Tucson, Arizona, United StatesSo Friday, October 27th, saw us pulling into Tucson, Arizona. Happy to note that the hotel we chose was fairly nice and the staff were great. It was a long warm drive from Boulder City, Nevada. Still driving through desert.
We "touristed" quite a bit in Tuscon, where we spent four days. Day 1 saw us at the Biosphere. Don't know if you recall a bunch of people trying to live in a closed environment for a couple of years. Anyhow......the University of Arizona now operates the facility. It is a combo museum and science lab. They learned that you couldn't survive in the closed environment as it existed and lots of interesting science stuff. It really was a precursor for living on the moon, Mars or out in space. Pretty cool to see.
After that we drove through the Saguaro National Park West, where they have a visitor centre?It is amazing how these big cacti just all of a sudden appear at different elevations. They are pretty amazing, as they take forever to grow and don't really get their arms until they reach 70 years. They are also food and water sources for many animals in the Sonoran desert.
Day two saw us trek to Vail, just outside of Tucson. Sue's Great Aunt Louise and Uncle Merlyn Western live there. Aunt Louise treated us to a great breakfast and we got to meet a couple of cousins - Rick, Greg and his wife Lisa. It has been a very long time since we last saw them and had never met the boys - hardly boys as they are our ages!
After breakfast we tackled the golf course near by. Tackle is the polite word. Really interesting course as it winds through the landscape. Cactus, mesquite trees, sage and other desert plants, with sand and even some water thrown in. They had just overseeded about 6 weeks previously, for the winter. Sounds funny but they put in different grass that is more tolerant to the cold! Crazy, right?!
Monday was a great day as we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum. It is a zoo and nature preserve, bordering the Saguaro National Park. We got to see two raptor flight shows as well as many desert animals and plants. Lots of cool information and displays. We ended up spending the whole day, eating our picnic lunch in the parking lot in the shade of our truck.
Tuesday we headed south to Green Valley, Arizona. On the map it actually looks farther south, but is really only about 30 minutes from Tuscon. Since we had plenty of time, we took in the San Xavier Mission and then the Titan Missile Museum. They were equally interesting yet vastly different. They both contributed to the development of the area. Our plan included a visit with fellow trailer trash friends - Dave and Laurie Favreau, as they winter there. We got to see their place and had a great visit. I know there is not a picture of them here. We got the tour and started chatting, and really Sue left the camera in the car. They do have a great place. Then, it was time to get a few last minute items before making the trek south the following morning.
Jim Forrest
2017-11-06
Very cool! Lots of great pics from another time too!