A Ride In The Park

Saguaro East National Park that is.  Gerry and I take a ride through the park a number of times each time we are in Tucson.  There is a great asphalt road that meanders 8 miles through the park and the flowering cacti are beautiful this time of the year.  

Saguaro cactus flowers

Staghorn cactus

Beautiful saguaro cactus in 2007

What's left of the cactus now after a couple very cold winters.

 I stopped on the road to get this photo of the moon to the side of the cactus.  After taking the photo I pulled over to the side of the road to let a couple people pass by me.  We like to take our time and see all the beautiful flowers, but many people drive through the park in a hurry and don't see much of anything.

One of the vehicles behind me was a Ranger who thanked me for pulling over and then chastised me for stopping on the road to take the photo.  I had a very clear view of the road behind me and there wasn't any danger to the people behind me.  I thanked him for his advice and he drove on.  Lots of rules when you are on Federal Gov't property and some don't make that much sense.

The two ladies were painting a rocky area called Javelina Rocks and were very intent on putting the paint on the canvas.  The photo on the right below shows the painting in process and you can make out the rocks.  It looked like it will be a beautiful painting when she is finished.

Flowers on a Cholla cactus

 It was a very enjoyable drive through the park and we will miss it if we don't return next year.  We took many other photos but I didn't want to overwhelm you with them.  

That was our day, how was yours?