DESERT WALK…INUKSHUK AND CLOTHING

  Last night the sun bounced off the Aho Mountains, so I had to make the cold walk to the end of the road and get these pictures…Yes, I did it in my usual evening photo attire….

  

We both heard the burros braying early.  We haven’t heard them so much lately, but they were is good voice EARLY this morning.   I switched on MSNBC to catch the latest Olympic medals. Den peeked out the window , advising me I didn’t need to make a “photo run” this morning, but of course, I had to see for myself.  I raised the big shade over our dresser and it looked marginally intriguing…

My morning outfit for sunrises is different than my evening photo attire. In the morning I am in too big of a hurry to slip on my sweats, so I am usually freezing in my nightshirt and Crocs…..Hey, at least I am able to make many “uniforms” out of a few pieces of clothing and accessorize with slippers or Crocs!

We had our coffee, looking outside and deciding today was not conducive to having coffee at our “outdoor cafe” by the camper. There were a lot of puffy clouds and the wind was tossing the tree branches pretty good…(and to think I ran out there just for a photo earlier!)  I marinated our ingredients for shish-kabob..our dinner. I use sirloin, onion, green pepper and fresh mushrooms…Dennis, the Grillmaster, will be standing in the cool night air pretending he is Bobby Flay.

I had to make a quick phone call to our oldest grandchild and wish her “Good Luck” . She is part of a group called Christian Youth Theater, and they are putting on the musical, The Wizard of OZ , this weekend..Today is their big dress rehearsal, and she is one of the munchkins..type cast, I’m sure…We hate to miss it , but for an 11 year old, she is mature enough to understand grandma and papa’s errant wanderings.

After lunch we headed back out into the desert.  It was a good day for a desert walk, being just cool enough not to break a sweat.  As usual, we found a few more rose chalcedony and I took a few more desert photos…

I happened to look UP,  (which I rarely do..afraid I’ll miss a cool rock), and I spotted a high cave.  This is not the same one we were in a few weeks ago. I kiddingly suggested we climb up to it…Dennis was dead serious…so UP we went. I have to say, Den has 6 years on me, and as I am carefully picking my way up the mountainside, tripping and slipping my way along, Den is sprinting to the top like he has climbed Everest before…This climb was definitely steeper than the other cave…and higher…oh,just great…and MY idea.

Den watched me stumble my way the last few yards up to the cave..and I finally joined him at the top. It was such a great view!!!

Listen, I didn’t come all this way up here NOT to get a couple personal shots of our adventure…After all, I have to prove to our kids that I can still keep up!

…Notice that Den has the “Look Ma, no hands!” approach, and under my calm demeanor, I have a death grip on the rock to my right…and I do NOT look straight down!

…CALM, ASSERTIVE…JUST LIKE THE “CAVE WHISPERER”…

After sliding the first few yards on my butt, and grabbing anything in sight to hang on to, I made the decline, looking like a slightly plump mountain goat with it’s front legs tied together..not a pretty site..Dennis , of course, was way ahead of me..”That’s OK, Den, I’m just fine…thanks for asking”.

That adventure taxed my lung capacity, but once on the desert floor, I began to pick up the pace a bit…We wandered around picking up “roses”, and suddenly I heard Den say,”Look, more clothing…and the we saw a few more items not far from the first.

I wonder why they leave their clothing? 

We turned around and walked back toward the direction of the campground..I noticed that we could see the cave we had just climbed up to  from our location…..

 

  We found an Inukshuk while we were on our walk.  For you home players, Inukshuks are stones stacked on each other, meaning “someone was here”, or “you are on the right path”.  I believe this comes from the Inuit tribes. They even used this in the design for the Olympics in Vancouver…Click on the word to get the link.

Well, we got back from our desert walk just in time…It began to rain and it is pouring outside..again! We are all cozy inside, unlike the people who just pulled into the park and have to set up in the rain….Been there…done that…don’t like it.  It looks like the Grillmaster may have to keep one hand free for an umbrella…or pull out the awning…

Again, thanks for traveling along with us.  If you behave and don’t fight over who gets to sit by the window in our truck, we may even find a Pizza Hut when we get South of Tucson!…More tomorrow…