As I’m sure you can imagine it was kind of tough to leave Malibu, but the weather had soured a bit and we were really excited to get back on the road again to visit more relatives.

We thought we’d ease back into things with just a casual 8 hour drive.

Our next stop was Tucson, Arizona, to visit Andrew’s second cousin (? Actually I’m not even sure if they are technically related!) Jason and his wife Adrienne.

It was a very long drive and just as we were getting into Tucson we encountered an amazing lightning storm. We managed to dodge the rain, which came later, and had an incredible home cooked meal involving green chiles (which are a big thing in the south west) as we caught up with Jason and Adrienne, the talented chef.

The next morning the four of us went for a hike in a nearby state park that was absolutely packed with giant saguaro cactuses. I have somewhat of a cactus obsession (I think it started in Palm Springs), so naturally I took a million photos.

The heavy rainfall from the night before created a system of babbling creeks and waterways that we had to navigate along the way, it was so much fun.

The rain also brought out Southern Arizona’s cutest critter, the desert tortoise:

I didn’t even know desert tortoises were a thing and we got to see a baby one; too good!

Meanwhile here’s a photo of Andrew and I next to a saguaro  for scale:

Some more cactus visuals:

Fun fact: you can say either ‘cactuses’ or ‘cacti’ as the plural of ‘cactus’. The latter is latin, the former is English.

Oh and there were plenty of other spiky things closer to the ground, ready to stab an unsuspecting walker.

That evening Jason and Adrienne took us out to a fun Mexican place called Blanco. They had amazing margaritas and other cocktails.

I had prawn tacos for main course, there is corn in that little bowl that will knock your socks off. Luckily I wasn’t wearing socks.

On the way home we caught an incredible sunset:

It was so beautiful. I wish we could have stayed longer, Tucson was really awesome and completely unlike anywhere we had been. I’m so envious Jason and Adrienne get to live there all the time! Thanks so much for having us. And thanks again to Andrew, for having so many excellent relatives.