The Sonoran Desert

It never ceases to amaze me how stark the desert landscape appears at first

but how full of life it really is

when you take the time to examine the environment and 

study it in more detail.

-MF Cardamone

from an exhibit of her work at The Tucson Art Museum

Sorry for the long silence on this blog. David and I have been in southern Arizona, close to the Mexican border exploring the landscape on horseback and on foot.  Internet was available in a chilly room far from our cabin and I couldn't bear to sit inside with all this going on outside!

I came to appreciate the desert on this trip and my love of riding was rekindled. Many of you know I was an avid rider in my early teens, summer and winter! I rode for five summers at a camp on Lake Champlain near Burlington, Vermont, competing in horse shows in Montpelier and Essex Junction.  In the winter months  my mother drove me once a week to Dana Hall School, a half hour away for lessons and jumping and trail rides. Heaven. I've pretty much given it up. I mean where am I going to find a really good horse to ride around here?

So it was surprisingly familiar to hop on my horse and ride the trails of Elkhorn Ranch in Arizona last week. The wranglers even let us LOPE, Easterners call this cantering (which is unheard of on many ranches due to liability) across grassy meadows and along dried up stream beds. We climbed mountains and looked off to open land as far as the eye could see at what was once an inland sea. My sure footed horse handled steep climbs and steep returns and avoided spiny cactus. Luckily rattlesnakes are still asleep this time of year.

So here are some photos of the west- a little bit of warmth for those of us in chilly New England.  We avoided the snow storm (NEMO) but had to shovel two feet of snow to get  to the front door in the dark on returning home, so don't worry, we suffered a little!