I had the good fortune of being invited to an off-site team meeting that was to be held at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Being the animal and nature lover that I am, I was thrilled. I had no idea what an amazing adventure I had coming! I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the amazing scenic drive through Gate's pass as you come from downtown Tucson into the Saguaro National Park. It's stunning; a wonderful prelude to what is in store at the Desert Museum. Before our meeting, our host invited our group to see the Running Wild; Fur, Feathers and Scales presentation in the cool Warden Oasis Theatre. The 20-minute program was aimed toward a younger audience, but enjoyed by all, for sure. Live critters were brought out and even presented for some of the audience members to touch. There was an educational multimedia slide show that also presented us with some trivia questions, which the presenter answered for us. Skunks, snakes, spiders and macaws were all part of the show (and the education process). It was so much fun to hear kids AND grown-ups, including my colleagues, shouting out answers and marveling at the beautiful creatures as they "ran wild" during the show.

As great as this all sounds, it's not even the best part of the day! After the Running Wild show, we headed to some amazing meeting rooms with gorgeous panoramic views of hillside after hillside covered in saguaros. We had a very nice lunch and productive meeting followed by our own private Raptor Free Flight program demonstration! WOW. It was so fantastic to see these amazing owls and hawks take flight right in front of me. Now here's the kicker! We got to call and release the female hawk ourselves! I got so excited when I heard this my eyes welled up with tears! Could it be? After years of watching these majestic birds float around the desert air, I was actually going to get to hold one in my hand? YES!

A keeper placed a little hawk treat (meat of some kind) on my glove, turned me around, and had me hold my hand up to call the beautiful, feathered creature. I was absolutely awe-struck to see her flying toward my hand. I felt like I was going to cry at the beauty of her as she swooped down and grabbed her treat. She was so light; no more than two pounds!  Next, I was to turn around with my arm extended, while she stood on my hand, and let her set off to another keeper calling her across the room. In an instant, with the slightest "swoosh" of feathers, she was gone. It was a brief encounter, but it will remain one of the most truly amazing things I've gotten to experience.

I know that not everybody will get to have this exact opportunity. But if you're an animal and nature lover too, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is a "must see" for you. Catch a Raptor Free Flight and the Running Wild programs between visits to lions, javelina and bears! I guarantee that anyone, no matter what your age, will learn something and be awestruck at some point during a visit to the Desert Museum. Check it out! www.desertmuseum.org.

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My husband makes "his" famous sweet potato quesadillas almost every time we have friends over. They are absolutely delicious! It wasn't until he'd made them about six or seven times that I caught him thumbing through the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum‘s Dining with the Desert Museum cookbook! Turns out, he'd gotten the recipe from the cookbook and was trying to pass them off as his genius idea! 

I asked him once for the recipe to give to a friend, and he was very hesitant to give away his secrets. But, because the recipe is in a cookbook, and I finally found this out, Ben gave me "permission" to print the recipe for all to see (even though he really didn't want to share it!).

Here it is:

1 medium red onion, diced
3 to 5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 to 3 jalapeno peppers, chopped (depending on how you want it)
2 to 3 medium sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil
Large flour tortillas (best if you use the "real" flour tortillas you can buy in Tucson at any of our local Mexican restaurants. I vote for Tanya's, but everyone here has their favorites!)
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

Sauté onion, garlic, and peppers until onions are translucent. While sautéing, peel and grate sweet potatoes. Add sweet potatoes to the sauté. Add spices and continue sautéing until the potatoes just begin to soften (they cook quickly). Remove from heat. Heat a frying pan and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Warm tortillas over a flame (gas burner) to make them soft and pliable. Put about ½ cup sweet potato mixture on one side of the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and fold tortilla over (in half). Fry in pan until brown and crisp on both sides.

Can be served with sour cream and guacamole, but we like it with home made salsa. Wait, we like it with Ben's home made salsa ... I better thumb through Dining with the Desert Museum to see if he stole his famous recipe from there too!

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Tucson is a Mexican food town. It's really no surprise, since we're just an hour or so north of the Mexican border. Lucky for us Tucsonans, we get to experience some of the most authentic and fantastic Mexican food in the country, right in our own backyard.

There are hundreds of Mexican restaurants in town, and some have trouble standing out from the rest. But the margaritas and carne seca at Leo's Mexican restaurant have made a name for themselves among us Leo's devotees (warning: both are genuinely addictive).

It's not easy to find Leo's - it's literally hidden in a small strip mall on the southeast corner of Speedway and Rosemont - but once you do, they'll seat you quickly and get a menu in your hands in no time.

The first order of business is to order a house margarita. I'll be honest - I'm typically not a big fan of margaritas. I generally stick to wine and beer and shy away from the rest. But all it took was one of Leo's margs to make me change my tune. It's strong - one is plenty! - but it tastes fantastic, and it goes great with the most popular food item on the menu: carne seca.

Carne seca is dried beef flavored with garlic, lime and spices. It's typically served dry, but at Leo's the carne seca is moist, smoky, and incredible. You'll crave it in your sleep.

Every time I eat at Leo's, I get the same thing: A house margarita, and a carne seca cheese crisp with all the fixings (green chiles, fresh tomatoes and onions, cheese, guacamole and heaping bites of carne seca). If you ever give Leo's a try, I'd suggest starting with that.

Leo's Mexican Restaurant
5114 E Speedway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85712
(520) 325-9180

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When you think of horseback riding at a dude ranch, you probably imagine sitting on top of a scraggly animal, plodding along in a nose-to-tail procession at a snail's pace. But as I recently learned at White Stallion Ranch just north of Tucson, the riding is anything but.

Imagine galloping at high speed into a herd of steers, cutting three from the herd, and maneuvering them into a small pen with the help of two fellow "cowboys." At White Stallion, you can do that on your very first day!

A few months ago, I saddled up with a group of city slickers for a day out on horseback. I started out by filling out an information sheet with my height, weight and riding experience. Based on that information, the good folks at White Stallion chose a horse that would be "mine" for the duration of my stay. 

 

Ranch hands saddled up my group's horses and met us in a corral, where we mounted up and got our basic instructions from owner Russell True.

My equine companion for the day was a chestnut cowpony of mixed breeding - Tequila - who'd come to White Stallion from a cattle outfit in Mexico. (A big 3-ring binder in the front office gives photos, details and backgrounds of all of White Stallion's beautiful horses.)

Our first order of the day was the "slow ride," a pretty typical slow-moving ride through the ranch's desert acreage in Marana (northwest of Tucson), to help the uninitiated get to know their horses. We did have a few in our group who'd never been up on a horse before, and our guides helped them get comfortable in the saddle.

Once everyone proved they could handle the basics of "giddyup," "whoa," and "don't eat that cactus," we headed to a big corral half-filled with steers.

This was "team penning" - the goal of which is to drive three cows at a time into a pen, as fast as possible. There are no prizes, but the winners get to take home both pride and the bow-legged swagger of the saddle-sore.

After passing a quick test to make sure my group could spur our horses into a gallop, as well as turn them quickly and stop on a dime (well, a quarter...), the real fun began. Russell True himself, along with two of his ranch hands, demonstrated a proper, speedy round of penning.

In a nutshell, three riders line up along one side of the rectangular pen, at the opposite end from the cattle. All at once, the riders gallop toward the cows, and the "cutter" of the group selects three from the larger herd, which the other two help drive into a small three-sided pen near the middle of the corral. Russell and his staff are on hand for support in getting the sometimes-ornery cattle into the pen. When the last steer is in, time is up!

Each team of three riders gets three chances to prove their best penning time. My group's first time was well over a minute, but by the end, we'd honed our skills enough to clock a fast 39 seconds!

Seasoned rider or not, team penning at White Stallion is a great way to experience a taste of real life (and work) on Russell True's authentic working dude ranch.

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