by laura beth

We hung out with the Odoms for a couple of days (Ashley, Scott, Laina, and Conan the Whippet). We had a wonderful time visiting, found a geocache nearby, and got to witness Scott successfully put in a sprinkler system for their future lawn. Not common in Tucson. Ashley and Scott live in the foothills area of Tucson, and it is really beautiful. The neighborhoods are rustic but quaint, houses are separated by washes and little patches of earth, cacti, creosote, and other desert life. The tiny, windy roads run willy-nilly through the hills and are full of potholes from the monsoon rains. There are lizards and rabbits scurrying here and there, and the coyotes howl at night. For some reason, it always reminds me of that scene from ¡Three Amigos!, when they're camped out in the desert with the tortoise, owl, coyote, and singing horses.


We spent the next few days with our friend Forrest Fallows. We always have fun with Forrest. We found another geocache in Forrest's neighborhood near downtown. Later that afternoon we went to a barbecue/pool party. The house belonged to Forrest's friend Mike. Neither Forrest nor us really knew the crowd (which was generally younger than us by several years), but we made a few new friends and had a really fun time. Kenny was definitely the favorite among a few of the guys, due to his impressive beard. After the party we had a late night meal at El Guero Canelo. The next morning we went to Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church. Forrest introduced us to the Orthodox Church when we visited him last Spring (2008) in Tucson, so it was nice to visit again. This time we had a different frame of reference, after attending Saint Barnabas for almost 6 months. After the liturgy, we joined Forrest and a few friends at a French cafe for lunch. Two of the friends we met are Ashley and Adam, sister and brother, both musicians. Their father is the priest at Holy Resurrections. Check out Forrest's music here, Ashley's music here and Adam's music here. Anyhoo, the Tucson visit was as good as ever. Good friends and good fun. Tucson is one of my favorite cities thus far, and this visit reaffirmed that. We are in Naco, AZ. More about that later.