San Antonio was especially pretty in the dark as we landed, happily away from thunderstorms that had popped up to the North. Very smooth (and fast, due to tailwind) flight from Big Bend. About to download pix from the camera, so will add to this and share some of the beauty we saw today…
2013/03/20
2013/03/19
Forget and Change
We forgot how beautiful the desert around Tucson is. The rocks and plants have an austere magnificence.
5159 Rocks & Cacti
Even tho we loved it back then, we’d forgotten how much we loved the Sonoran Desert Museum. But it’s so changed, too! Vastly bigger than what we remember, and many more people there. Our favorite attraction among many was the hummingbird exhibit.
5105 Hummer
Reminded me of visiting the San Diego Zoo, on a smaller scale. A similar sense that you were at a widely famous attraction. Maybe we have to forget in order to change, or even to perceive change. If our memories were completely lucid and fixed, seems to me that meaningful change would be very difficult.
When we visited Tucson years ago, it had a small town feel. Today it felt like a really sprawled city, with reminders of the past sprinkled around the edges and a thick layer of haze pulled over it.
5198 View From the Edge
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L.C. Quick
Fair winds smiled on us, providing a 1/3 boost in speed with only a little bumpy air downwind of mountains. Happy to try a hotel tonite. 🙂
(sent from my phone)
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2013/03/18
Memory
Memory is strengthened by many things, such as positive emotions, but one of the best ways to remember something is for trauma to be associated with the experience. We’ll remember Tucson. 🙂
We’re snug and warm with lattes inside that Starbucks on the left. We’re watching the sun rise over the mountains, filled with emotions, laughing frequently, and clearly remembering our experiences last night. Not long ago we were shivering in the cold desert air at the Catalina State Park. I figured out a way to partially inflate the air matt using the vent outlet in our rental car. Then I rolled the edges of one end to increase the pressure and tied it with some twine supplied with the sadistic tent. We finally got to sleep at about 1:30am, and woke on the ground in total darkness at 4:30 because an attractive someone (I won’t name names) had stepped on the partially inflated air matt and introduced a tiny puncture.
Now we are that couple laughing frequently in conversation breaks from gazing blankly with bloodshot eyes, at their internet devices. We first experienced Tucson together on our “honeymoon” Southwest driving tour across the Auto Club Indian Country Map in a 280Z sports car. We were younger then, had our camping gear figured out, and slept much better. But when we heard the coyote choir again last night during a break in the air matt quest, those warm memories washed over us with delight. Today we’ll visit sweet relatives, then take a magic carpet ride in Tripp to Las Cruces. Right now we’re about to head for the Sonoran Desert Museum we discovered on that first visit, to rekindle our love for that place in the joy of our marriage memories.
Tucson Trials
"Honey…" she asked ominously, "Where’s the pump for the air mattress?" We both paused from finishing up the new tent designed by some cruel committee. "In the plane," I eventually repiled. We both knew that would take over an hour to go get. So we improvised.
At last we sleep. We hope…
More tomorrow.
(sent from my phone)
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John & Anne Wiley 
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