Saguaro

These photos taken on my first trip to Saguaro National Park outside of Tuscon, Arizona. It's a small park, made even smaller by being split into two sections on either side of the city. On the recommendation of my boyfriend, who grew up in Tuscon, we went to the eastern section of the park. The winter sun washed everything out, blinding and benign when one can make an easy retreat to the climate controlled car. It's hard to imagine early settlers and lone cowboys crossing this terrain with the looming knowledge that the desert made their travels a life and death situation. Did they really follow manifest destiny out here, or is this just the history that Will Rodgers rewrote with the help of Hollywood?

Anyway, here's some iconic, old-timey wild wild west photos for you. The city has been conveniently cropped out. Feel free to photoshop in some majestically rugged cowboys.

P.S. Can you tell that I've really been into textures lately? Crunchy.