Brrrr

I got spoiled by several days in Tucson, Arizona.  And came back to calf-deep brown snow.  ; (.

We went so the lady who sprained her ankle could try running a marathon down Mt. Lemmon.  Turned out she could, in a decent time despite doctor's orders to walk intermittently.

We made the rounds to Native Seeds to get dried chilis and gifts, to the Desert Museum, to Mission San Xavier (whose local name "san'aveer" drove the Mi'waukan crazy for some reason).  We went through the 4th Ave street fair, trying to get to La Indita, a native-Mexican restaurant that's very veg-friendly.  They had junk you'd see at any big street fair, including a screaming homophobic preacher guy.

At the Desert Museum, the javelinas, black bear, bighorn sheep, coatimundis, beaver, otter, hummingbirds, and mountain lions were in top form, but the coyote was sleeping and the ocelot was hiding in his lair.

So we ate all kinds of good food, walked around the desert, ran a little in the crazy resort the marathon got us a deal with, and lounged in their pool.  It's tough being a sherpa...

I wasn't the best sherpa though.  I made her hike up to Romero's Pools, a steep rocky trail, two days before the marathon.  My excuse is that I didn't really remember what the hike was like, but mostly it's my favorite trail.  The pools were mostly dry, it being winter.  But the sun was not quite so bad.

For the first time I saw Taliesin West, up in Scottsdale.  It's funky, and the tour is interesting.  Check out how well it blends into the landscape (up top).

I was reminded of a couple bad novels I read this year that tried to get all precious about