Yesterday the kid and I were supposed to take a road trip to a state park we’ve never visited, just to have a look and hopefully a swim (with every intention of staying in the car if it wasn’t possible to keep a safe distance from people) but she woke up too anxious to even try it. So we went up our beloved Mount Lemmon instead. Instead of the usual “let’s go, let’s go, let’s get up there before half of Tucson gets there,” though, we instead headed up about 3:30, hoping most people would be headed down by the time we got there. From my house, it takes about an hour to get to the top.
Our beloved Mount Lemmon spent much of the summer on fire, so we haven’t been up there much. And most of the things that we love to do, like meander around Marshall Gulch or drive up to the Meadow Trail (and walk until it becomes a hike then turn around because we didn’t plan well for hiking AGAIN–ahem.) Many of the areas we like best to hang out are still closed. Oddly, this, combined with the late start, made the journey more relaxing to me. I didn’t have to hurry in hopes of getting a parking spot in a favored place. So since there wasn’t actually anywhere specific to go, we weren’t in any hurry.
Kid wanted a picture of that? Use a parking pullout, and cheer every car headed down the hill as at least one less human to deal with up top. Kid wants to stop at the next one too? Why not? We stopped several times on the way up, once it got cool enough to do so. (107 in Tucson. 93 the first time we stopped.) The windows went down, arms waved in the wind. We saw ravens, squirrels, a vulture flapped right past the car…
Anyway. As Tolkien wisely said, these things are wonderful to experience, but boring to tell. Please to enjoy these sunset pics. The one with the cactus the kid took at Babad Do’ag vista. The other is from Seven Cataracts Vista by me. And have a good Labor Day. Hug a union member if it’s safe to do so.
Beautiful!