San Xavier del Bac Mission, 1797

Goll-ee is it pretty!

Dotted around the Denver area are old brick houses with this style of arched facade. I fail to successfully articulate what it is I so love about them. Sigh.

Pure happiness!

Mesquite and creosote, full fluff and flower. The scent of the low desert is absolutely beguiling.

Desert willow, which isn’t a willow at all. We have one in our front yard, and it is the wisest of our garden “crew.” Looking positively dead until late May or early June, after every chance of frost has passed, then it explodes in thin leafed glory and pastel blossom. It is a superstar of the pollinator world.

When we were in Kansas City, if you recall, we visited the most amazing National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. Upon learning Tucson has The Miniature Time Machine Museum, as well, we couldn’t miss a chance at enjoying another glimpse of a world scaled down, down, down. Fun!

Looky how small the coins our dapper friend is standing on.

A bucking bronco on the tip of a pencil, jeepers.

Efficiency Apartment for a single woman writer. I like it. I like it very much.

You know why…

It was all so cool.

Favorite gamer on his least favorite pinball machine at the most excellent Hotel McCoy, our home away in Tucson, and the polar opposite of our digs in Gila.

Very centrally located and kinda hipster cool, with a pool, a very nice beer (try the prickly pear!) and wine bar and truly fab murals galore. We enjoyed streaming Netflix in the evening, pop tarts and coffee in the morning, and the steady roar of the nearby freeway when out and about with the pooch.

Tucson is similar in size and geography to Colorado Springs, with soaring peaks and a bit of sprawl. An unexpected adjustment was how bare of evergreen the peaks are, with every craggy slope visible, and upon closer inspection, positively alive with saguaro and mesquite and a whole host of other plants unknown to us.

We ate well, our favorites El Charro, one of the oldest restaurants in town, and definitely worth the wander. We also had amazing pupusas and doughnuts and icy beverages.

Luckily, though unseasonably warm, it wasn’t unbearably so, which pleased us both. Tucson is pretty darn cool.

A quick zip from the McCoy was a pretty amazing walking path along the seasonal Santa Cruz river. We enjoyed these views on Juniper’s wiggle buster walks in the early morning. How unaccustomed we were to the wild beauty of the desert!

On our way home and back through Apache country. The landscape familiar once again.

La Ventana Natural Arch, Zuni territory, New Mexico.

It’s fried chicken!!