Bushwhacking

Yesterday began bright and early (defined by us as anytime before 11 am) with a hike hosted by my uncle Mark and aunt Kathleen. They live in a very luxurious area of Tucson known as the Catalina foothills, in a fairly modest sized, but beautifully remodeled old homestead house. The house is chock full of Native American artwork and has probably the coolest waterfall shower and the fanciest toilet I've ever seen in my life, complete with a full bidet (including a drying function!). Their property sits on a large tract of land right on the edge of, and including part of, a spectacular canyon. It feels like standing at the edge of the world.

 On one side are the breathtaking canyon views, and from the other direction you can see all of Tucson spread out below.

We took off, bushwhacking through the canyon, avoiding chollas and other potentially nasty cacti. Bushwhacking consists of exactly what it sounds like, hiking without a trail, whacking bushes (and cacti) as you go. 

Bushwhacking with Mark and Kathleen

We stopped frequently to take pictures, because the views were just so overwhelmingly beautiful. My uncle, who owns a very successful Native American art gallery is also a photographer, and has taken some amazing pictures around the area.

Yishai taking a rest

Avoid these at all costs

 

We hiked for about two hours, and then went to lunch at a fabulous and very classy local Mexican restaurant called El Chorro (with a silly skeleton, and my aunt Kathleen, below)

After lunch we headed over to my grandfather's girlfriend Gloria Isak-Morton's house and studio. She is a retired English professor turned artist, who specializes in various types of printmaking. She has a great little house with a very feng shui backyard and a fabulous tree house.

She also explained to us all about her printmaking, etching, and the complex construction techniques of her different pieces of artwork. Together, she and my grandfather have recently been creating prints based on his old wood blocks of midge flies, from his entomological research.

Gloria Isak-Morton and one of her pieces

Today we drove to Flagstaff, where we decided to spend the night in a hotel, after some very effective persuasion on my aunt and uncle's part, and after realizing it would be really cold. We will hopefully be checking out the Lowell observatory later tonight, and off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.