CA, AZ (11-2001, 12-2001)

	Koala at the San Diego zoo. This animal suprised us with how fast it can move! In all those nature shows it moves as if in slow motion. But when this one climbed down from the tree it just zoomed across the ground.
	San Diego from the Cabrillo National Monument. The monument is located at Point Loma and is home to the oldest lighthouse on the west coast.
	Seal tour car/boat. We went on a tour of San Diego in this contraption. It drives down the highway like a car and goes through the water like a boat!
	Splash down! The Seal tour car/boat entering the water.
	200" telescope dome on Palomar Mountain. It took us 2 tries to make it up there, but seeing this remarkable telescope was worth the effort. Well, it was for Ross anyway. Karen doesn't agree.
	Field of cholla cacti in Joshua Tree National Park. A nearby sign says "Warning - This Cactus is Hazardous. Do Not Touch For Your Safety..." Ross was later to learn what they were talking about.
	Karen bushwacking in Joshua Tree National Park. One of the joys of being in a wilderness area is being able to bushwack, or go hiking in the back country where there aren't any trails. You're on your own. And you'd better make sure you know how to navigate!
	Coyote in Joshua Tree National Park. They stand in the middle of the road and come begging when you stop. We saw many of them doing this. We strongly support the rule about NOT feeding the wildlife. We wondered how many of these beautiful animals died on the road trying to get a free handout after learning that behavior from people who have fed them.
	Ross' aunt and uncle, Shari and Chuck. We spent several very enjoyable days with them. They showed us a lot of the sights such as here in the Tonto National Forest.
	Goldfield ghost town. In the late 1800's the town of Goldfield was larger than Phoenix. More than 3000 miners worked the many gold mines in the area. There are still a few small gold mines in operation in the area.
	Chuck and Shari in front of their house in Mesa. On their lot they have a tangerine tree, an orange tree, a lemon tree, and a grapefruit tree. All except the grapefruit tree had fruit on them. By the way, Shari is hugging one of their plastic pink flamingos. They are even decorated for Christmas with a red and a green bow.
	If you eat out in the southwest you will eventually be asked the question "red or green?" They are refering to the kind of chili you want. Green is much hotter than the red. When in doubt, ask for red on the side.
	In the downtown area of Mesa they have sculptures scattered about. They are very realistic looking! This is an example.
	Karen and a saguaro (pronounced sah-WAH-ro) cactus. These amazing cacti can live up 200 years, reach a height of 50 feet, and weigh up to 15 tons. They don't get their first arms until they are about 75 years old. In the US they grow primarily in Arizona.
	A piece of cholla cactus stuck to Ross' leg. It got him when he stepped off the Crosscut trail in the Tonto National Forest to take a picture and brushed up against the base of the bush where it had ended up after breaking off the parent cholla. About a dozen barbs had penetrated the skin. It took about a minute of painful pulling, barb by barb, to get it off. The microscopic hooks on the end of the barb make them very difficult to remove.
	When we got to Phoenix Ross joked with Chuck that there probably weren't any West Marine stores around. But several large artifical lakes northeast of Phoenix make boating a real sport in the area. We took a boat tour of Canyon Lake and were treated to views like this.
	Karen standing at the west entrance to Casa Grande. It was built by the Hohokam people who lived in the area for over 1000 years. But by about 1450 they, like their Anasazi contemporaries to the north, had abandoned all of their dwellings. No one knows why for sure. The roof structure was built in the 1930's to protect the ruins.