On Our Way Back to Colorado

We left San Carlos and made it to the border with no problem.  It took us about 6 1/2 hrs to get to our hotel:  La Quinta/Reid Park in Tucson.  We travel with some grieving for what we have left behind, but, with lots of excitement about what lies ahead:  mainly seeing our kids and friends and getting ourselves organized again.

There are all kinds of altars like this along the highway.  They look like
they are well used.  We don't know why some are much bigger and more
elaborate than others.  This one was outside of Hermosillo.

We visited and ordered Chinese with Gary Zola in Green Valley for our first night in Tucson.  We hadn't seen him in years:  he and his former wife, Rachelle, were the ones who introduced us to San Carlos.  We had a great time with him and his new partner, Sharon.  As we watched the news that night, we saw that Colorado was under a winter storm alert from Santa Fe to Longmont.  We wished we would have spent an extra night in San Carlos with one of several friends who invited us, but, alas, here we were, so, we spent a second night in Tucson.  Right near us was The Tucson Botanical Gardens.  They allowed dogs, so off we went to spend the better part of the day there.

Check out the little yellow and black frog!

We found this beautiful placard in the
culinary garden.

Although this looks like a yucca plant,
it is actually a water fountain made of
some kind of metal.  

These are long wooden wind chimes

Love the old man cactus!

...and St. Francis

 They have a wonderful butterfly garden.

This guy actually landed on my arm and
matched my shirt perfectly.  I wonder what
he/she was thinking?  It is a Blue Morph.

This is what the Blue Morph looks like when it's wings
are folded.

We (all) spent the afternoon at the pool.

Look who loves his life on the road!

The cutest!  So photogenic!

We went through Hatch, NM and just had to stop for some chilies.  This little restaurant was wonderful:  we shared a green chili cheeseburger.  Boo liked that a lot.  I think he now has Mexican taste buds.

Boo had his own seat.

There was this wonderful selection of crosses on the wall,
made of all kinds of different materials.

Yes, indeed!  We are blessed.

 And, although Jason was very happy to see us, his dog, Jack, was even more so!

We stopped at Albuquerque on the way home in another very nice La Quinta in Midtown.  We were too tired to do much of anything there.  We expected weather trouble on the road to Longmont but were pleasantly surprised that we just hit a few flurries around Raton and Trinidad.

More when we are back on the road!