The CLAMShack: From the desert....through the desert....to the desert.

This weekend, we left ABQ and headed to Tucson, AZ. We drove through SW New Mexico. It was an entire trip through the desert. Who knew the desert in North America was so big? That one can drive for hours...and never leave it. Actually, we live in the Chihauhaun Desert and we traveled over to the Sonoran Desert. Both deserts extend up from Mexico into the United States. One is the high desert, and therefore cold. The other is warm. Unfortunately for us.....we live in the one that is not warm....however, it was lovely to travel and bask in the warmth of the Sonoran desert for the weekend!

We drove to Tucson to see our first MMA fight. We are not generally fans of this sport, however our nephew Dimitri was making his debut, and we are big fans of Dimitri, so we drove over to lend our support and to cheer him on! While in Tucson, we made a day-trip to the Saguaro National Park.Tucson, Arizona is home to North America’s largest cacti. The giant saguaro is the universal symbol of the American west. These majestic plants, found only in a small portion of the United States, are protected by Saguaro National Park, to the east and west of the city of Tucson. Here we had a chance to see these enormous cacti, silhouetted by the beauty of a magnificent desert sun. We drove, walked and hiked around the park. We also learned that the Saguaro cactus cannot survive in temperatures below freezing for more than 20 hours. These giants are actually sort of fragile.

We took the boys to see Jack the Giant Slayer. It was a really great movie!!! I don't think I have ever gone to see a movie on "opening weekend", but we were all very excited to see this movie. Lance and the boys did a fair amount of swimming......outside in MARCH!!! Saturday afternoon was really hot (by our standards) and so the boys really appreciated the pool at the hotel.

Saturday night was Dimitri's event. We met my brother and his wife and kids at the casino for dinner and then moved onto the arena. Dimitri did great, he was swift and took down his opponent several times....and was ultimately the winner!!

On the way back to ABQ, we decided to make a trip to the White Sands National Monument. I have ALWAYS wanted to go and see the White Sands, since I was a kid. It was more than I could have hoped for. It was beautiful and hard to believe, even when we were there, standing on top of a sand dune.

We are now home. It is not warm. And it is cloudy. So hard to come back from a great trip to cold and cloudy weather. Thankfully, the boys have one week of school left, before they are out for Spring Break. Their mom needs a break from the daily grind. We need to recoup and gather our thoughts, so that we can be super excited and prepared for the last 9 weeks of third grade.

Here are so pics from our lovely weekend adventures!