Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Surfing in the Sonora Desert

Beautiful view of Pinnacle Peak from friends' home!
Here we are: a long way from any ocean! Since winter in Michigan is not as much fun after spending winters cruising the Caribbean, we are visiting friends in the Arizona desert. Instead of sunrises and sunsets on the horizon, we are gazing at Pinnacle Peak and visiting desert botanical gardens. The sun on the granite begins our morning with a red glow. I don't worry about "... red skies in the morning ..." out here. The beautiful glow off the rocks is red every morning.


I actually made it to the Summit!
Our exercise comes from hiking the various trails in the area. I even made it to the Summit of the Pinnacle Peak hiking trail. What a nice change from the cold! It also showed me how out of shape I am! Unfortunately, we were there the week it had snowed and delayed the golf tournament. We just never found warm weather this winter. Oh, how I miss being in the islands!

At the same time, we are catching up reading of sailing magazines and discussing preparation. One set of friends we are visiting are Great Lakes sailors in the summer so we have great discussions about the upcoming circumnavigation. They will probably join us somewhere in the South Pacific.

Watched the Colorado Rockies get a triple play to win!
While I do not feel any rocking and rolling, it is pretty nice in the hot tub and having sun downers by their beautiful infinity pool. It makes me wonder where we will "land" once we finish sailing. Will our winters be in the islands or the desert? I doubt they will be in the cold north.

We also stayed a couple of days with some other Michigan friends and saw a different view of the desert. They gave us a great car tour of the area and an opportunity to get a real "taste" of the desert by visiting some of their favorite dining places. One of the highlights was going to the Colorado Rockies game and seeing a triple play!

Just what keeps them up there?!?
Their subdivision has many unique rock  formations which give it an interesting landscape. Somehow I feel more comfortable in high swells of the sea than having things like this balancing above my bedroom!

Since it looks like March is coming in like a lion, we may be seeing spring soon in Michigan. Then it's back to getting the house sold and the boat ready. Never a dull moment with us! But this was a welcome escape from it all!