The Adventures of Sock Monkey Episode 3: To Tucson and Beyond! Day 4

   Sorry about the late posts. I've been rather busy doing nothing in particular. So efficient. I'll start blogging about the final day in Tucson. On with the adventures! 

   We checked out of the hotel at ten o'clock, and decided to take it easy for today, but we couldn't be too late because I had a back to school thingamajig and I couldn't miss it. But I won't bore you to death explaining my school. So this is going to be a relatively short blog post. Long story short, we went to Catalina State Park. From what I saw, Catalina State Park is known for birding. An that is exactly what we saw. Birds. Tons of birds. From yellow warblers to rainbow sunbirds, they had them all (not really). We decided to wait at the picnic area while my mom hiked, my dad listened to audio books, I finished the Junior Ranger booklet, and it rained mesquite tree pods. Not necessarily in that order. Oh, and we also saw these yellow caterpillars, which were pretty much everywhere. Here are some pictures.

Birds of a feather flock together! 

This is what most of the scenery looks like in Catalina State Park. 

A sandy wash in Catalina State Park. Notice that it's dry...

It's raining mesquite pods!

And this is one of the couple hundred caterpillars at the picnic area...

Sock Monkey is next to part of the picture...

...right here. Five hundred twenty eight flowers live in the Catalina Mountains. That's a lot!

For more information, here's a link about Catalina State Park.

azstateparks.com/Parks/CATA

Anyway, after I got my badge, we packed up everything and started the two hour drive back to our house. That's about it so questions, comments, sarcastic whatnot, comment board is right over there! And that concludes Episode 3 of "The Adventures of Sock Monkey"! Thanks for reading, people of earth and intergalactic space! 

The Adventures of Sock Monkey Episode 3: To Tucson and Beyond! Day 3

   Remember, this post is for July 29th. Now, onwards with the adventures! 

   My mom woke me up at 7 AM and told me to hurry up because we were going to be late for something. Turns out that something was nothing, really. We drove up to the peak of Mount Lemmon, which is the highest mountain in the area. It's really nice up there, and not just because it was in the upper sixties (temperature-wise). From what the sign said, Mount Lemmon has so much plant diversity that you would see the same amount of diversity on a drive from Mexico to Canada. From pine forests to deserts, the 25-mile drive up Mount Lemmon has it all!

Want to swim?

Hiking at Summerhaven! 

Skiing anyone? 

I think its a little bit too late for ski season. 

Great view...

And a monkey in a pine tree! 

After walking around on the trails, we ate lunch (five boiled eggs) and then started to drive back down the road, but we decided to stop and see what was at each pull-out. We decided to go see what was in Summerhaven, a tiny town on the way down from the peak of Mount Lemmon. I suggest a few things to do. #1: The Cookie Cabin. They make really big and really good cookies. And they make pizza. #2: the general store. I forgot the actual name but they have your standard groceries, plus some souvenirs that are pretty cool. #3: Living Rainbow Gift Shop. They simply aren't your average gift shop. From figurines to puzzles, they have it all. #4: take a walk down the road. There are cool dense forests next to a trickling creek, a perfect place for a walk. You might find things that you don't normally find. Like mushrooms! Here are pictures from signs that you will find around The Cookie Cabin. And other places.

Remember, parents! No running or yelling!

Letters to Santa in July? 

You should see the cookies. They are so good!

Yum!

Get the joke?

Scary...

This is the perfect reason why you always watch your kids.

On the drive down, we found these hoodoos and here are the pictures.

Sock Monkey standing on the hoodoos!

More hoodoos. 

Anyway, we finally got back to our hotel after dinner. I think that sums up the third day of the adventures of Sock Monkey. If you have questions/comments/etc, comment board is that way! Other than that, I should be done so, thanks for reading!