The Travelling Tylers: Using the W word

I wasn't going to talk about the weather at all while we were here. I mean, it's kind of rude to be telling people who have to put on 4 or 5 layers just to go out that we only needed one. And sometimes a short-sleeved one at that.

But lately, things have gotten downright weird here. Weird enough that I feel we've bonded on the weather front. Pun intended.

After 10 days, or maybe it was 2 weeks, of predicted rain not actually happening, we had pretty much lapsed into an "I'm from Missouri" state of mind. And then we got it. In spades. Tucson pretty much closed down. People, not believing the "Do not cross" lines, drove their 4-wheel drive vehicles into little dips and couldn't get out. Schools closed for the day. Snow piled up -- and I mean piled up -- up to 25 or 30 inches at the higher elevations.

Because Tucson was indisposed and outdoors wasn't really an option, we headed to Douglas, a very small border town on the other side of The Fence from Agua Prieta, a much larger city. Douglas is pretty historic as those things go and, according to the gen has many historic buildings. Well, there was one, the Gadsden Hotel. The lobby has (a) staircase posts which are gilded with real gold and (b) a huge staircase made of a single piece of marble. If you look closely, you can see the chip mark from when Pancho Villa apparently rode his horse up the stairs (as an act of defiance, I presume).