Feb 1, 2010

Today was all about airplanes and the desert. We started with a few hours at the Pima Air Museum. We’ve been there before, but it’s always fun to go back and see the old (and some not-so-old) birds. There are a lot of fly-boys who retire here to Tucson who volunteer at the museum and they are eager to talk about “their planes” which makes it all the more interesting. In fact, I have to say, I go more to hear their stories than to see the planes at this point.

Then after lunch we drove out to the Saguaro National Park, looked at the forests of saguaro cactus and got our permanent park pass. Then just down the street is the Arizona Museum of the Sonora Desert and we spent the rest of the afternoon there, enjoying the cactus gardens and the wildlife they have there. I especially enjoy the aviaries. They have one for hummingbirds and another for a lot of the local bird life. So instead of describing them, I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

1. Saguaro Cactus with lots of arms
2. Cactus Wren on a yucca branch
3. Costa hummingbird
4. I'm not sure what kind of hummingbird she is, but she's sitting on her nest
5. Pyrrhuloxia (southern cardinal)
6. Lilac crowned parrot
7. bobcat























(P.S. As I was preparing this blog entry last night, I learned that a deal friend of mine had died the night before. Dee Churchill was a delightful person, a tiny imp of a woman filled with so much energy, love, wisdom and joy that her frame could not possibly contain it all, so she spilled it out on all of us who knew and loved her. She was the one who told me I needed to start a blog so she could follow along on our journeys, so here's to you, Dee. I hope you keep checking in on us and enjoying the trip. Knockers up forever.)