All the spikeys

 If I can make one suggestion to anyone visiting the south of Arizona, it would be to visit the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Not only is it one of the coolest botanical gardens I have been to, but I guarantee anyone will feel they are an expert on cacti afterwards. Of course, you know that Mario and I spent half of the visit making up new names for the spikey plants, most of them lewd, but we also learned about all the benefits of the Mesquite tree, from flavour to food to construction. We sat in quiet corners and watch as hummingbirds flitted above overhead, often just out of sight of the other visitors who were desperately trying to find them. We had a nice lunch in the middle of the garden, and experienced a random quail invasion, where 20 or so of the chubby little birds invaded the dining area, scoured the ground for snacks, and then disappeared back into the desert vegetation just as quickly. I maybe shrieked a lot. 
I present, for your viewing enjoyment, a selection of spiney, and not-so-spiney, views from the Desert Botanical Gardens:

	Flowering Fishhook Cactus
Saguaro Cactus	A hummingbird evading the crowds
Queen Victoria Agave	Golden Barrel Cactus
	Desert Oasis Cactus Collection
"Frumpy Sport Sock" Cactus	Mario taunting the climbing cactus
	Aloe tree
Cactus "skeleton"	Bees loving the Rosemary
Saguaro Cactus with a perm!	Arrival of the Quail invasion
Male quail with his fancy top-knot	Organ Pipe cacti

A few errands, including getting Mario some reading at a used book shop(success!), and filling up the propane for cooking in the van(failed!), we made our way south, to Tucson. I watched the sun setting behind the mountain range outside my window as we drove towards our camping spot for the night in the Ironwood National Monument, also BLM land. Even though the sun was below the horizon, its rays cast light up into the hazy sky above, setting the sky ablaze with light, and we had the most spectacular show when we finally stopped for the evening. Mario grabbed the folding chairs and bottle of wine, and we sat down to enjoy the show.