I posted the update on Houston’s streetside mosaic during my flying visit through Houston last week. Now I’m in Arizona on courses to further my skydiving judge qualifications.
One of my fellow course mates knows the area a bit and suggested we hike up Picacho Peak before class one day. He managed to coax me out of bed at 5:30 to reach the National Park before the Park Rangers started work. We started out hike in the dark and watched the landscape grow out of the shadows as we climbed.
I am not as fit as I have been and was out of breath a lot on the way up. Fortunately the scenery unfolded beautifully as the sun was rising so I could use taking pictures as an excuse to stop and catch my breath.
At 7 am we turned around starting our descent without having reached the peak so that we could make it back to our class by 9am. This time I stopped to take pictures of plants on the side of the volcanic rock including what I’m calling fraggle cacti, dangly cacti and desert violets.
At the time of posting, I’m pleased to say I passed both of the courses I attended and can now judge at more skydiving competitions than at the beginning of the year.
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