enticed by our sandwiches. Thank goodness!!!

After our break and walk we headed on back down the road. 

The scenery was fabulous... 

We arrived back in Tucson and headed home.  When we got back we opened all the windows and doors to air Lily out.  We put the rugs outside to air and Bryan took the bedding, blankets and towels to the laundry to get them washed.  I cleaned and vacuumed the floors.  We left the rugs outside for a while to air.  I didn't see any dead bugs so who knows, we will see if I get any more bites.

We had a wonderful day out and as they say, traveling the Catalina Highway is like driving from Mexico to Canada in a couple of hours.

Here is the the link of all the photos I took today.

Saturday 14th

Well, I didn't get bitten yet. Let's hope that lasts.  

Bryan bowled in a tournament today at the bowling alley on base.  It was the first time since his knee surgery that he has bowled apart from the quick practice session on Thursday.  Here are his words on the event:   Bowled in a elimination tourney here at Davis Monthan AFB. Thought I really did not have a chance since there was quite a few really good bowlers and the fact that I was the oldest one entered. Surprised my self and started the qualifier off with a 254, 218, 197 and 204 to qualify third out of 15. Still around to finish 2nd, missed wining the tourney by three pins. Doubled my entry money. Happy Camper. 

While he was gone I decided to watch the recording of Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, that Bryan kindly recorded for me while I was in England.  It was the first time I had seen it fully since it happened. I had watched it in England but as I was enjoying my first day with Ian and the grandkids I didn't pay as much attention to it as I would have done.  It was very enjoyable watching it when I knew the outcome, as parts of it were nailbiting first time around.  It finished about the same time as Bryan finished his tournament and so the timing worked out well.  

Well, that's about it for now.....  Take Care.