Day 9: Saguaro NP - West Unit

Jessie: Our second day of Saguaro NP started off by taking a scenic loop drive, stopping multiple times to take pictures. The west side of the park contained at least twice as many Saguaros as the east side, so there was more to see. Similarly, though, to the east side, it was hot and our AC was turned up to full blast whenever we were in the car. I found that since we were in the heat so often that the heat didn't affect me as much. That I started to develop a sort of tolerance to the worst of it. Now I'm not saying it was a picnic, but it wasn't as bad as when we first stepped out of the plane. But be that as it may, desert in the middle of the day didn't fall into my tolerance level, so it was still impossibly hot. A ranger recommended the Signal Hill trail because it showcased petroglyphs, and so we stopped about halfway though the loop drive to hike the .2 mile trail, round trip. Though seemingly our easiest trail we'd done the entire vacation so far, we still each brought an entire water bottle filled to the top.

Hiking the trail we went up a small hill and when we made it to the top we were rewarded with rocks filled with images of people, animals, and even a giant swirl. On our way down I stopped to take a picture of a saguaro with spines that looked reddish. I planned to take a close up of the spines with the mountains as a scenic backdrop. I took at the most, one step of the trail. I took two pictures, hoping at least one turned out. I went back on the trail holding my camera in one hand and my water bottle in another. I walked about 20 feet when I heard a buzzing sound behind me. Now at the time I thought nothing of it. All throughout vacation flies seemed to enjoy flying around my head, as if to purposely annoy me, so this bug flying behind me didn't seem out of the ordinary. Be that as it may, I didn't enjoy the sound of it so I started to walk faster. About five seconds later, there was a stab of pain in my right hand. I yelped out more in surprise than in pain but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. At the time I didn't notice but looking back on it I realize that the bug very conveniently stopped buzzing at that exact moment. Now the next few moments were kind of a blur. I remember looking down at my empty right hand and seeing the biggest wasp I had ever seen on the last knuckle of my thumb. I remember dad coming over to see what happened. What I did not feel or remember happening was my hand reflexively releasing its grasp on whatever it was holding. Which just so happened to be my new camera. I must have flung it, obviously accidentally, all the way to Alli, who was at least twenty feet away. I started tearing up, but not because of what you would think. I was crying, not because of the pain, but of my broken camera. Though my hand was involuntarily shaking, turning red, and swelling a little, all my attention was on my camera. We started to pick up all the pieces we could find. Amazingly the only pieces that came out of place, not broken just out of place, was the front ring of the lens, which you just twisted back on, and four other pieces that fit together like a puzzle to cover the lens when the camera was turned off. The rest of the camera was barely scratched, showing only a few barely noticeable scuff marks. And the best part was that even missing five parts it still worked. With everything okay we went back to the car with what was the most crazy day on vacation only a few hours into the day.

We then went to our hotel and relaxed for a few hours before we went to get sunset pictures at City of Rocks SP. The sunset was beautiful with the dark rain clouds in the sky hovering over mountains with a beautiful yellow, orange, and reddish background. We found ourselves taking more pictures of the sky than we were of the rocks. At least Alli and I were. We were surprised when we found a Great Horned Owl perched lazily on the rocks and angry when lightening electrified the sky and we couldn't get pictures of it. Soon, we were forced back into the car when it started to rain, a first in a very long time for this desert though we were told it was monsoon season, which we didn't believe. Alli and I weren't to sad we had to leave for there was a Harry Potter marathon going on and we didn't want to miss it. And with that the day was over, and we gratefully, as we are every night, went to sleep.

Dad: Just a quick note about Jessie and her second insect bite in two days. She's having quite a bad run here. The bite to her hand has mostly healed. The bite to her leg from the day before is still red and swollen. It was hard seeing Jessie crying and in obvious pain. Even worse was realizing how sad she was after seeing her broken camera. She loves taking pictures and loves her new camera. I assured her that we could get it fixed or replaced. The important thing was that she was alright. And on a positive note, no bites today!