This picture is of some of the telescopes. It was really cool, but we couldn't look through any of the telescopes without doing a tour, and we really didn't have time as we still had the monument to get to and then head back to Tucson. The stop was well worth it. If you call ahead and make reservations you can come back at night, but it was cool to see during the day as you got to see the skyline of all the telescopes. 
We finally made it to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, but ironically there weren't really a lot of organ pipe cacti in the park, at least along the main road. It was exciting however because the desert was finally starting to bloom (took long enough)! Below is a picture of an ocotillo I believe. I love the red blooms on top of them. Everything started to really green up as well. The brief 15 mile paved drive through the park was really pretty even though we didn't take any of the dirt side roads. My car can only take so much.
The next day after Kitt Peak and Organ Pipe, we went to the Pima Air and Space Museum which had a collection of over 300 airplanes. The one below is Air Force One for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. I ave another picture of me hugging the propellor but it's from pretty far away. There were lots of war planes (especially from WW II and Vietnam), and helicopters. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. There was so much to see that, even with a driving tour I was kind of overwhelmed with the 76 acres of planes. There was tons of plane information as well as history. I skipped over most of the history lessons as I was trying to retain all there was on the planes. OY! But it was really cool. 
The week before, Dash and I went to New Mexico to go camping and to see Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. The above picture is of the national forest on the way back into Arizona, whereas the one below is of one of the cliff dwellings. The dwellings were really cool and the forest surrounding it was a nice reprieve from the desert landscape I've been in. It's getting way too hot here by the way... in the 90s. I feel as if I'm starting to melt. Anyways, these are some of the only cliff dwellings in the US that you can actually walk through. Most like Mesa Verde National Park, you can only see them from afar. Here you can actually walk through some of the rooms in some of the caves.
There was a nice little one mile nature trail that followed a dry (of course) creek bed through the forest up to the cliff dwellings which you can see in the distance below. The trail also follows the Gila river a little ways which was definitely a site for the eyes. I have enjoyed the sites but I have to say I'm definitely a Pacific Northwest forest, river and mountain girl. The desert is nice to visit but I max out around 90 degrees here.
Heading way back, the week before the Gila Cliff Dwellings, I also went to Carlsbad Caverns which is where the photo below was taken. Unfortunately it was spring break so there were quite a few crying babies, and two elevators were down so it took 50 minutes to get out of the cave. It was really cool to see though, although it was kind of hard to get a good idea of the size of the cave. It was amazing though and it was definitely worth the nine hour drive to get there. 
The last real hike I did here in Arizona was to a place called Bear Canyon which was to a place called seven falls, which was really pretty as we were hiking along a creek (with REAL water)! The water falls were beautiful but it was so hot we finished our water before we even made it back down the nine mile hike. I felt so dehydrated afterwards but it was beautiful and I really wanted to go swimming. I understand why everyone has a pool here. I would spend all my time in the pool and I would probably sleep in it as well with how hot it's getting now. The picture below is from that hike. 
Anyways, it's off to the next thing here shortly and I'm both sad and very very excited. I enjoyed my desert safari, but it's time to go back to responsibilty and yet another advenutre. Until the next time I suppose. I will try to keep this blog up through the peace corps, but we sha'll see how often I will be able to post. 