Day Thirty-Five

This was to be our "fun day" and Cara had suggested we drive down to Tucson and go up Mount Lemmon. She packed us a picnic lunch and we were off for the day. Wanting to avoid Interstate 10 we took the scenic route through the desert.
It was another gorgeous day so we put the convertible top down. It reminded me of the days when I used to cruise around Arizona in my convertible Prowler (pictured below).



Our first stop was the Tom Mix monument. Tom Mix was a western movie star who had been killed in a car accident on this highway 50 years ago.



Here are a few photos of the vegetation in this area around the monument.




As we drove south through the desert and could see Mount Lemmon in the distance, we could also see huge black storm clouds building over Tucson. We both wondered if perhaps we'd picked a bad day for our picnic. As we entered North Tucson it did actually start raining but it only lasted a couple of minutes, just enough time to get the top back up on the car. Cara continued to drive towards the base of the mountain and the clouds gradually started to dissipate as we began the 30 mile trip to the summit. As we drove up the winding road towards the 9200-foot peak it was interesting to watch the vegetation change from Saguaros to Pine trees.
We stopped several times for the all-important photo ops.


These two shots were taken from the spot we chose for our picnic lunch.



Up till this point, it had been a great day with incredible vistas in every direction but it was all about to change as we crested the top. Cara has a bit of a "lead foot" and the speed limit on most of this mountain road was 35 mph. Are you beginning to figure out what happened next?
Just over a crest in the road sat a Pima County Sheriffs officer brandishing his radar gun and gesturing her to pull over. He asked her how fast she thought she was going and she said about 40 mph. He gave her a stern look and gestured to her to try a higher number. Bottom line, she was charged with going 52 in a 35. Cara was impressively cool about the whole incident and made a concerted effort to not let this ruin an otherwise wonderful day.
At the very top of the mountain, there was a tiny town known as Summer Haven. We pulled into the general store and enjoyed an ice cream cone on the bench outside before turning around for the trip back down. The elevation affected the vegetation but also affected the temperature which was a very comfortable 75'F up top but a blistering 95"F down on the desert floor.
I couldn't resist taking more photos of some of the interesting rock formations as we descended into Tucson.







By the time we got home it was dark. We were both pretty exhausted. It had been a long day. 



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