Mt. Lemmon, Tucson, AZ (Saturday, February 13th, 2021)

When in Tucson, a visit to Mt. Lemmon should definitely be on your bucket list.  There are several diverse micro climates as you make your way up the mountain, starting in a saguaro forest, and ending in snow and a pine forest.  It is some really beautiful country.

As you make your way up the mountain it becomes very rocky.  

Overlooking a large burn area.

At the end of the road is Ski Valley.  We didn't realize that there was a ski resort in Tucson.  It wasn't open for skiing today because of a lack of snow, but the lift was running and the restaurant was open for business.

It was really windy at the top, so the 37 degrees on our dash felt pretty brisk.

Heading back down we enjoyed the same views from a different perspective.

Some little waterfalls running in the canyon.

Back at the bottom, it is a very comfortable 70 degrees.  It is only about 30 miles from the bottom to the top of Mt. Lemmon, but the 6000 foot altitude change really impacts the temperature.

El Guero Canelo, Tucson, AZ (Saturday, February 13th, 2021)

 It has been a full year now, and the Covid-19 pandemic continues.  So we continue to spend a lot of time at home and continue to enjoy projects when they are available to help us pass the time.  We haven't had many projects lately, so we decided to take a road trip.

Tucson is only about 1.5 hours from our house, so after a morning grocery pickup, we hit the road.  We were hungry by the time we got to Tucson, so we started looking for a mexican restaurant with a drive through.  First of all, I have to say that Tucson seems to be a hub for little Mexican restaurants, so we felt like we were in the right town.  We found a little place called El Guero Canelo, and the item on their menu that really struck us was their carne asada torta, so we both got one.  This picture is half of my torta.  This is the half that I wasn't able to finish.  It was so good that we don't want to forget this little restaurant.

This little place was definitely worth the stop.  We'll be back.

Fremont Canyon, Wyoming (December 2020)

On our final day in Wyoming, we took the day off from our projects, and took a beautiful drive west of Casper, ending our day in this beautiful location called Fremont Canyon.  What a gorgeous place!

A huge thank you to the kids for an amazing stay in Wyoming.  We had so much fun, and enjoyed just living life and seeing where they live.  We know that they are excited for this pandemic to end so they can get to know their neighbors and their new town, but for now, they are just living a simple life and enjoying each day.  We are so proud of them.

Painting and Shiplap in Wyoming (Decemeber 2020)

The kids have the cutest house, but they felt that it had just a few too many colors for their taste.  The living room was painted gold with a red feature wall.

The kitchen was green and brown with red curtains.

and the hall was gold.

When we finished, the living room was a nice subdued "agreeable" gray.

The kitchen and dining room were also a beautiful subdued gray.  

The hall was a nice subdued gray.

And the big red feature wall is now white shiplap.  

It was so much fun to work on this project with them, and even more fun to see their excitement when it was complete.  They have such good taste, and it turned out beautifully!

The Woodburning Stove (December 2020)

The kids have this amazing wood burning stove in their living room.  It is an incredible source of heat and ambiance, but we also used it for cooking...a lot!  We made cookies and pizza.

And even elk tacos.  Yum!

There is something about this stove that I am just in love with!  

Cutting Wood (December 2020)

Our sawbuck is ready, and so are we!  Splitting lessons first.  

See that stack of wood in the background?  It won't be there for long.

Spitting in the foreground...cutting and stacking in the background.

All done!  It was a very successful day!

Building A Sawbuck (December 2020)

The kids had two cords of wood delivered to their ranch a few weeks ago, but have only had time to cut it as they need it so far.  So Steve decided that it would be fun to build a sawbuck so we could all chip in to cut, split and stack the wood.  

Steve decided that we girls needed to build it by ourselves, and so we did.  OK, in reality, our daughter built a sawbuck and I was her helper.

They have two barns, and one has a nice workshop in it, so we worked in the workshop.

When it was all done, we carried it out and set it up.

And got the first log ready for cutting.

 Let's get started!!