Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Canyon de Chelly

First day of our trip north to Canyon de Chelly, this was a stop with a nice overlook of Salt Canyon.

After a night at the Sacred Canyon Lodge, we were picked up by our local guide, Ben.  He grew up in Canyon de Chelly.

Eric took this photo when he and I hiked down from the Canyon de Chelly South Rim to visit White House ruins.

Our guide, Ben, drove us all around the canyon, over the river and through the cottonwood trees.

Seattle Visitors & "Spanish" Friends

What a great time we had when Sara and Roger came for a visit from Seattle!  It was also wonderful to catch up with Bonnie, whom I hadn't seen since our days of teaching at the Instituto Norteamericano in Barcelona in the late '80's. And fun to see Tom W., another of my colleagues in Spain.   He performed during "Open Mike" at The Hut for a large crowd of tie-dyed clad folks of many generations.

One morning, Roger, Sara, Eric, and I hiked Sabino Canyon...

Roger B., Sara B., & Eric L

One evening, we met up with Bonnie and Tom at The Hut on 4th Ave.

Roger B. & Bonnie P. catching up at The Hut, Tucson AZ

The Hut Tiki Dude

And another day we had lunch at B-Line Cafe with our friend Cynthia

Sara, Roger, & Cynthia at the B-Line Cafe

and the night before Roger & Sara headed north to Sedona, we had a fun Indian dinner with Tom W. & Tom V.

From Left to Right:  Eric (his hand), Tom V., Sara, Bonnie, tom W., & Roger B.

French Gathering

You may have read in an earlier posting that before coming to Tucson, I joined about a dozen MeetUp groups... to share in drumming, hiking, wine tastings, ukulele strumming, and French conversation.  Somehow, though, with my teaching and busy tennis schedule, I've only managed to attend this MeetUp, The French Connection.

For the February meeting, our leader, Ben, arranged a lunch at the sweet Cafe a la C'Art (Zut alors! I can't figure out the accents on this laptop.), located downtown in the Tucson Art Museum complex.  Our group was multi-national, and everyone spoke fluent or native-speaker French.  Turkey, Switzerland, Jordan, France, and the U.S. were represented.

If/When you visit Tucson, I highly recommend having a meal here or splurging on their many dessert choices of strawberry cake, apple pie, cheesecake etc.  I ordered the frittata francais, but with my new-found willpower, did not venture into the dessert menu--- maybe next time.