Mt Lemmon and Oktoberfest
Tucson is not exactly noted for its beautiful fall foliage. I saw something on FaceBook saying that there leaves changing color on Mt Lemmon. My photo buddy Dar was up for a photo trip and we loaded up in her car and headed out to see the sights.
Our first turn off of Bear Wallow Road we found a lovely spots with lots of trees with leaves of vibrant colors. I discovered that my camera needs a good cleaning and some of my photos came out a bit spotty, but on the whole I'm happy with how they turned out.
The photos do not show just how windy it was up on the mountain. Chilly and windy. Very autumnal.
Summerhaven has changed greatly from how I remember it. My last memories of it not covered in snow are pre-fire. The area is still recovering and rather bleak. Ski Valley was lovely though and apparently it was the last day of Oktoberfest. We paid the $5 to park and waited for the band to start up.
It was a three piece band: tuba, accordion, and drums. They mostly played polkas and waltzes. I know how to polka, but waltzes confound me. However, no one was dancing. Dar wouldn't dance and you can't really dance polka or waltzes solo. Eventually a woman who saw me swaying with the music asked me if I knew how to dance. Um... yes, yes I do.
So I ended up dancing polkas and waltzes with a lovely German woman named Monika. Apparently we had both learned different versions of polkas, but I she was able to lead me thru it and we had a blast! Another German woman joined us on the floor. The men were no where to be found. Wusses!
Next year I'm dragging Gallant out with me so that we can really throw down some awesome polka! I think that they might benefit from having a quick How-To Polka lesson for people. It's really a simple dance. Can you count to four and skip? Then you can polka!
All in all, it was a nice short trip. Took a ton of photos that I'll upload to flickr later.