SUNDAY, JUNE 1

John was up really early this morning so he went for a drive – he wanted to check out the Pinal Air Maintenance facility but couldn’t get very close. While he was driving out there, he spotted a well fed coyote crossing the road by way of a crosswalk. By the time he got stopped and got his camera out, the coyote had vanished. He also saw a couple of roadrunners (Lizz and I haven’t seen any of them yet). Once he got back, we got going early this morning so that we could visit as much of the Desert Museum as possible without melting. We arrived just before 8:30 and were invited to join a tour that started at 8:30. The tour guide was knowledgeable but rather scattered and long-winded. She “cut us loose” after about an hour and we headed to the desert loop walk before it got too hot. The park was really interesting – and it was fun to compare the Australian desert to the Arizona desert. We saw quite a few animals (in cages), including:

Bobcats

Margay

Gray Fox (note that he has a blankie)

and a

Javelina

Of course, there were coyotes and lots of birds and lizards. The walk had a lot of shade spots and water fountains and actually only took a half hour to walk. After the trail, we decided to find somewhere a little shaded so we visited the hummingbird enclosure. They had quite a few varieties of hummers – and the staff was spraying the trees in the enclosures when we were there.

This little guy was “bathing” in the drops left on the branches.

When we left the hummingbirds, it was very hot and we decided to leave. We headed back toward Tucson and then took a drive out to the Biosphere. Unfortunately, we weren’t there at the right time for a tour and it was too hot to sit around and wait. After a quick stop for dinner stuff (don’t like buying too much at once), we headed back to the condo to relax before dinner and a hot tub (again, it was our private tub).

Temperature: 39 C – sunny

MONDAY, JUNE 2

No one felt like doing much today – so we went shoe shopping. Lizz and I were both looking for work-type shoes (not sandals) and we came to the conclusion that Arizona in the summer is not a time to look for closed toe shoes. We stopped at a Walmart grocery store (no clothes, just grocery items) and were surprised to find that the prices at the Safeway were better than at Walmart. Oh yeah – our Safeway cards work in the States – it even works if you don’t have your card and you give your phone number!

The afternoon was spent lazing around – Lizz napped, John watched tv, and I took the computer onto the deck and worked on photos and this entry. It was nice and hot on the deck – and I only came inside when the sun actually made it’s way toward me and my feet were starting to fry (they haven’t been exposed to the sun much as I’ve been wearing runners and socks nearly all the time). No photos today.

Temperature: 40 C – sunny with some wind