Monday, April 25, 2011

A rocky day...

Getting to the end of the Arizona trip photos, then it's back to your regularly-scheduled bees and chickens.

Here are more pictures from gorgeous Chiricahua National Monument.



Love on the rocks, ar ar ar. Or maybe not, as it's our 18th wedding anniversary next month.



Gordon and Roger, two intrepid hikers fuelled by Dos Equis.



Can you see the head in this rock formation? It actually has a name, but I'm damned if I can remember what it is.



Ahhhhh...



This formation is known as "Punch and Judy." I think the reasons are obvious!



Yarrow's Spiny lizard, trying to warm up in the sun.



Stunning rock formations, as far as the eye can see.



The trail.



And near the end of our hike down the mountain, a Two-tailed Swallowtail landed on Gordon. It is Arizona's state butterfly.



Next it landed on me, no doubt disappointed to discover that all these bright colours were yielding NO nectar!



Then Gordon professed his love for an Alligator Juniper growing out of a rock.


Near the end of our something-like-ten-miles hike, I started hallucinating and seeing cars where there were none, but eventually we did reach the visitor centre parking lot, where we changed out of our hiking boots and coerced some innocent bystander into taking our photo!



Then we headed back to Tucson. But in the grasslands near Chiricahua, we saw more range cows:



We kept a sharp eye out of for snakes in the road. This poor Gopher snake was squashed by a car before we got there..




However, Roger rescued this lovely one from the middle of the road before it could come to harm...


I wish I could have held it, but I did get to touch it! Gopher snakes are not venomous, but they will pretend to be one if threatened, by flattening their heads to look the triangular head of a rattler. They hiss and shake their tails in a very good imitation of their venomous kin.


Gorgeous snake! I'm glad we didn't squash it. Roger is an expert with reptiles and amphibians; don't try randomly picking up snakes unless you know what you're doing.

After this, we stopped for Mexican food and tequila. A good time was had by all! Well, I abstained from the tequila. Tequila and I were last acquainted in 1990, followed by the mother of all hangovers. Never again!

Here are some cool vintage postcards from Chiricahua.

Be kind to snakes!




10 comments:

  1. Happy Early Anniversary! Looks like ya'll had great time! Great pics once again. It's too bad Dos Equis can't fuel my car considering gas prices lately but I bet it goes well with hiking! :D

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  2. Great photos.
    If Gordon had stood a little more to the left in the first one, it would have looked as though he was balancing that rock on his head!

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  3. Anonymous9:34 pm

    I like your definition of "love on the rocks" better than that other one. I think you should take it. ; )

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  4. Great trip photos of Arizona! I can see how much fun you and the hubby had. Happy Anniversary (early.) Also, we'll have to share tequila stories one day. I broke up with tequila in 1990....it was an ugly break up too....
    wink, wink!

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  5. Thanks David and yes, I bet beer is cheaper than gas right now!!

    LBM, that would have made a good photo. :)

    CogDis, that stupid Neil Diamond song has been running through my head since yesterday.

    Shelley, thank you! I see you and I had bad tequila trips around the same time. :)

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  6. Ok, in pic # 1, it looks like Gordon has a huge rock hat on! You all look worn out in the picture of the three of you! I remember hanging out in the desert in New Mexico, it's HOTTTT and that heat can suck the life out of you!!

    I love snakes, when Randy & I were newlyweds (we got married like ten thousand years ago), I caught him a wild rat snake for his birthday. We named her Ofelia, and we kept her over a year. We got alot of other snakes in those early years. But, alas, we have no more snakes now. I think we that was just a young and crazy phase we went through! But now I'm not afraid of snakes at least! "Be kind to snakes!"
    ~Lynn

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  7. 18 years next month! How lovely :) Having a butterfly land on you is good luck! Great pictures yet again.

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  8. What an amazing place. It looks like you had a great holiday Knatolee

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  9. Lynn, I really want to visit New Mexico. I'm glad we weren't in Arizona in summer; it was hot enough in April. But I love the desert!

    And yay that you love snakes. So many reasons I like you! :)

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  10. Paula, thanks! And I like good luck. :)

    Jams, it was spectacular. I practically had a spiritual experience.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!