rachelmanija | Our Tucson trip

sholio has written an account of our Tucson adventures, which so far have featured the common fanfic tropes of Mistaken For A Couple, Trapped By A Flood, and Only One Bed. This makes a nice companion piece to my previous-this-month adventure with

sartorias, Snowed In.

Tucson is beautiful and delightful. I had a friend I used to stay with there, but I hadn't been back for something like fifteen years, and expected that it would be built up and very different from how I remembered it. In fact, it is exactly the same as I remembered it: extraordinary, almost alien-looking natural landscape full of life and saguaros exactly as depicted in movies, artsy bohemian townspeople interspersed with rather less bohemian types (we spotted many leftist signs and one very large, very angry BUILD THE WALL, though to be fair that one was actually in Tubac.)

This morning, to our immense relief, the hot water had been turned back on and we were able to take much-needed showers. We went to a cafe with a beautiful outdoor patio with two trees, which thanks to the previous day's hike we could recognize as a mesquite and a palo verde.

Behind us, a man in a heavy wool red coat, red pants, a black wool Santa-type hat, and a black eye-patch was discoursing to his female companion: "It is the time of Me Too... Scorpio, the sign of sexual energy, is ascendant... The Great House is in Jupiter..." There was a pause, and she said, "Um... You mean the planet?"

Refreshed, we went to Antigone Bookstore and purchased a baseball cap with an embroidered quail (Layla) and a bat (me) and way too many books (both of us.) I additionally acquired a plushie hedgehog. We observed, but did not buy, a lot of unicorn, narwhal, and sloth memorabilia. This seems to be a recent thing, as it was all over LA too. I still await the unicorn sloth.

Then we drove to Gates Pass, where we hiked and scrambled up some hills with fantastic views and a whole lot of cacti. We spotted lots of beautiful wildflowers, including a red-blooming ocotillo. And now we are back in the AirBnb, checking email (both of us) and icing our ankles (me.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Date: 2019-03-02 02:50 am (UTC)

From:

nenya_kanadka

no subject

Behind us, a man in a heavy wool red coat, red pants, a black wool Santa-type hat, and a black eye-patch was discoursing to his female companion: "It is the time of Me Too... Scorpio, the sign of sexual energy, is ascendant... The Great House is in Jupiter..." There was a pause, and she said, "Um... You mean the planet?"

I am quivering with laughter. :D

Date: 2019-03-02 03:24 am (UTC)

sartorias

Sounds like an AWESOME journey!

Date: 2019-03-02 11:23 am (UTC)

batwrangler

All sloths are unicorns, it's just that their horns take so long to develop.

Date: 2019-03-02 12:08 pm (UTC)

mtbc

I'm glad it was good, I always enjoyed visiting Tucson and the desert around it and I am glad to hear that it is not much changed. I once looked at a job with the University of Arizona but the public schools didn't look so great (we had kids at that time), otherwise I might have moved there. I still have a fond memory of seeing the Milky Way after visiting the Cactus Garden late in the day.