Mt. Lemmon, Arizona

Looking out at the valley and mountains beyond.
Here you can see Thimble Peak, the Tucson Mountains in the
background and the "Center of the Universe" Baboquivari Peak.

Mt. Lemmon is our little mountain to the north—OK, it's over 9,000 feet at its height—which is a pretty sizable mountain for a town that sits around 2,000 feet. Over the course of the 10 years we've lived in Arizona, we have been making the trek up the mountain numerous times, usually on the motorcycles, but this time in the Miata. Up top is a little Café, the Mt. Lemmon Café. A few years ago, Mt. Lemmon and its city Summerhaven had a terrible forest fire that destroyed many homes, structures and acres of the mountainside. It was front page news at the time that the little Mt. Lemmon Café—who serve some of the best pies in this area of the country—was not demolished by the fires.

We had headed up the mountain with visions of strawberry rhubarb pie on our minds, stopping along each overlook for me to shoot a few pictures. When we got into town, the café was no more. Not only was it closed, but it had been bulldozed for future structures. Turns out, the little lady that made the pies had passed away and her husband no longer had the drive to run the business. RIP Mt. Lemmon Café and little pie maker. We will miss you.

I took a bunch of photos of the mountain-scape and provide these for your viewing pleasure!

Starting up the mountain looking into the valley of Tucson.
The saguaros are very discerning where they can grow, and only a few
more feet in elevation, it is too cold to support the delicate cacatai.

Looking out over the ridge of the mountain.
I love the way the clouds shadows play on the moutains.
I sepia toned this image a bit for a little play on the colors.

Looking up at one of the many jutting ridges of Mt. Lemmon.

Some pretty mountain flowers along the roadside.

Tucson below, looking out over one of the mountains many ridges.