April 6-12, 2014
We really enjoyed our time in Tucson. Whenever our home is parked in an awesome spot we are happy. And Catalina State Park is amazing! The views of Santa Catalina Mountains are inspiring and the RV sites are private, partially shaded, spacious, and full of birdlife and ground squirrels. You have to watch out for the round tailed ground squirrel burrows, but the miniature prairie dog look-alikes are fun to watch! Wizard also really enjoyed spending hours outside taking it all in. We did several hikes in this park and also did some biking. We really enjoyed our stay here.
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However, we also explored the Tucson area and got some ongoing, pesky RV repairs done. We have had some electrical issues involving the backup and side cameras and antennae for several weeks now and just haven’t found a place to repair them. So we took advantage of the big city and had Camping World take a look. Of course they ended up taking advantage of us (it is so hard to find an RV repair place that doesn’t think we are made of money), but we managed to get everything fixed and even got our hitch welded for a new bike rack by a local trailer repairman. Now he is an honest, fair, hardworking guy!
So with our repairs done we headed to Saguaro National Park. Have you noticed that we LOVE National and State Parks? Because we do! Thank you President Theodore Roosevelt for being a conservationist! Anyways, we wanted to get up close and personal with the giant saguaro cactus. These monsters of the desert can be up to 50 feet tall and over 16,000 pounds! In addition, they do not start growing ‘arms’ until they are 75 years old, so they are our elders! We walked among and reveled at these giants in this wonderful national park. We also enjoyed the historic petroglyphs located in this magical desert.
Our next adventure in Tucson was to visit Biosphere 2! Wade had visited the Biosphere back in the early 1990’s when it was in habituated and had fond memories and I love ecology (I do have a BS in ecology and biology) so it was a natural attraction for us. It has changed quite a bit since Wade’s last visit. It is now open to the public as it is no longer a ‘closed’ system, so we got to wander through the lower human habitat, where the Biospherians lived for 2 years (September 1991- September 1993) and also for 6 months in 1994. Then we took a guided tour through the biomes, the engineered ‘lungs’, and the underground ‘technosphere’. It was fantastic to actually walk through the rainforest and see the ‘ocean’. I have to admit Wade and I shared some Pauly Shore jokes. You guys remember Bio-Dome, don’t you? Joking aside we really enjoyed our visit and are happy that the University of Arizona is continuing ecological research while educating the public here. After all Biosphere 1 is our home, Earth!
Our last day in Tucson was spent enjoying more desert history, fauna, and flora at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and then some Wild West action at Old Tucson. These two attractions are only miles apart and thus make for a good day trip. The Desert Museum is actually more like a botanical garden and zoo. We loved walking among the hummingbirds, reptiles, bighorn sheep, coati, black bears, mountain lions, beavers, and javelina to name just a few. We also enjoyed the desert cacti descriptions and trails.
Feeling content with our desert knowledge we headed to the wild, Wild West. Old Tucson is an Old West movie set. In fact over 300 movie and TV productions have been filmed here. Some noteworthy movies are The Lone Ranger and The Lost City of Gold (1957), Three Amigos (1986), Tombstone (1993) with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer and TV shows Little House on the Prairie (1977-1983) and High Chaparral (1966-’71). Now it is basically a Wild West amusement park (although they still rent to movie/ TV productions). We watched gun fights in the streets and a highflying stunt show. We also rode the train around the park and took a historical walking tour. It is a fun place to visit and provides for excellent photographs!
That sums up are time in Tucson. We really enjoyed our excursions and as always savored the local food.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]