Back to the Gloom!

Well, we just got back from Vacation! It was Sunny the entire time we were in Arizona and then we came back to the cloudy gloom of Idaho. I keep telling myself that summers in Idaho are much better than they would be in Tucson...if Spring is 90 degrees there....I don't want to see August. Anyway, once I go through my pics I will post a few!

One last day!

Our last day of vacation was very different. Dieta Jensen had invited us, along with other photographers to come and photograph their annual cattle round up. Hey why not, I had never seen one before. Mom and Dad were both there. Mom was the one that got us invited. It was fun, shooting cowboys and cows, watching how the handled the calves...then eating lunch with all of the people there. However, the wind was just to much, we finally had had enough of the cold. (Welcome back to Idaho!) We headed home to brush off the dust, unpack and sleep in our own bed. I love vacation!

More from Greg's...

Learning about Utah!

On our way through, we stopped and saw Greg and Shari and their little families! Kaitlyn was in her School Program that night, so we decided to stay and watch our little star! We learned all about Utah, we have to admit, it was really well done! Even Carly liked to show! Afterward we went out for Pizza before heading to Preston. Thanks Kaitlyn for letting us watch your performance and thank you Conner for warning me when the best songs were about to be sung!

Birthday Time for Tam

Our little vacation was not really planned around my birthday, but hey, celebrate while you can! Boy did we! Actually it wasn't too bad, we ended up staying in Beaver (yes Beaver, Utah) that night. We were just taking our time traveling along and well...you never know where you will end up. However, if you are ever in Beaver, you need to stop and eat at the little Family Diner off of the exit. Wow! It was a good birthday dinner.

Grand Canyon.............

It is hard to avoid the Grand Canyon when traveling the northern part of Arizona! So make the best of it. We spent the night before and the morning of my birthday admiring the beautiful scenery of the Grand. It was a good place to be on a birthday, it makes you realize that no matter how hold you are... it just doesn't matter in Geologic time!

The long road home...

After spending an eventful time in Tucson, it was finally time to start making our way back to Idaho...of course, we have to stop a few more places. The Mesa Temple was a highlight. It is such a unique and beautiful temple.

To the Barrio!

Once more we headed to downtown Tucson, destination...the Barrio Viejo! This ancient neighborhood is so fun
and colorful...

Run for the Border...

OK, we didn't really want to get too close to Mexico...especially with all the drug war problems down there, but we decided to go see another mission that was in ruins. It was a nice drive. Oh, then we went and saw a few more cacti!

Saguaro cactus

OK, we are enamored by the saguaro cacti. It was so fun looking for the quintessential (road runner & coyote) cactus. And man they are tall! Did you know that they only start growing their arms after they are 12 feet tall and that they only grow about 2-3 inches a year! Some of these cactus are hundreds of years old!

Downtown Tucson...colorful place!

We headed for downtown Tucson just to look around, wow...what a colorful place! Then we drove through the Saguaros.

The aftermath....

So we taped up the windows of our car last night because the police warned us that it was 100% chance that the car could be stolen if they could see the broken windows. We did a pretty good job I thought. The hotel let us park under the canopy that night so they could watch it for us. And by noon the next day we had new glass in the windows and we were heading to Saguaro National Park. By the way, the thief only got our huge tripod....that pinches fingers, and a bag of wood that we had just bought. I was more upset about the wood...it is extremely rare and gorgeous (the same thing Brian made my earrings out of for Valentines). Did I mention earlier that this was an adventure!

Butterfly and broken glass!

That same day we went to a botanical garden. We walked outdoors in the wonderful sunshine then spent hours in a butterfly garden mesmerized by the newly hatched butterflies. Afterwards we headed for the air conditioning of our hotel room...while we were relaxing there we got a phone call from the front desk. Our car had been broken into and the cops were outside waiting for us to make a report. Funny part, our car was right below our window and we didn't hear a thing.

Second Day of Sunshine

Our first full day in Arizona started early. We headed out to the 300 year old San Xavier Mission. We spent hours taking images of this beautifully restored mission and the cactus gardens surrounding it. Did I mention that it was 85 degrees by 11:00 a.m. :)

Time to Find the Sun!!

Well, Brian and I decided to run away during the semester break. The only thing we were looking for was the sun! We found it by driving south. We headed for Arizona to warm up and shoot some cactus! I love it when we head out on one of our adventures. On the way we passed the Vermillion Cliffs...