Making Lemonade: Tucson and Tanque Verde Dude Ranch

Just about the best state park anywhere....Catalina State Park, Tucson. We stayed two nights at the Catalina State and that was not enough. We had 50 amp! And the comfort stations were cleaner than our bathrooms! Joe and I were on a bike ride and saw a bobcat and a coati. Next day we saw an antelope jackrabbit. The coyotes howled all night.

One of our best fieldtrips ever....Arizona Desert Museum. Yes, I said museum! We planned on a few hours, and it turned into all day. We learned about tarantulas, rattlers, cactus, birds, mountain lions, and coyotes (just to name a few). We battled the 99 degree day and would highly recommend this "living" museum to everyone.

Teddy Bear Cholla

why its a large ear bat!

future archeologists

forgot the name??

Coati, this is what Joe and I saw on our bike ride.

action shot of an antelope jackrabbit

forgot the name??

The best creature of all....black widow. This black widow was in our bathtub at Tanque Verde Ranch. My mom's room had a nice addition to it, a giant wolf spider. Nana, Papa, Mimi, and Annie met us at the Ranch. It has been 24 years since I've been back to the Tanque Verde Ranch, and it is still awesome! We all passed our loping test. Michael and Keith went on mountain biking tours with Casey as their tour guide. Mimi and Annie did water aerobics with Nancy leading the way. Rick the snake man helped us identify our roomates, ie. black widow and wolf spider. Sarah and Joe took tennis lessons in between their trail rides. After the BBQ one night, we all took dance lessons with Wranger Johnathon. Papa even took a watercolor class and painted a beautiful Kokopelli. One of the many highlights was our "breakfast ride". We were all on horseback up the mountain for a real cowboy breakfast.