The southwest….
It’s a place where cactus grow next to palm trees in the shade of the jagged mountains. A place where dust devils twirl themselves across the interstate, picking up tumbleweeds along their way, pulling them high into the air in a swirling dance. Swaying back and forth across the desert. It’s a place where an orange house is never out of place and the art is as vibrant as the colors of the sunset. The music is playful and the plinking guitars make you close your eyes and hum even if you don’t know the words. A place where humming birds take baths in the morning and roadrunners streak in front of you, their blue tail feathers waving behind them. It’s where the smell of citrus lingers in the air and it’s so invigorating and calming all in the same whiff. It’s a place with a long history of outlaws and bandits and battles.
And it’s warm.
Mostly.
I reserve springbreak for a time to visit national parks. I’d like to visit as many possible. The National Park system started by Theodore Roosevelt was ingenious. Preserving land to be untouched. Creating jobs at a time when jobs were scarce. And seeing that untouched land…. in all of its beauty and ruggedness, is one of my favorite things to do.
I left a hospital and made my way to a plane all in a matter of hours. I wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do, but once I arrived, I knew it was the right choice.
I have to take this time to thank my friends for taking me and my family in on a day when I needed to be taken care of because I couldn’t do it. Even for just an evening. It was the place I needed to be. The smell of lemon trees and the feel of the setting sun made me breathe. And I needed to breathe. And a hot meal that I didn’t prepare… even better.
The next day I woke to a white robe, a hot bath and humming birds taking their morning bath too. My son picked all the lemons and we brought them all the way back home. They are sitting a huge bowl in my kitchen making my house smell wonderful. We played a round of golf in their backyard and then were sent on our way with a bag of goodies to keep us full for days.
This year I decided we needed to visit Saguaro National Park, and then White Sands. And pronouncing Saguaro was a problem the entire time. Not far into the trip I just called it the cactus park. It’s not a large park so we spent the day wandering around Tucson. The area is surrounded by mountains but it’s hot. I loved it. Our first stop was the the San Xavier Mission. A church built on borrowed money from a rancher in the area. It was so very intricate and amazingly old and beautiful. Churches, especially old ones, have a way of making me emotional. I am not catholic. But it gets me every time. They call it the white dove of the desert.
We also explored the caves near the Saguaros that were also part of the New Deal and built by hard working men that worked for less than a dollar a day.
We made it to the cactuses and wandered around for a few hours. Taking a small hike. Standing next to those desert giants made me feel so small. From a distance they look so small. Up close, they could swallow me up. We were told by a man in the street that not long ago, a man decided he would shoot one of them, and it fell on top of him…he died. Lesson learned, don’t mess with the cactus. Their arms are posed like mannequins. All different directions. Several looked as though they were intimately hugging one another. I thought that was so lovely.
I chased the sun until it disappeared behind one of them. Something I’ve always wanted to see.
The only thing that was missing was a howling coyote.
