Orzechs, continued: The Highlands of Arizona

So here I sit, on the fourth of July. So far, the day has been pretty uneventful - I worked on paper revisions while Paul played with the kids. Then I made lunch for the kids while Paul started working on learning Z-brush. Yes, we must be back in America, because this is what we do on a national holiday...work. At least a little. Then shoot off some fireworks once it gets dark, just to mark the occasion. (And to celebrate that fireworks are now legal in Arizona, which is a change from 5 years ago, although I'm still not sure it's the wisest thing in the world to legalize fire-y explosives, even temporarily, in a dry desert.)

Yesterday was really our celebration, though - we packed a picnic and went up the mountain to the Highlands of Arizona - Mt. Lemmon.

It's about an hour drive, and the terrain changes fast. First you drive through the city of Tucson, then the outskirts. Finally you reach the mountain foothills (or the "low mountains" as Audrey was calling them yesterday). Then you start traveling up - once through the foothills, it's switchbacks all the way up, which can lead to some lovely nausea if you're sensitive to that kind of thing...which everyone in our family is. But you persevere, and finally you're mid-mountain, and there's a rest area:

Windy Point Vista, Mt. Lemmon

Exploring

In addition to using the restroom, this is also a good place to practice your expansive "I own this place" look:


Audrey,Windy Point Vista	Claire, Windy Point Vista

Or, indeed, tell a fantastical story about how the rock on top of this rock is a secret book that was given to you by "the brothers" because you were "the little one," and you placed it here at Windy Point in the time before you were a part of this family (which sounds mysteriously like the plot of the Book of Kells animated film that Claire did not watch with us...but it could also be one of the plots of Winx...)

The book given to her by "the brothers"

Once you have done all your resting, it is time to get back in the car to seek the true Highlands, that area where it is cool and pine-forested, where there is even the Southern-most ski resort in the United States, which conveniently, runs the ski lift during the summer so the can still stay in business (being the Southern-most ski resort in the U.S. not exactly being a 100% winning business model).


Going Up!	Look who rode up behind us!

Elevation at the top	Flowers and ladybugs

Heading down the mountain	Audrey headed down

Once we rode the ski lift, we drove down the mountain a little and stopped at the Butterfly Trail. Though mid-summer isn't quite the right time for butterflies, it was still a lovely (fairly flat - important with the kids) trail.