As we do every year, around this time of year, we love our road trips. This year we decided to visit Tucson. We had initially decided to drive, but the weather turned nasty and we worried that we would get stuck in it. So we decided to do something completely spontaneous, and thanks to last minute travel dot com, we had booked a flight, a rental and 5 nights in a hotel in Tucson. I had a momentary panic attack as we booked everything on Friday night, with scheduled departure on Sunday. I called everyone - hotel, and rental to make sure that they had received the booking.

We flew down early Sunday, arriving in Tucson midday after a bit of wait for our connection in Phoenix. The flying time to both Phoenix and Tucson is relatively minor, and both airports are small and manageable.

Once we gotten our rental at the Tucson International Airport we got our bearings (Tucson is nicely layed out on a grid system, and is quite easy to find one's way around) and decided to drive the Mount Lemmon scenic by way. We had read that it was a very nice drive.

 On the way up the road twists and turns with a number of pull outs to photograph the views. As you climb in altitude the countryside changes from desert with cacti to a more alpine ecosystem.

 We stopped frequently and took photo's. As we made our way up in altitude the climate changed to a magical winter wonderland.

It was truly quite something to see the change - quite something.

We spent the afternoon exploring the Mount Lemmon Scenic by way. We returned to Tucson in the early evening, and checked into our hotel.