The scenery on the drive from Silver City to Tucson was really stunning: you come over the mountains in New Mexico and suddenly see a vista of the desert stretched before you, with a series of mountains/hills in the distance, . Here’s an attempt to give you a quick sense of that view, taken with the cell phone while we quickly stopped by the side of the road (not much traffic on that road, at least not on a Saturday afternoon in December):

Panorama: New Mexico/Arizona border (click to open in a new window; then click on that again)

Panorama: New Mexico/Arizona border (zoomed in)

Here in Tucson, the sky at sunset as been pretty great, too. Although we haven’t been in the right place in town to get an optimal photo of that, this photo taken from the parking area where we’re staying will give you a small sense of the colors in the sky. Please note the photo hasn’t been altered at all — the colors really have been this stunning:

Tucson sunset

The weather here has also been gorgeous: high 70s°F / 21°C during the day, cooler at night. Practically perfect. But in summer the  average high is over 100°F ( 38°C) — everyday — for 3 entire months. Yikes. That’s a little too hot to make Tucson “paradise”  year-round as far as I’m concerned. Quite the reverse, IMHO.

But at least for a couple of days in December, the weather here is not bad at all.