Mom visits Tucson!

After the Boston race, I took a bus up to Vermont to visit Mom for a few days.  It was nice for race recovery in cooler-than-Arizona weather.  It even snowed a little!

Then it was time for Mom's big adventure - she was coming with me back to Tucson  :)  So glad she decided to take advantage of my travel plans and the chance to coordinate with her friend Rachel who was visiting southern Arizona at the same time.

We rode Amtrak south to Connecticut (I'm such a fan of that mode of movement) and had a day to explore Windsor Locks.  The Trolley Museum sounded interesting and we both really enjoyed it.  A highlight was meeting one of the guys who worked there, as he told fascinating stories and kept us entertained.  Thank you sir!

They have restored a bunch of trolley cars from around the country, including New Orleans and New York City.  I'm not precisely sure where these trolleys came from, but it was neat being able to climb aboard and imagine touring various places:

The other highlight was an actual trolley ride, a couple miles out-and-back with conductors who dressed the part (and were happy to pose for a photo):

On to the Southwest!  After an evening flight and not enough sleep, we managed to make it to a Street-O orienteering meet in Tucson on Sunday morning.  Mom and I walked around the neighborhood and answered questions about basketball nets, solar panels, RV's, and knights while John cleared the course on the run.  Even though it was a bit warm compared to Vermont, Mom did great and we maximized our points within the time allotted.  Thanks for the company, Mom!

We moseyed over to Saguaro National Park the next day, enjoying a leisurely walk around the desert nature trail.  We're lucky that so many plants are blooming right now!  Mom got a kick out of all the different shapes of cactus, cholla, ocotillo, agave, acacia, etc.

So neat to see the saguaros blooming up top, I'm glad we're here this time of year.  I didn't get a picture, but several birds were also enjoying the saguaro flowers and we got some good views through the binoculars.

Colorful flowering ocotillo:

Hold up!  Snake in the path!  Mom asked if it was a rattlesnake and I thought no.  She asked if I was sure, and I said "um, no".  Turns out, it is.  The rattle at the end is small so it wasn't clear until we went to the visitor center and described it to a ranger.  Yep, Western Diamondback.  It moved slowly and appeared to be rather fatter in the middle, so perhaps it was digesting something:

A short hike from Hohokam Road and we had a nice view of the valley to the west:

Some saguaro love/hugs:

For a brief break from the desert, we drove up Madera Canyon and hiked up the Super Trail near Mount Wrightson.  It was lovely getting some shade and cooler temperatures at the higher elevation:

Pretty views as we climbed the switchbacks:

We spotted a deer drinking from a trickle of water, hello deer!

When Mom was ready to turn around, she was OK with me climbing some more before running back down.  I made it to the saddle (even though it took longer than I'd given myself time for) and had a fun run down.  Mom also had a lovely descent, met some people, and beat me to the bottom.  Yay for a fun day on a mountain trail!

The Sonoran Desert Museum is an excellent place to take visitors, although it's getting rather warm so we tried to balance outdoor walking with indoor cooling down.  I had not seen the Mexican Gray wolves before, and on this particular morning they seemed to be actively anticipating breakfast.  Such beautiful and graceful animals.

Mom spotted several new (to her) birds for her life list, including the Gila Woodpecker:

The otter spent some time on grooming while we were there:

One of many lizards we saw:

The aviary was obviously of interest to Mom, which is where she saw a Western Tanager for the first time, yay!

Also a Gambel's Quail.  I usually see quail scurrying around at ground level, but this one was in a tree for some reason - very pretty:

I tend to try to stuff too much into other people's vacations (just ask John's parents), but Mom was game for one more small outing.  The Center for Creative Photography is doing an exhibit about Linda McCartney and it ended up being the perfect (air conditioned) place to spend time on Mom's last day.

Linda trained as a professional photographer, leading her to meet Paul at a concert where she was working.  The museum has some great pictures from their lives together, plus some inside looks at the band.  She was present for this photo shoot, providing a slightly different perspective from the famous album cover:

She also took pictures of famous (and before they were famous) musicians, which filled another room in the gallery:

On the way back to the truck we spotted a Starship making a food delivery - I love these so much, ever since we first saw them at NAU in Flagstaff:

Time to pick up Rachel.  We hung out at a coffee shop waiting for John to finish work, and Mom practiced taking pictures with her phone.  A little selfie training:

Rachel and Mom had an uneventful return trip to Vermont, and we were all so pleased at the wonderful fun visit she had with us!  Thanks for traveling to see us, Mom!