Ode to Tucson

I know I haven't been very kind to Tucson since I moved here. It's just never quite felt like home to me and I know we're not here permanently. I think it's time for me to appreciate Tucson for the city it is. So here are a few things I like about Tucson...

1. Weather- When I told people I was moving here, the first thing I heard was "it's so hot down there." (Orem, Utah was the same temp as Tucson was last week). Here's the deal. Yes, it is hot. I have felt the heat. I won't deny that it's hot. But 8 months out of the year, it's perfect. If you can handle a few months of "hotness," it's worth those 8 months of bliss. I also have to say that once it gets to 100 degrees-it's hot. I'm sorry to say that I can't tell the difference between 100 and 110. It's just all around hot.

We also can't forget the fact that it is almost always sunny. We see blue skies about 95% of the year. Just think how fun it is to wake up to blue skies and knowing it's going to be a nice sun shiny day. Imagine that happening almost every single day. It's very uplifting. As an added bonus, we get to experience Monsoon Season. It comes in July/August and really cools down the summer heat. We get amazing thunderstorms at night that are accompanied by an enormous downpour. This makes it a little more humid, but not unbearable.

2. Wildlife- This category is a little surprising coming from me, seeing as how I don't love animals. However, we have some super fun wildlife down here. Ryan and I love to go for walks and see all the little creatures running around. We do have a lot of birds-not something I enjoy. We often see quail-which I had never seen before moving here. They sound like Tickle Me Elmo. It's too weird. I do love to see the lizards though. There are always a ton scurrying around and running away from you. When they get mad and they try to be intimidating, they do little push-ups. The other day, one poor lizard fell into the pool. I didn't know what to do and I tried to put my towel in the water for him to grab onto, but he wasn't having it. He got sucked into the drain on the side-I still feel bad about it. We just discovered a new little Gecko running around at night. They blend in so well with their surroundings that they look see-through. We also have a million cottontail rabbits running around. They are everywhere. The two coolest animals that we've seen around the apartment are roadrunners and coyotes. I haven't seen a roadrunner for a while, but they are cool looking birds. They might be on the birds I like list-which consists only of Penguins. Coyotes are even cooler. Whenever I drive home at night I search to see if I can spot one. One night we were driving down the street and one ran in front of the car with some sort of animal in it's mouth. I've seen a small pack run across the street in the morning on my way to work. It's so fun to experience.

3. Pools- The pools are open year round. They're heated in the winter and they're refreshing in the summer. It's so fun that the option to go swimming is always there. I especially love the spring time when it's the perfect temp and laying out isn't so unbearable. I also love going for a run, changing into my swimsuit and cooling off in the pool. It's so relaxing.

The one last thing I love about Tucson, is that we don't have to experience this...

This is Ryan and my brother Jeff cleaning up my parents' flooding bathroom at 2 AM.