Carl Hutzler's Blog

Arizona has great sunsets. Maybe it’s the bone dry air that gets you those “infinity clouds”. Maybe it’s the dust in the atmosphere that creates those deep oranges and reds. Or maybe it’s those “prickly trees”. Either way, they be good.

Oh, and I added a few more pix to the last post of Yesica Toscanini. She was actually in last year’s SI Swimsuit issue. Not sure I would compare her to the sunsets, but she wasn’t hard on the eyes either ;-)

Well, duh! A vacation at a dude ranch where SI is shooting part of the 2007 Swimsuit edition, of course ;-)

Well, after watching the Bull Dogging competition, I can honestly say that my thirst to learn how to be a real cowboy is satisafied. You see, Cowboys are crazy tough in that they take huge risks all the time. For example, in the bull dogging competition, they ride on a horse going 25 mph and then jump off and onto a bull and restle it to the ground. Sound fun? Well this cowboy missed the first four times before he finally had some luck.

When you miss, you are lucky if you just get a face full of dirt. Unlucky cowboys are trampled by the bull and/or their horse.

So today, I am going to start out with a slow ride. This will be followed about 2 hours later with a try-out for a fast ride. Why I need to bounce up and down on a horse going 20 mph I don’t know. But my brother is doing it, so, well, I am a guy.

Then at 4pm, I am signed up (again with my brother) for “Team Penning” where you try and work with a partner to coax 3 calves away from their herd and into a pen. This should be interesting for a city geek. Pictures forthcoming.

Oh, and we had some pretty good thunderstorms last night along with a tornado which (thankfully) was a safe distance away (no pictures of the tornado sorry). First real tornado I have ever seen. Pictures from the storms and the Sonora Desert Museum (within Suaro National Park) have been added to the picture page.

We got the whole family up at 4am for a 7:10am flight from National to Phoenix and eventually to Tucson, AZ. My dad turns 70 in a couple of weeks and we suprised him at the airport in Phoenix by “showing up”. He thought he was going with Mom and a few of their friends, but instead we showed up dawning fun masks that hid our faces (thankfully airport security did not notice).

Then in Tucson, my brother showed up as he flew in from Seattle. We got him again :-)

It was a long day, but by 2pm Tucson time, we were riding horses across the desert. Then around 4pm, we enjoyed a practice rodeo put on by a bunch of the staff at White Stallion Ranch, many of whom were professional rodeo competitors.

Oh, and the ranch has WiFi :-) Enjoy the pictures.