Day 1, August 5, 2009

I made it to Arizona, safe and sound. I landed in Tucson at 2:00 and felt like I was stepping into an oven when I exited the airport doors. Wow, it is hot, a mere 101 degrees fahrenheit! The airport is landscaped with a lot of cacti. Some are even in bloom. By 3:00 I was sitting by the hotel pool getting to know the other teachers. We have three from New Jersey, one from California, one from Washington DC, one from Mississippi, one from Florida, two from Japan, and me. I learned that Arizona is in their monsoon season. It rains buckets of warm rain for several minutes. The ground is so dry that very little of it soaks in. The water forms large pools which can roll down hill gathering together with more and more water and then watch out... flash flood on its way! By 6:00 we were all gathered together with the lead researcher and headed out to dinner through a rain storm. After dinner, we found a curious tree. It appeared to have both little green limes and larger yellow orange-like fruit on it! Hmmmm. Tomorrow it is off to an introduction to the Sonoran Desert by way of the Sonoran Desert Museum, followed by hiking and collecting in the Sonoran Desert. I also learned that this area is surrounded by 4 mountain ranges and that we are very close to three deserts, the Sonoran, Mohave and one other.

I wonder:

1. What was that lime, lemon, orange tree?
2. What will I find in the Sonoran Desert?
3. How are these three deserts alike and how are they different?