First month in Tucson

written January 8, 2014

 Wow, we have fallen in love with Tucson. For Julie that would be re-fallen in love, since she lived here in the late 60's, early 70's. There are about a gazillion things to do in this area and we have done about ten of them. The weather here is the only drawback we have encountered. Cold, cold, cold nights. The days are sunny, and comfortable, which is a major plus, but the furnace has run all night every night. The folks that we have wintered with in Florida the past few winters told us that we would experience more cold than in Florida. Last winter (in Florida) we used 4 tanks of propane, so far this winter (in New Mexico and Arizona) we have used nine already!!!

Our touronistic travels have taken us to the top of Mt. Lemmon (9159 feet) via an incredible twisting turning mountain road. There are saguaros everywhere, but going up Mt. Lemmon Highway you can find where a “Saguaro Bomb” had exploded!

section of road up Mt. Lemmon

looking down over Tucson

Wind can create such beauty

What fabulous views they must have!

Jim's explosion of Saguaro!

On top of the world

We explored the Pima Air Museum with Julie's cousin Gloria, and her husband Larry. Taking in a bus tour of the “Boneyard”, where all of our no longer used military aircraft are stored. Holey Moley that is one cool experience!

Jim and I with my cousin Gloria and her husband Larry

carefully wrapped in protection for possible call up to duty later...

C5A Cargo, also wrapped up in protection for possible service later..

also wrapped in protection

 

We enjoyed Old Tombstone on a sunny Sunday. It is a western themed park that has often been the setting for many old, and some newer western movies, i.e. , 3:10 to Yuma, Mc Clintock, Rio Bravo, etc., and the Little House on the Prairie and the High Chaparral TV Shows.

It was a fun day filled with stuntmen and interesting trivia about the park and it's many western stars who have shot films there such as John Wayne.

a fun walking tour guide...

Al and Carol Stevens again accompanied us on our tours of Tubac with a wonderful lunch at Wisdom's Cafe along with Steve and Vicki Pena. Authentic Mexican – YUM YUM. Then we toured the TUBAC Presidio where in the one room school house I was humiliated once again as usual. Julie loved the small artsy shops in Tubac and hopes to go back again for more chances to browse.

replica schoolhouse in Tubac Presidio

again...?

Univ. Of Arizona Archeologists unearthing the original Presidio walls and artifacts

Ox-driven Arra Stratta, where they crushed ore to separate out metals

beautiful grind stones used during these times

A couple of days later with Al and Carol we took in the ASARCO Mission Mine tour. It is a bus and walking tour of the only operating mine in Arizona. Quite an interesting and very informative day. In the parking lot we were treated to a close-up view of a rare “Crested Saguaro”, one of only three we have seen as of yet.

Crested Saguaro

The magnificent Saguaro cactus is a protected tree and grows only in the Sonoran Desert, with Tucson home to The Saguaro National Park. The Park is divided into two sections. On the east side of Tucson, the East Unit is located in the Rincon Mountain range (east of Tucson), and the West Unit is located in the Tucson Mountain range (west of Tucson). See our tax dollars weren't wasted on paying the guy who named the parks!!! (as you can probably guess there are a few saguaros in our pics)

Hiking in these areas is excellent. Lots of signs warning of poisonous snakes, but thankfully not usually seen during the winter months !!!!!!

Saguaro National Park Visitor Center West

Sara, a Naturalist at West, showed us what the Saguaro does to heal when a bird makes a hole in it and builds a nest.  It is like a resin that forms a sealed pocket - fascinating!

...in the Saguaro West Park - roads to trail heads

A Palo Verde tree is a nurse tree for Saguaro's to grow under in the shade when they are young

A couple of bird's nests in a Saguaro

....OUCH.....

A trail we are ascending - what beautiful views

snow still found in some shady areas this am...

- our return on the trail was hiking down a dry arroyo or river bed.

Jim is dwarfed by a Saguaro growing alongside the dry arroyo.

The ages of the Saguaro are shocking

.....a roadrunner we saw on a hike in Saguaro East, great camouflage !

grass sprouting in the dessert after a short rain

One day this past week we drove down to the Mission San Xavier Del Bac, a still active Franciscan Catholic Mission serving the Tohono O'odham Indians. It was named the "White Dove of the Desert" back in the late 1700's by the Spaniards, before it was taken over by the Mexicans, before it was bought by the US as part of the Gadsden Purchase. Fry bread with honey and cinnamon was served by many Indian vendors surrounding the parking lot. Didn't want to, but gave in and devoured some! YUM

Mission San Xavier Del Bac, The White Dove of the Desert

The intricate Altar

 

Making fry bread - she is patting out a home-made tortilla prior to frying it.  Her husband is adding wood to the wood fire they are cooking over.

After asking around as to where we could find a good steak this past week we headed out west of town to “Fred's Arena” with Carol and Al, once again for another meal. Seems as though a pattern is developing here. Now this is a place for the books. This restaurant sits in the middle of nowhere, with no signs marking your way.

Locals give you the directions on how to get there:

Head west on Ajo Way, about 5 or 6 miles after passing Ryan Airfield you will come to (unmarked) Serrita Mountain Road (a dirt road) to the left, follow it until you come to a big bunch of mailboxes, turn left onto what looks like a lane. Believe me, when you get to here you will be wondering just where in the hell I have sent you. (Large sign on side of “road” reads “ROAD NOT COUNTY MAINTAINED”. If you ask me, nobody maintains it!.) Just travel on this road until it ends and you will be at Fred's. Fred's is a bar/steak house and horse arena. Fred sells horses, with all transactions being held in the bar. When we went in, the lady bartender told us to sit anywhere. We sat down and she came over, gave us the menu, and took our drink order. When she came back with the drinks, she took our food order. All of us wanted steaks, so she went to the cooler, took out four steaks and went to the center of the room where she proceeded to build a mesquite fire in the pit and cook our steaks. She left the grill to tend bar while they cooked, served the customers there, brought our salads, went back to the bar and poured more drinks, then went back to check the grill, returned to the bar and occasionally glanced at the grill. After awhile she loaded baked potatoes onto four plates and went to the grill and retrieved two medium rare, one medium, and one well done steaks. She brought the perfectly cooked steaks to our table and we enjoyed some of the best steaks we had ever eaten!! I have a hard enough time cooking one steak as I stare at it and talk, let alone 4 steaks as I tend bar, keep glasses full, and converse with customers!!! Just another one of our crazy, unique, and wonderful experiences.

We found the long row of mailboxes - hard to miss!

unique, individual mail boxes, with addresses for many different roads.. see the propane tank and the wooden box.  There were many very creative ones for sure.

On our way to Fred's Arena Bar and Grill.......

Front door to Fred's with very large carved characters flanking the entrance

Wagons for sale too......

wagons, wagons everywhere.....

The Mesquite Grill soon to be used for our steaks, notice the red blower on  the left.

Julie told me the sunsets here in Tucson are just incredible. The first three evenings here were completely overcast and being the loving husband you can be sure that I never mentioned the lack of “sunset”!!! The vivid colors along with the silhouettes of the mountain ranges all around are really something.

Over the Santa Catalina Mountain Range......

Tomorrow we are leaving Tucson for a couple of weeks for Quartzite, AZ. A small town on the California/Arizona border that once a year is invaded by hundreds of thousands, yep hundreds of thousands of Rv'ers!! Should be quite the experience. Pics to follow!!!!

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