Mount Lemmon

April 25, 2011

We started our day in Tucson at around 2500 feet above sea level. I wanted to take the kids to Mount Lemon because in one hour you can witness incredible changes in landscape by just going up.

This saguaro cactus has an amazing amount of arms.
I think we will call him Father Abraham.

We came around a corner and all of the sudden the saguaros
were gone and all that was left was some scrub and rocks.

We literally hugged the edge of the mountain as we wound our way up.
Lots of fascinating rock formations to look at.

Incredible views.

Once we got to the top, we could see
another valley on the other side.
Only pine trees now.

As we ascended, Erika happened to look over Grandpa Jere's shoulder and notice the gas gauge was kind of close to the E side. Really close. In fact, unless we were willing to coast all the way back down, we weren't going to make it. I wondered aloud if there were any gas stations at the top.
Nope. Not a one. My father reasoned that we couldn't be the only dummies who drove up to Mount Lemmon without enough gas so he made inquiries at the little store. The rest of us took pictures in the parking lot and went and found the bathroom. Sure enough, the fire department was willing to sell us 2 gallons of gas for $20. Enough to get us back to civilization.
They had a fire in the mountains a few years ago and it was interesting to see where the wind blew. You could see where there had been swaths of fire moving through.
There is a ski area at the top of Mount Lemmon. It is about the same size as the local ski area that we all learned to ski at in New Hampshire.

The kids decided they wanted to show their Karate Kid poses.

After a good stretch of the legs, we decided to

head back down and look for a place to picnic.

I admit I kept a pretty tight rein on the kids.
We don't have poisonous snakes and bugs where we live.
Kloey was on the hunt.

She got it.

The temperature was about 65 degrees which felt COLD, believe it or not. We found a lovely spot for a picnic and ate sandwiches, chips, granola bars, and lemonade.

We made it safely back to Tucson.
What a great day complete with
adventure, fresh air, and good company.