In the Desert

I recently spent a week visiting Arizona, and I dreamed of staying the entire winter! I grew up in Phoenix, so I try and visit my family each year, during the winter months while it's gray and rainy here in Portland, OR. I was fortunate to have taken a side trip to Tucson, where I spent the good part of an afternoon at the Desert Botanical Garden, a truly lovely place with spectacular cacti in abundance! I noticed that many of them certainly had an other worldly appearance to them! There were some interesting birds there as well, I saw a beautiful red cardinal along with his very lovely mate, though she was less colorful, several quail bobbing about, cactus wren and a few road runners. I highly recommend a visit to the desert, if you've never been. There is a special magic about it, especially after a rainstorm, when afterward there is an intense fragrance of desert chaparral wafting through the air, and what a fabulous fragrance it is! The following pictures were taken during my trip a few of weeks ago, and were shot at the Tucson botanical garden.