Happy Easter Mar 31, 2013

Church services here are attended by the ""over 62 years of age" crowd.  We're still adjusting to being in this "older"group.  The church parking lots were packed as we drove along Rte 77.  Our church completed the service with a 'sing along" Hallelujah Chorus.  Only about 20 people went to the front of the church to sing with choir.  The wonderful surprise was that everyone still in the packed congregation sang along anyhow. It was the largest rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus I ever heard

 Happy Easter from Tilly and Terry O'Tortoise

Tucson Botanical Gardens, March 27, 2013

Last year, it was very cold the day we visited the Botanical Gardens. Today was 82 degrees, a touch overcast with a light breeze to keep us cool.   In case you are worried about seeing to many butterflies, flowers or cactus, hang in there. The large, thoroughly complete Thorneville Village model train layout is up and running this year.

Lovely garden entrance that smelled wonderful - jasmine flowered archway

Medicinal plants.  Next year I'll get to the native Indian medicine lecture and practice recognizing these 

Spectacular butterflies

 These guys really wanted out through the window.

The hot house rain forest flowers are as beautiful as the butterflies. 

Small stream with tiny fish

Thorneville has an incredibly complete village with 2 tunnels and a "mountain resort."  The buildings area all built to scale.  Watch for the sign about the wrong side of the tracks. 

It is hard to get a picture of this whole layout.

Notice the vintage cars

 This is Black Bear Mountain Lodge, One of the tunnels goes under this mountain.

This is the other tunnel on the other side of the layout.

 What creative miniature buildings, complete with fire engines, and people.  This was someone true passion.

Leaving the train layout, there were many more interesting gardens. I loved the purples flowers on these trees.

 

A lizard and dinosaur say good bye on you way out and........

Must have a javelina represented.  This by far, the cutest JAVELINA I've ever seen. 

Mt Lemmon, March 23, 2013

Today, we drove to Mt Lemmon, Santa Catalina Mountains..  We have seen the far distant Mt Lemmon peak covered with snow from Oro Valley .  We went to see all that can be seen driving from the Tucson elevation 2000 to 8000 feet.

We shared the road with many, many bikers.  I can't imagine what kind of excellent shape you must be in the bike UP this road, and then maintain control rushing down.  If anyone needs to train for the Tour de France,  I recommend Mt Lemmon, Tucson, AZ

The mountain range is so massive.  You can see the road we'll wind around up ahead 

 Our first observation stop is Molino Canyon Vista.  Have to come back sometime and hike that trail

Our next stop was the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site.  This was actually a prison site for WWII conscientious objectors and other minor criminals.  Mr Hirabayashi, an American citizen born to Japanese parents, was sent here for repeatedly breaking the curfew imposed on Japanese Americans who were thought to be a threat to American security after Pearl Harbor.  He sued the government for this injustice and finally won his case.  In 1987, this area was named for him.        

This site is incredibly remote.  It was an "Honor" prison.  There were no fences, only rocks painted white to indicate how far a prisoner could go.  What a place to put a prison. 

 This is a picture of Thimble Peak.  I took a picture from the other side when we were at Sabino Canyon

 This stop is called the Seven Cataracts view.  Not sure why since geographically, cataracts refer to large water falls.  Pretty impressive rocky out cropping.

 You may not be able to see it, but there is a tiny stream flowing down this slope.

 Mt Lemmon is considered one of Southern Arizona's "Sky Islands."    It is hard to imagine an inland ocean that covered all this land until you see these water smoothed rocks and the layers of different rocks that compose these mountain sides.

On our way up, there was a person on the top of this stone column.  She had used ropes to climb up.  I'd call this quite a rock wall climb.

More incredible views.  Remember I'm flatlander.    

We are now at 7850 ft and the mountain is covered with pine trees

 

 Civilization - must have communication!!

 Lovely place for a picnic

There are many warnings about bears.  Here's the bear proof garbage container.

I think we are really on top of the world!!

 From the Sonoran Desert to a Ski Resort

 Still snow from on the mountain, but not enough to ski on

"Clarence", the Ski Lift was working in case anyone wanted a ride up and down the ski slope.  It was 49 degrees and very windy.  We decided to just take pictures.

A putting green for the non skiers

We were really surprised to see the fire damage from the 2003 fire.  300 buildings were lost including the entire town of Marshall Gulch.  These new buildings have no landscaping around them.  Some look like very nice homes.  The burnt mountain sides are a scary reminder of a terrible fire.  

Heading down the mountain

Back down to the desert level

This was a great drive, not too scary.  The roads were wide enough for traffic in both directions and room for the bikers.  We'll come back again next year.