Day #24 - Lights out

We're doing the lights out for Earth Hour (http://www13.earthhourus.org/) thing right now - yay for computing by candlelight. In light of this (heh heh), today's picture is from this past December's Winterhaven Festival of Lights. Winterhaven is an historic neighborhood in Tucson that goes all out with the holiday decorations every December. Displays run the gamut from religious to silly, and there's always at least a few University of Arizona offerings. This one features Sparky, the AZ State U mascot, on Santa's "naughty" list and Wilbur, the U of A's, on the "nice." This year, the neighborhood received a grant from Tucson Electric Power, the local utility that assists with stringing lights in the tall trees, and most of the public areas were strung with LED lights. They're much crisper and dimmer than conventional incandescent bulbs, so it was a much different Winterhaven than ever before. Still, lights are lights, and it's always a fun time.

Day #23 - back to Southern Arizona

All that tromping around Northern AZ got me a little homesick for the sights and sounds around here. We're entering the long, hot, dry summer, but I'm dragging out winter a little longer through photos. This is from January. We were on the road to Bear Canyon and found our way blocked by rapidly rising floodwaters. The clouds were dropping fast onto the tips of the Catalinas and several stranded hikers had to be airlifted out of the various canyons.

Day #22 - Meteor Crater

On Monday, we visited the Meteor Crater site just west of Flagstaff, AZ. They've got a really nice visitor's center and some great museum exhibits. It's quite spectacular. Definitely one to avoid during the hot months!

Day #21 - Twin Arrows

I've got a huge soft spot for Route 66, and a particular fascination for both the preservation / revival and the decay you can find along the route. Twin Arrows is one of the most iconic Arizona Route 66 landmarks for me, so I had to hop out of the car and take a few pictures here. It's disheartening to see it in such disrepair, but I guess that's just the way of things these days.

Day #20 - Welcome to Arizona!

It doesn't matter how long I've been gone, or how far I've traveled - I always break into a huge grin when I see one of these signs.

Day #19 - Easter Sunday

We drove for about 12 hours on Sunday. Started in Clinton, OK and finished in Flagstaff, AZ - stayed on the I-40 the entire way. As we were passing through New Mexico (east of Gallup), this hillside caught my eye. There's a large, whitewashed mission-style church on the hill, and a smattering of ramshackle adobe homes below. Very iconic, very southwestern. So good to be back on familiar turf!

Day #18 - Everything's bigger in Texas

If you've ever come across the Texas panhandle on the Interstate 40, you've probably seen the gigantic cross between the Oklahoma border and Amarillo, TX. It's enormous and sticks right up out of the prairie. At night, it's lit with garrish neon - I think it's green. It's...um...quite the landmark.

Day #17 - traveling companions

As I mentioned, I flew up to Iowa to help my best friend move back to Tucson. We left the large pets with her dad (to be flown down later), but had 8 reptiles in the car with us. Saturday night, they all got a warm water soak in the hotel bathroom.

Day #16 - Cat vs. AT-ST

Sorry for the absence here - I'm finally getting caught up on internet stuff after being a few days without a connection. Today will be a big picture dump to get things caught up here.

A couple of weeks ago, I was cleaning out my closet and came across a shoebox that has all my Star Wars miniature toys. The bf was over and decided to taunt my cat with the toys.