Last month Sam and I went to Tucson for a conference where Sam was presenting in his field of environmental engineering. It was a bit of a busy trip, so regretfully we didn't see too much of Tucson, but here are a couple highlights: making prickly pear cactus syrup and pancakes with Sam for a house full of internationals we were bunking up with for the conference....observing all sorts of fantastic flora and fauna that looked absolutely other worldly to my south eastern US eyes (and learning not to touch much of the flora, even if it looks soft, it's probably sharp-that part doesn't count as a favorite)...seeing my husband share some of his engineering superpowers with a bunch of other likeminded folks from around the world.