It Was Fun, Tucson

Well that three months went by in a hurry! I have officially concluded my first assignment as a travel Physical Therapist as of last Friday, February 21st, and Leah concluded her first stint as stay-at-home-mom and school teacher without a vehicle the same day. Leah was awesome, nurturing our kids, consistently pouring into them with unbelievable patience, all the while keeping dinners unique and ensuring the RV was spick and span. Between the these two jobs, time to write was scarce! We are currently on the trip of a lifetime, yet before it becomes too grand, I wish to share the adventures we enjoyed during the second half of our stay in Tucson.

The wild west of America’s southwest is what we were after, and our excursions showed us the best of it. While in Tucson, we had to make a trip to the famous Tombstone. With Faith decked out in her fierce pink cowgirl gear, we ventured onto the dusty streets of this well preserved cowboy town to take in the history by watching a re-enactment of the OK Corral shootout and enjoy a drink at the bar in the very saloon Wyatt Earp owned a stake. In the end, we only suffered one casualty as Fisher quickly found out, the pink attire is only a front of the deadeye that is Faith.

Another must stop location in Tucson is the famous desert museum. This is truly a one of a kind place. It is an indoor/outdoor museum boasting several acres of wildlife in their natural habitat. The raptor show was certainly a highlight as these magnificent birds fly right overhead from trainer to trainer as their characteristics are described in great detail.

Part of what Leah and I hope to do along the way on this journey is show the kids how much we enjoy the outdoors and the challenges it brings. We are very slowly breaking them into hiking. To make it a little more pallateable for the kids we have learned the trick of packing plenty of “hiking vitamins”… aka skittles, as well as have a way to carry the kids when they are at their limits. Fisher is nearly topping out the capacity of a child carrier, and Faith is well above. So we found the “piggy-back” carrier to be a suitable option as it’s capacity is such that many people with disabled adult family members will use this to continue their shared enjoyment of the outdoors.

Trying our techniques out, we went for a beautiful hike in Madera Canyon which began with a cool – and I mean cold – waterfall. In the desert! Madera Canyon is located just east of Green Valley, AZ, where the PT clinic I worked for the last three months is located.

Another successful hike took us in and amongst giant Saguaros to experience the beauty the desert holds.

Being away from friends and family is pretty tough. One of Leah’s best friends made the trip from Grant’s Pass, OR out to Tucson to break that dry spell for her. She brought her four-year-old daughter along as well, a worthy travel companion, to have a fun girl’s weekend together.

Being that the girls were out “galivanting” around town, Fisher and I decided to take on a “manly” adventure. I chose a hike I knew would be tough from the topography maps I checked out beforehand. However, I would rate it as hard with a 38 pound 3.5year old! He was all in from the go, however, cheering on his daddy when winded (and profusely sweating). We made it to the awesome Romero Pools in Catalina State Park to cool off and have our lunch. Fisher never once complained, or asked if we were done yet, yet even the hiking vitamins couldn’t keep him awake! This guy is a trooper, and really enjoys time with me. I so look forward to many more difficult adventures with him.

It was after this weekend, we came upon a solution to one of this periods’ biggest trials. I hesitate to even include this story but we promised to share the highs and lows… and this was one of the lowest of lows! For several nights leading up to the weekend just described, Faith was waking up around 10pm in hysterics describing burning itching from her “backside”. At first, we felt awful as we could not figure out what this was all about. Then we just became annoyed. You see, Faith feels things… STRONGLY! And we assumed it was an allergy, so out goes sugar and dairy, then we were about to cut gluten…. And then we found out what was going on… Pinworms!!! Go ahead, Google it, I dare you. To our surprise, as this was never mentioned in the parent handbook we all get with kids, these disgusting little things are more common than lice! Needless to say the last two weeks of our stay, the washing machine was running full time. And poor Leah, kicked up her cleaning by 1000%. I tried my best to pitch in where I could. I’m relieved to say we haven’t seen any sign of them in three weeks now, whew!

Despite this grossness, we still got out to see one last “gem” of Tucson. Pun intended. We had to check out the world famous Tucson Gem and Mineral Show! This was very cool as Faith has begun a very detailed and well organized (thanks, Leah!) rock collection. They had so much there, with so many nationalities represented through the vendors. It was pretty cool.

To top things off, Faith and I were able to enjoy our fourth consecutive annual Father/Daughter date night and dance. The last three years, we took part in the Grants Pass YMCA event. I searched high and low for a similar one in Tucson so as to not break the streak. And wouldn’t you know, the church we had been attending, Calvary Tucson, was hosting one on February 21st. So my last day of work was topped off with a hot date! This little peanut is so special.

As we closed our time and prepared to say goodbye to this awesome place, we also had to say goodbye to our neighbors who had become such sweet friends. Faith especially shed many tears over having to say goodbye. I’m so glad technology will allow us to stay in touch and I do hope we can meet up again sometime. Thank you Hickey’s, we will cherish your friendship always!!

As you may or may not know, I have begun teaching myself graphic design. Creating digital artwork. I have designed a piece capturing some of my most memorable moments from Tucson. Below is the design, and represented working clockwise from the green peak is: The peak at the top of the Romero Pools, the snow topped Mt. Lemon, the Saguaro National Park, and the wild horses of the Salt River all being held by the Big Guy who is looking out for and cheering us all on as we experience our beautiful world. Check out the Essence Shop on our website as I will be adding these various creations to various pieces you can purchase if you like it enough!

Thanks, for the great memories and wonderful hospitality, Tucson! Cheers!