Tanque Verde tumbles out of the mountains in the saddle between the Catalinas and the Rincons. The pools lined with striped gneiss are irresistible on a hot summer's day.

How the heck did this tern end up at our favorite lake in southeastern Arizona? We figure he must have blown in with a storm from the Gulf of Mexico. This is the only place I've ever lived where the weather comes from the northeast.

In 1928, prospectors drilling for oil east of Mount Graham struck hot water instead. Today the abandoned wells are home to two rather elegant hot tubs in a very remote stretch of desert, 20 miles from nowhere.