Mexico, cave dwelling and a prairie dog

My shoes have covered a lot of terrain over the years, but the vast majority of my travels have been overseas. Venturing out west has been a new experience. Arizona is nothing short of stunning.  Our days here have really opened my eyes to the beauty of the west. From the moments we're in the car or taking a hike somewhere you spot a swirling mass of sand, clouds hovering over a brilliant green span of mountain region or the vast species of cactus that sprout out flaming red and yellow flowers dotting the landscape with color it's all art in motion.

We headed to a few areas for a little hiking that provided constant 360 degree breathtaking views of the desert. The trails gave us ample opportunity to do our own thing while having close enough access to water as the temps were pretty wicked, but definitely bearable. I love hiking, nature and the ever so tempting opportunities to hop on a bit of earth that's a little shaky. Push the envelope, baby!
Being that we were a little over an hour to the Mexican border there was no way a little international hopping wasn't going to occur. Keith did an EPIC amount of research ensuring his three girls would not only have adventure that would be muy divertido, but safe. We parked on the other side of the border, walked across, and broke a little taco, at La Roca, for dinner. The food was awesome, the architecture in the restaurant had me getting that 'I'm in a really funky museum' vibe and I was able to utilize a bit of my fairly rusty Spanish. Yay! 

 The shot above are of prairie dogs scurrying around the desert floor. I have been trying to find a way to add a tea cup pig to the Patterson membership clan, but I would definitely consider a switch up for one of these little guys. How cute are they? I'm thinking Medford Lakes might not embrace Javier, but one can dream : )

Yesterday we headed to an area about an hour outside of Tuscon to do a little cave exploring. Any preconceived thoughts...toss them to the way side. With head lamps, arm and knee pads and a heap of dust we crawled into the earth. And there was much rejoicing! There were a few 'oy vey' moments as Jordan's feet dangled above us as she was clinging to a rock or when Taylor was shimmying through a very narrow hole heading into an unlit portion of the cavern. There were a few times we clicked the head lamps off and just sat in darkness. Utter darkness. Our two guides were pretty much cave dwelling hippies and they did an awesome job giving us opportunities to explore, climb some great portions of rock and come out fully intact. Flesh wound free is the way to be! 

Target heart rate was definitely achieved. If we had anything remotely close to this place in Jersey much of my free time would be split between finding good waves and a good climb.