Local color; fall above Tucson
Autumn color in the desert? True--saguaros don't have leaves that turn crimson, but in the mountains around Tucson, there IS some fall color to be found--you just have to go UP...
...and you have to be prepared not to be underwhelmed--in the Santa Catalinas you won't find entire slopes covered in a patchwork of orange and yellow. (This is not New England or North Carolina or Korea...) But just 30 minutes from the desert floor, you can find splashes of fall foliage in the mountaintop evergreens--just enough to make you feel like you're elsewhere...
This past Sunday, some out-of-town friends were visiting us, so we drove up the Catalina highway to the top of Mt. Lemmon.
...and then, closer to 9000', the groves of aspen are larger--an impressive splash of brightness among the conifers:
...and a wonder to walk under:
...the slopes of Ski Valley resort at the top of Mt. Lemmon are still summer-green, but autumnally-lined:
Nearby is a little valley known as 'Bear Wallow'--probably the best spot in the Santa Catalinas to go 'leaf-peeping'--and this was the peak color weekend...
This area got its first dusting of snow a week or so ago...
winter's not far off, even if today's high down in the city was in the mid-80's...
(still trying to 'bloom where we're planted,' S. & I...
in between bouts of wishing to be elsewhere,
we're enjoying 'here'...having out-of-town friends
visiting us from less pleasant climes helps...)
Beautiful photography as usual. :) The colors of the northwest are lovely now too, even at sea level. The trade off as you know is that typically there is no sun to brighten them up. There have been for 3 days straight, and blue skies, but as you know that's a rarity to be cherished. I tried explaining to my son that when we go on an airplane, we will go above the clouds and there will be sun and blue sky up there. He said, "Oh, it's summer in the sky?" I told him it's still cold, but there's sun. He was confused. Being born here and only being 5, his experience is that winter is cold because there is no sun. :)
ReplyDeleteoh, so cute--"there's summer in the sky?" I CAN'T BELIEVE he's FIVE already! So good to hear from you guys; thanks for your compliments...S. and I hope all is well...take good care!
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