Somewhere Over the Rainbow

We woke up in Tucson this morning to find ourselves situated on a beautiful golf course at the foot of the mountains. Checking with the extremely helpful help at breakfast, we learned that there was wonderful hiking at the Sabino Canyon nearby, so after (reluctantly) packing up, we headed over there.

Hatless and otherwise unprepared except for the water we were carrying, we managed about a 45 minute hike in the 98 degree temperatures. It was hard to believe this was a natural landscape -- the plantings looked so judiciously placed. There were several types of cactus and scraggly trees, little shade and the sound of thunder in the distance as a storm rolled over the mountain top.

It was altogether a wonderful expedition, although it was so hot I insisted we keep the top up on the car as we drove for the rest of the morning/early afternoon.

Leaving Tucson (without actually ever going into the town proper, something for the next visit), we decided to detour to Tombstone for lunch.

Lunch at the Pioneer Grill (barbecue pork for me, chicken with bacon sandwich for David) filled the bill. We then walked around Tombstone, which really consists of promenading along wooden sidewalks nicely shaded with an overhang and glancing into one tourist trap after the next. Nothing really called to us so we skipped the OK Corral re-enactment (of which there are many to choose) and found our way back to I-10 and the route to El Paso.

This was our first encounter with being close to the Mexican border (the whole reason we chose this route). On our way back from Tombstone, we were stopped, inspected, and sniffed by the Border Patrol.

The weather by then had turned quite ominous. If you can make it out in the photo below, you can see where we could see the sheets of rain ahead. (We could also see past the rain to where it was clear again, something that never ceases to amaze me out here.)

The sky and the light was spellbinding. The terrain was not at all what I expected -- more mountainous and green than I had conjured up in my mind.

As we neared the New Mexico border, a rainbow appeared and accompanied us for the next 20 miles or so through intermittent rain.

We made it across the border and into New Mexico. Kudos to David for snagging this shot at 80+ mph and with two other signs in front of it. You'd have thought we pulled over for this one!

We switched drivers and David took over. Here's a shot of a HUGE train that was passing alongside of us. It, too, shows how crazy the sky was.

New Mexico featured some rather disconcerting road signs.

It's actually a series of 4 signs. As David pointed out, if there really was zero visibility you wouldn't be able to even read the signs so what's the point except to put you on edge? But we had no dust ups and eventually crossed through New Mexico, lost an hour due to the time change, and found ourselves crossing the Texas border at nightfall.

After some deft driving on David's part, we finally located our hotel, the Camino Real in downtown El Paso. The streets around the hotel were completely deserted at 8:30 -- nothing but blowing paper and plastic bags and gated businesses. Very eerie. Some welcome!

Fortunately the hotel (built in the early 1900s) was livelier and featured a beautiful Tiffany dome atop its cherrywood bar.

Several drinks and some dinner later, we were happily settled and ready to call it a night.