When we got to the IHOP for breakfast, a very weird thing happened. We are in TUCSON, we walk into the restaurant, and who do we see??? The Pastor of the church in PHOENIX we attended on Sunday! He and his wife were there with a local UPC pastor (and HIS wife) because tonight is the first night of AZ district conference! And it's right down the street from our hotel! How cool is that? But we are going to be with Gary, Donna, and Amy this evening for dinner, and we are excited about that, too.
On our way to the Desert Museum, we stopped at a place called Gates Pass in the Saguaro National Forest. It was amazing. The boys and Jason hiked up the hill, while Donna and I looked out over the valley toward the beautiful Catalina mountains.
When we got to the Desert Museum, we got a real treat! That place is amazing! Here is just some of what we saw:
diamondback rattlesnake
scorpion
falcon
puma mountain lion
prairie dogs
gray fox
otters (they were hilarious!)
gila monsters and other lizards
Some other animals not pictured are black widows, tarantulas, bobcats, GIANT black bears, desert tortoises, parrots, locusts, big horn sheep, and a squirrel that followed us EVERYWHERE!
There were also lots of desert plants to see...
Many of the desert cactuses were in full bloom, and they were gorgeous! We even saw a dust devil or two out in the desert, including the one below....
We spent about 3 hours at the museum, and the desert heat began to take its toll on the Ziters. Even though we DRANK and had ice cream 1/2 way through our visit, we were toast. THANK GOD for the air conditioned car!!!! On our way back, Donna toured us through Tucson. We saw University of Arizona (home of the wildcats!), the conference center, a gorgeous catholic cathedral, the "snake bridge" seen below...
the fire station (station 16) where her son Brian works, the church they attend, and Gary's office.
Back at the hotel, the boys went swimming for 2+ hours, Jason checked his 75 emails, and I journaled by the pool. We arrived at Gary and Donna's house at 6:30 pm, and had a wonderful visit with them and Amy. We had enchilada casserole, fried chicken, and garden/potato/macaroni salads. YUM! Here's something for the memory book... we ate outside on the back patio. I got up to go inside for some more enchilada casserole. However, when I tried to go in, I discovered (the painful way) that Gary had CLOSED the sliding glass patio door... I walked right into it full force! It was embarrassing, but HILARIOUS at the same time! While sitting out on the patio, we heard the coyotes begin to howl. The boys thought that was really cool. After dinner, we put in the movie "Happy Feet" for the boys while we shared pictures and stories with Gary, Donna, and Amy. At 9:20, we headed back to the hotel. We did two loads of laundry then hit the sack.
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