Arizona get-away (Part two)

 Mid way through our vacation, 

Rick and I left Mesa and traveled to Tucson for a few days

We had heard about Mount Lemmon and that the beautiful drive to the top was must, so we did it.

The first few thousand feet up was mostly cactus and desert

Then it turned onto rock formations...

We got out of the car for awhile and hike around this area.

At nearly 9000 feet above sea level we met up with snow.

Rick sat at the highest point, it was spectacular, 

so hard to show (in a photo) how far up we were on this mountain

lets just say, it was a little hard to breath at this altitude.

We really enjoyed our trip up the mountain, a sight to behold.

While in Tucson we went out to a fancy Italian restaurant called "North Italia"

It was located in a cul-de-sac of restaurants....all very busy.

We waited an hour to be seated, it was worth it! 

While we waited we were able to browse around a two story open-air mall. 

Our motel was in a great location, notice Mount Lemmon in the background.

Love the palm trees and mountain views.

After two days we headed back to wind down our vacation with Uncle Wayne and Aunt Jo Anne in Mesa.

They were such sweet hosts, and loved on us like their own.

The final night we were able to see the coolest thing on Superstition Mountain.

The mountain is very close to their home, ONLY twice a year a rare shadow forms on the side of the mountain about 1 hour after sunset...so we parked and watched the shadow transform

Do you see it??? (see photo below)

Smack dab in the middle of the mountain appears to be a cougar chasing it's prey, perhaps a rabbit.

It happens for about a week only in March and October. 

We ended our evening at Dairy Queen then back to sit by the outdoor fire pit and talk with our favorite people. Our trip to Arizona was fun and relaxing, we enjoyed our time catching up with family and friends, hiking, eating out, and a few time just sitting by the pool doing nothing at all.

Our trip was only a week long, I think 2 weeks would have been better....maybe next time.