National Parks II

We are in the monsoon season here apparently. I thought that kind of thing was just in India. They have something in the Southwest called "The Monsoon". Its about this time of year and in the afternoon it starts clouding up and then rains a lot. Judging by last night, I would say a whole lot. It was hard for about an hour. It was over 110 degrees yesterday and then had heavy rains. What kind of climate is this? You would think middle of the summer is a crowded time here, but I heard it isn't. I guess because of the weather. Although it does means motel rooms available and pretty cheap.

Like last night, for example. It was $44 at a pretty nice place. I was shocked. Then I got there and they said, "Would you like to upgrade to a suite for no additional cost." I should have asked, "What's the catch?", but I never think to do that. Turns out there was no catch. A living room area, a huge bedroom, two bathrooms, two TV's. I'm sure my home is bigger, but not by much.

So off I go to the Tucson area. I'm having to go south from Phoenix to hit Saguaro National Park. A plus for this trip - I've learned how to spell "Saguaro". The park has two sections, so I took the one that is closer. Turns out it isn't nearly as touristy. I've seen Saguaro cacti before, but here it was amazing because there were just thousands of them. There were no trails to jog on here, so I just parked in a turnout and ran on the road.

It wasn't a great experience. Ten o'clock in the morning and already really, really hot. At one point I must have stepped on some prickly thing and it flipped up and attached itself to my sock and to my calf. I'm not sure exactly how that happened. I had to pull my sock off which was tough as it was attached, basically stapled, to my calf. I can't do justice to how much this hurt. I'll just say "a lot" and you use your imagination.

But I completed the run and got some good pics. (See accompanying pic.) Then I drove back through Phoenix and up to Flagstaff. This motel was also cheap, but not nearly as nice by "a lot". But cool fact is it was located on Route 66. Seriously. Apparently Route 66 was quite the deal at one time. It is no longer, but still kind of cool.