Growing up in Colorado, I think I was spoiled by scenery. The view out our front window was Longs Peak and it was almost unobstructed except by a few trees. In fact, my middle school was named for the peak.

No farm because I lived in town, but this was basically my first view of nature.

When we moved to Tucson, I was less than thrilled. I was a mountain girl. I hiked. I liked the snow and dirt and cactus was not what I wanted.

Even though there are mountains completely surrounding Tucson, they weren’t the Rocky Mountains. It took several years before I could see the beauty that was around me. To be fair, I am telling everyone that July is not the month to move to the desert.

But now? I love it and it’s beautiful. Yes, it’s ridiculously hot in the summer. But we have the mountains which are over 9000 feet above sea level. We get snow–just not as frequently as other places. We get wonderful wildflowers in the spring and the mountains are snow covered in the winter and green in the summer.

And animals. We have rabbits, bobcats, javelina and tons of lizards around our house. They wander through the yard and continue on their way. The cactus bloom in brilliant colors. It really is a beautiful place to live.

Besides…we still love to travel to Colorado to hike and everywhere else to see all the different scenery in the world. We love it and still have so much to do!