Reviewing Fun Times

So now that I'm on break and don't start classes (for grad school) again until mid-January, I've been working on a project that's been on hold during the fall semester.

Since I've been looking through old photo albums, I'm coming across photos I'd forgotten I have.

Ready to go on a "trip" to two very different parts of the country?!

I thought I'd go ahead and share a few from November 2001 and December 2002 from two locations I love: the Southwest, and Chicago.

These first few photos are from Tucson, AZ from November 2001. I was still active duty in the Air Force, and stationed in Tucson. Andrew, also active duty, but stationed in North Carolina, had come out to visit to celebrate a few occasions: my birthday, my promotion, and to be my date for the Air Force's Birthday Ball.

While he was out visiting, we'd hiked to Seven Falls (which I posted a photo of the other day), and visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, which is one of the coolest museums I've ever been to - if you ever get a chance to spend time in Tucson, you need to plan on spending a couple hours there.

This is from the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. We're on a bridge over a dry wash. Below us are a couple javelinas, scratching themselves against each other. The one in the front is facing to the right, and the one in the back (hard to see - you can see its hind legs underneath the front one's face) is facing left.

Again, at the museum . . . I got Andrew to smile for a photo. He'd never been so close to a cactus before, and thought they were pretty cool. However, he made me nervous because he kept kidding around about touching one; I got worried he'd actually touch one by mistake. 

 This one is from the Saguaro National Park area, just west of Tucson. It's a beautiful place to visit and get your fill (of viewing, only) of saguaros!

These next few photos are from Chicago in December 2002 (when Andrew and I had our church wedding).

This one was taken a couple nights before the wedding (and about two weeks before Christmas). Andrew had never been to Chicago before, so we were taking a walking tour through the city, beautifully lit for Christmas. (I'd been using one of those disposable cameras, so the photo quality is not great - I guess it proves "you get what you pay for"?) The Chicago river is behind him.

This one was taken from one of our hotel windows, the day after the wedding. I remember thinking as I fell asleep in this room, that the muted city sounds from way below were soothing.

A view from another one of our hotel windows. I thought this was a particularly cool view.