how to travel with a smile

2 son drive

Once in a while we head down to Tucson to visit good friends, Rachel and Robin. Rachel and I were in college together in Chicago and since discovered several parallels in our lives. We both live in Arizona now and ThePilot and I enjoy a drive down to Tucson to see them. Rachel is a photographer (Urban Abstrakt Photography) and always takes amazing pictures of us.

Last month we planned a drive down on a weekend that happened to coincide Tucson’s Pride weekend. I have never been to a Pride event in Arizona before this one. Arizona is too hot in June, the typical Pride month, to hold an outdoor event. They are smartly held in cooler months so no one dies of excitement.

One of the best things about any Pride event is the diversity within the LGBTQ population. We’re not all the same. Some of us stand out. Some of us look like you. We all have families and dreams and are deserving of love and dignity. I also love seeing all the colors and smiles!

After the parade, we had lunch at The Hotel Congress. It’s crazy cute and stupid yummy! No time to take pictures, too busy gobbling.

We left Rachel and Robin with hugs and promises to see each other soon. Then ThePilot pointed our car in a generally northern direction. We decided to take the slow and pretty route back to Phoenix. On the way we turned off on a dusty desert detour.

love all the seasonal desert colors	This bush was swarming with butterflies and bees. It must be tasty.
In case you were wondering about the size of this bug, those ridges in the road are Jetta’s tire treads.

 

 

Further up AZ Highway 77 we found an unplanned stop at University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2. We actually wanted to visit this place and felt lucky to have stumbled into it in this ambling mood.

You may remember hearing about the team of scientists who locked themselves into Biosphere 2 for 2 years in the early 1990s. They were studying things in the artificial ecosystems. This is that place. Our guide was amazing and full of great stories about that experiment, its challenges, and its successes. We toured the ocean, jungle, and desert from inside. If you are near Tucson, Biosphere 2 is a must see oddity that is still a functioning laboratory today.

As we drove away from the Biosphere, we came across these guys hiding in the cacti. They paused their cactus chewing momentarily as we stopped to say a way-too-excited “HI!”

	She didn’t seem to care that there was cactus stuck to her side.

They are so cute. I want to find some land and adopt a happy cow friend.

Happy with our full day, we headed back to Phoenix. I love driving through Arizona. There’s so much beauty and always something unique to find. Bring yourself out west and we’ll take you somewhere you’ll talk about when you leave.

Tags: Arizona, Biosphere 2, cacti, cows, desert, Hotel Congress, Tucson, Tucson Pride