Tucson doesn't suck as much as I thought//At least Mount Lemmon is cool.

I think the best way to get to know people is by sitting in the car with them for a long time.

You'll eventually either share your life story with each other, or completely shut down and not talk at all.

Right after finals ended (Thursday, December 12 will live in eternity as the final day of the semester of my JMC 301 class, which I got an A+ in), I got in a car with my new friend Morgan (I'd only known her three weeks at this point) and headed to Mount Lemmon, which borders the north side of Tucson.

I think it is fair to mention that there are three ill-boding parts to this: 

One, the date was Friday the Thirteenth. 

Two, we were headed to Tucson. The Dirty T. My least favorite city in Arizona. 

Three, I was running late. An hour late. And you know how I get when I run late for trips: crabby.

Basically, this could have turned into a horrible horrible trip, if you're the type of person to base present experiences on past experiences. Thankfully, it didn't.

The entire drive to Tucson flew by, as we (mostly Morgan, as she was driving) sped down the I-10 and ended up sharing our life stories. Maybe I should stop sharing long car rides with strangers, because this happened when I went to Pinetop with Alex in July, too. The drive probably also went by quickly because I made a mix cd including music by J Vern, Foreman, I&W, Sufie.

In fact, this might be the first entirely positive trip to Tucson I've taken. Ever. Usually trips to Tucson entail a certain amount of money spent, a few too many Mike's Hard Lemonades by the pool, or a little too much television, but this trip was different.

The entire purpose of it was to escape Phoenix, celebrate winter, forge a new friendship and spend time outdoors.

Which is exactly what happened.

Finals are over. The semester has ended. I can finally relax!

Winter is here! Sweaters are out of boxes and on my shoulders!

I now have a new friend (which to be fair, is nothing new). But this one reads the Bible with me!

Mount Lemmon was beautiful! I was able to take a lot of beautiful photos of the sunset, and even though my film camera broke (yeah, sad day) I think I was able to save my roll of film so the photos of St. Ranger and Ben and Raquel and the sunset and stuff were all okay.
After spending time talking, smiling, laughing, photographing, driving and talking some more, we headed down to Fourth and Congress (the downtown area), contemplated getting Friday the 13th tattoos, and ate burritos at Shot in the Dark (we tried to go to Mount Lemmon Cafe, but it was apparently closed, and upon further searching, it appears to be permanently closed.) All in all, it was the perfectly peaceful end to a semester, the beginning of a wonderful friendship, and maybe a small reminder that Tucson isn't as gross as I think it is.