About Tucson's Gates Pass

~ Looking East From Gates Pass at Sunset ~

Days are getting shorter, so I planned to be at Gates Pass for sunset. Off in the distance, the city of Tucson is painted in blue shadow, highlighted by the pink Rincon Mountains at day's end. The last rays of the setting sun paint the Tucson Mountains where I stand a deep ochre-red, and the contrast punctuates the peaceful quiet of the desert floor at the end of day. I expect an amazing sunset!

And I'm not alone in my expectation! My zoom lens captures a couple silhouetted against an amazing sky.

~ Looking West From Gates Pass at Sunset ~

Life is good! Enjoy each moment!

_____________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Arizona Mortgage Lender

NMLS #223495

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE LLC ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices in Mesa, Tucson, Sierra Vista & Nogales

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~ Full Moon Over Tucson ~

Actually, Sunday will be the full moon.

From Gates Pass this evening, though, you would have been hard put to tell the difference. The setting sun painted the tops of the mountains in the foreground with its deepest color of the day.

You really do have to come visit this place sometime this winter. It's magical. It really is.

_____________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Mortgage Lender.

NMLS #223495

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE llc ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices (AZ) Mesa, Tucson, Nogales, and Albuquerque, NM.

(I don't copyright my photos anymore.
I use them mostly for blogging
and creating greeting cards for friends and clients.)

Right click on an image, copy and use it!

Click the Send Out Cards logo below.
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(Card and postage are free ~ on me. Thanks for reading my blog.)

~ Sonoran Desert Sunset ~

It never fails. The parking lot on the summit of Gates Pass Road is full one-half hour before sunset. The glow of the setting sun brings a chorus of "Ooohs" and "Aahhs" from the tourists. Their sunset is the little one you see there on the right.

The sun's glow fades, and the sky turns gray. People make their way to their cars and head on down the hill, lights on, glad to have experienced a Tucson sunset.

They left the party too early. Ten minutes after dusk begins to fall, color again begins to flush on the bottoms of the clouds, and within a minute or two, this (the photo above) is what the sky looks like behind them to the west.

I call it the "afterglow." Many tourists never see it. Satisfied that they had experienced all there was to see, they're gone. Anticipating dinner, they head east down the mountain, leaving me to photograph the kind of sunset most people in higher latitudes will never enjoy.

There's a business lesson there, my friends.

_____________________

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Mortgage Lender.

NMLS #223495

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE llc ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices (AZ) Mesa, Tucson, Nogales, and Albuquerque, NM.

(I don't copyright my photos anymore.
I use them mostly for blogging
and creating greeting cards for friends and clients.)

Right click on an image, copy and use it!

Click the Send Out Cards logo below.
Send a real card to someone you love.
(Card and postage are free ~ on me. Thanks for reading my blog.)

Gates Pass Road winds through a forest of Giant Saguaro cacti, and joins Tucson with the Avra Valley.

The structure you see in the photo is built of rock, and has a stone picnic table and benches inside. Drive west on Speedway, and this is where you'll top out going over the pass.

It's part of Tucson Mountain Park, and there's a ramada just below the structure you see here that's Handicapped Accessable. Should you need it, you'll find a "necessary" at the parking lot.

This is a magical spot at sunset, and you owe it to yourself to come visit Gates Pass in Tucson, AZ.

___________________

(I don't copyright my photos anymore.
I use them mostly for blogging
and creating greeting cards for friends.)

Right click on an image, copy and use it!

Click the Send Out Cards logo below.
Send a real card to someone you love.
(Card and postage are free ~ on me. Thanks for reading my blog.)

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson Mortgage Lender.

NMLS #223495

SUNSTREET MORTGAGE llc ~ Correspondent Mortgage Bank
Offices (AZ) Mesa, Tucson, Nogales, and Albuquerque, NM.