So how've I been spending the last month or so you may be asking... Well I finished up my time in Oregon and headed to Arizona. Before I left I attended the memorial of a very good family friend named Dave Hunt. Dave has known me much longer than I was a conscious enough creature to know him, but he was a constant in my life. He patched me up on rafting trips, treated us to herbs from his garden, went hiking with us, and always always had a wonderful smile on his face and came with lots and lots of laughter. I have nothing but positive memories of this man which is something that can rarely be said. I was fortunate enough to have him in my life. Other than this, I spent a short stint in Bend with my dad and I even made it up to Mt. Bachelor with Felice.
For those of you not priveleged enough to make it to Oregon in your lives, Mt. Bachelor is a 30 minute drive from Bend. It is part of the Cascade Mountatin range. In the top picture you can also see the three sisters to the left and broken top mountain through the trees. It was a perfect day on the mountain, other than a mild crash that almost rendered me immobile for the next who knows how long. It was still a wonderful day for the books on the mountain. Not long thereafter I took off for Arizona until April when I head home to pack and say my temporary good byes.
Within the first week of being here I got a job with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson. I've enjoyed the job as well as the people I work with. It's also allowed me a lot of time to catch up on reading, therefore I am learning a lot about Rwanda and Africa. I'm about to finish a really wonderful book by a woman named Susana Herrera about her time in a Cameroonian village while in the Peace Corps. It's called "Mango Elephants in the Sun". On my days off, I've enjoyed hiking, lots and lots of it, as well as adventures about the area.
I first headed into the Ironwood National Forest, being unsurprisingly misled by the word forest in the name, thinking there were trees... nope... but there were lots of cacti. I know that's really surprising! haha. This is kind of northwest of Tucson and was still very pretty. The next day we went hiking South of Tucson in what I think is called the Coronado Wilderness Area. Not only did I find a forest of wonderful coniferous trees but I also found snow on this hike. Unfortunately I was dressed for Tucson so the snow and being 8,000 feet up as we hiked towards the top of Mt. Wrightson, was a little on the chilly side. It was beautiful though and I loved being back in places that reminded me of home. You can see the snow and part of the view below. Below that is a better picture of the trees.... so exciting.
The next week, I did a quick trip down to Bisbee and through Tombstone. I wanted to do one of the underground mine tours, but we missed them, unfortunately. We did get to see this though, the lavender pit mine. I've seen a few mines since being here and it's really interesting as I've never actually spent any real time around them. The whole process is seemingly exhaustive by the look at the results. I'm enjoying learning about it.
Next we hiked the Hugh Norris Trail in Saguaro National Park. The first half of this trail stair-stepped through a forest of Saguaros which were so huge, they towered over us like 8-10 times taller than me. It ws really cool. The second half of the trail wrapped itself around the sides of several mountains until a steep switch-backed climb to the top of Wasson Peak which gave a phenomenal view of the park, but also all of Tucson.
It was a perfect day for hiking as it wasn't too hot, but it was sunny. Fortunately I put sun screen on before I went otherwise I'd be sunburned yet again. It is March right? Once getting on the open ridgelines, we had a breeze which was absolutely refreshing. 
The below picture is looking west of Tucson towards the O'Ohdom Indian Reservation, and directly behind it is the city of Tucson. Other than a multitude of hikes I've just been working and trying to prepare myself as best as possible for leaving for the Peace Corps. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I'm making lists, reading books, and continually thinking about how to prepare myself. I'm pretty sure the hiking helps this process. Anyways, as always more updates to come. It's getting hotter here in Tucson even though it snowed less than a week ago, but still, I'm almost ready for sitting in front of an air conditioner. OY, I am missing the 300+ inches that Mt. Bachelor has gotten this year, but I'm also glad I don't have to drive in the snow. There's nothing but blue skies here!
