1/7 Under the Tucson Sun

First stop -  Tucson.  It feels great under the sun.  I swung by to visit my grandma for a few days.   As grandmas always do best – I was fed soooooo well!  My brother, Jon, joined me in Tucson and we hiked up Little Cat Mountain.  Before the hike, my grandma said to watch out for rattle snakes.  Well on the way up, I felt a sharp bite on the back of my thigh, “Aaaahhhhhh!!  It got me!  Oh boy!...Yep….it got me good.. Oh boy….oh boy…!”   My brother runs up and starts laughing as he saw I was bit by a  la cholla.. It is a small cactus, not a rattle snake.  Haha – about a dozen needles pierced through my pants and into my thigh about a quarter inch.  I figure I must have stepped on it and then kicked it up to my butt…I guess I kicked my own ass on that one.  I thought I had it bad, my brother got one on his bare ankle that went in a half an inch.  And I thought he had it bad, a guy I met on the summit, David, he fell into one and he said it took him and hour to pull on the needles out!  None the less, the hike was stellar.  Thanks grandma (and her friends) for the laughs and food.  I’m off to visit some great friends in Phoenix before heading  to L.A.