Hike, House, Bike

Yesterday was a glorious day.  We drove up to the Tortolitas at Dove Mountain.  It’s always interesting how different the terrain is about 15 miles north of the Tucson Mountains.  I like the big round rocks at Dove Mountain, they don’t hurt as bad as the local pointy rocks.


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This is one of our favorite cacti.



This guy has a lot going on.  It was a nice hike.  There is a lot of up and down and up and down.  I love that area.  If the Ritz Carlton would put in an RV park on their grounds, we’d be relocating rapidly to the north.



Then we went an looked at a house.  We still can not articulate what problem would be solved with the purchase of a house, but this was worth checking out.  It’s interesting architecturally.



However, this is the main selling point.  It’s a salt water pool, and it’s just lovely.  The land behind the house is a preserve and will never be developed.



Isn’t this a great outdoor living space?  I could be very happy on the patio.  And yet, we hesitate.  It might have something to do with the giant barking dog next door.  One thing we’ve learned is that most residential swimming pools are not heated.  People who live here year round use them in the summer, and then not in the winter.  Unless we’re willing to commit to living here full time, the pool is kind of pointless.  I think we’re still climate refugees, not willing to suffer the extremes of summer and winter.  So, no exit plan for us at this time.



Good news!  I was wrong.  The giant pit next to the bike trail is not the apartment pit.  That pit is one block over from the trail.  It’s the excavation for the new regional headquarters for Caterpillar.  The Rio Nuevo improvement Project and some other development agencies put in money to encourage them to relocate here.  It’s an economically depressed part of Tucson, so bringing in well paying jobs will be a good thing.  You can read about the project here and here.



This was a landfill between 1920 and 1960.  They’re digging it up and taking in to a different landfill so that construction can begin.



We had a pretty good sunset tonight.  Too bad I cut the top of the palm tree off.



Other than this maties, I have nothing to report.