Travel Journals: Tucson '24, Part 2

TUCSON IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

MARCH 2024

I don't have much to say this time, as I sit at my desk back home and recall our winter in Tucson. Sheila and I achieved our mutual goal of making this trip a writers' retreat. It was easy, nestled in our hideaway in the desert mountains, and we wrote together almost every morning. I have to admit that she did a far better job of it, but I'm satisfied with the writing I've done. A big highlight for me was being invited to join her Tucson writers' group.

Early in our stay, we had the group to our home for a group session and lunch on our patio, their first in-person gathering since Covid, I think. In addition to being a friendly and welcoming group of folks, they are a very accomplished group of writers. I was honored to join them. Over the course of our stay, I received excellent critique of one of my stories that I had thought was finished. I'm eager to revise the story now and try again to get it published. Send it to the New Yorker, they all urged me enthusiastically. Getting published in the New Yorker seems pretty improbable, but what the hell! I've been rejected by lesser publications. I'd be proud to be rejected by the best. Many thanks to Ron, Leslie, Sydney, Vince, Lissa, Kim, Gavin and Cheryl. And, of course, Sheila.

We continued to hike our hearts out through February, also managing to eat a lot of good Mexican food that just can't be matched up here on the tundra.

And that's it for this trip. If a photo is worth 10,000 words, then I've reached my quota. Enjoy the photos.

Sunrise over Tucson

Sunset, Sweetwater Reserve

Moonrise, Sweetwater Reserve

700 feet above the canyon floor, Sabino Canyon

Sunset, Sabino Canyon

Rattlesnake Canyon

Desert Ruins

Free Outdoor Music at the Tucson Jazz Festival

Desert skies are almost always dramatic.


Great Food Cheap, South Tucson (with a nod to St. Mary's Mexican Food, another superb eatery)

Douglas Springs Hike (I took this photo moments after learning of the birth of my grandson, Alexander Conrad Burgett, to Natalie and Paul, on Feb. 13, 2024)

The Author at Douglas Springs

Kitchen Window

That's a lot of saguaros!

Sweetwater Reserve, A Favorite Hike of Barkly's (Or "How I spent Superbowl Sunday")

In Tucson, it's just one damned hike after another.

ALERT! ANYONE WHO IS SERIOUSLY NOT FOND OF SLITHERY REPTILES WILL WANT TO AVERT THEIR EYES FROM THE PHOTO THAT FOLLOWS THIS BRIEF PARAGRAPH.

(You know who you are.)

We've made some friends in our neighborhood in the two years we've been traveling to Tucson. We see the most of Jerome and Sue and Mike and Denise. Mike has been fascinated with rattlesnakes since he was a teenager. He is now a respected local expert on rattlesnakes, keeps five in his home for demonstration when gives talks on them. Mike also keeps a gila monster he rescued that had been, they think, someone's pet and was now unsuited for survival in the wild.

Our Neighbor, Mike Cardwell

Tucson is one of the coolest places for urban murals that I've ever visited. (Most of these are from a bike ride through town back in 2018. I just had to include them again, to make my point.)