Desert Delight!
February 27 - March 13
During our two weeks in Tucson, AZ, we called Tucson/Lazydays KOA Resort “home”. This definitely took the blue-ribbon prize for a great resort! They had us hooked with the fresh donuts and coffee on Fat Tuesday, but for good measure, they threw in Wednesday morning socials with pastries, bagels, coffee and mimosas, group bike rides on the “Loop” Thursday mornings, live music at the restaurant located in the campground (BBQ Rush), Sunday morning blueberry pancakes and sausage breakfast… Yes, Dick and I were putty in their hands!
The Chuck Huckelberry Loop is 137 miles of trail encircling Tucson! In case the Sonoran Desert and surrounding mountains weren’t enough beauty, they have scattered more than four dozen sculptures, tileworks, and art along the trail. We didn’t come close to making it around the entire loop, but we did enjoy both biking and strolling on this wonderful resource!
On our first weekend at the park, we were entertained by military aircraft training for an upcoming airshow. The Heritage airshow includes both modern and vintage military aircraft. The air force base was not far away, giving us amazing views of fighter jets doing barrel rolls, stalls, formations with vintage planes and more!
It was at the Mardi Gras party that we met Pat and LuAnn. They were visiting Tucson, escaping the Kansas City winter. It was fun reminiscing with them about our days of living in Kansas City. It sounds like time has not stood still there either. Many of our favorite spots are now gone. LuAnn is so skilled at knitting and was kind enough to spend some time with me, helping improve my very limited knitting ability! Now, I just need to take some time to practice!
Having been fattened up with donuts, we kicked off Lent by attending Ash Wednesday service at Our Lady Queen of All Saints. The church was nearby and they offered a service that was convenient for us to attend. Typically, the ashes are applied to your forehead in the sign of a cross. Here, they applied the ashes to the top of your head. That was a first for us!
In past years, I’ve joined a small group of women during Lent and we have an informal book club. This year, our son Brandon is leading a Lenten study, which we were thrilled we could participate in! We have been reading "Entering the Passion of Jesus", written by Amy-Jill Levine. Brandon offers the study both in person (in Salt Lake City) or on Zoom. It’s been great joining together with this community and studying Holy Week. We can’t thank Brandon enough for putting this together and including us in it!
My Lenten cacti quilt is making a little progress! It’s been fun putting a few of the cacti together. I’ve tried to make one cactus every evening or so. A few evenings have passed me by without much progress, however. Some of these beauties simply take a little time to select the right fabric for. Art just can’t be rushed! (That’s my line and I’m sticking to it!)
One afternoon, the resort hosted a Paw-ty! Everything was doggy themed, including the music. There were vendors selling doggy treats, doggy scarves, doggy anything, including dogs themselves. A shelter had brought a few of their furry friends in need of homes to the Paw-ty. It was so clever, as almost every camper seems to have a canine or two with them. I hope those little guys find good homes soon!
One day, we drove to the west section of Saguaro National Park and took a docent-led hike on a nature trail. I’m slowly learning to identify some of the various cacti and other vegetation of this marvelous desert! We also drove the five-mile loop taking in the beautiful views. The desert is filled with saguaro cacti, which only grow in the Sonoran Desert! We were hoping to find cacti blooming, but we are a few weeks early. The list of places we want to come back to just got a little longer! It sounds like late April is the time to see the desert in full bloom.
Southern Arizona Heritage and Visitor Center is a great resource for finding about anything you may be interested in seeing in Tucson! There we learned about many places we thought sounded great, including the January 8 Memorial. It memorializes the day Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 other people were shot by a lone gunman. Six people died -- such a violent and tragic day. The memorial is so very thoughtfully put together and provides a beautiful place for community to reflect and, hopefully, heal. It’s located directly outside of the visitor center and certainly worth a stroll through if you are there. BTW, Five-To-Oh Coffee is a great little coffee shop where you can pick up a warm beverage while meandering the memorial!
San Xavier de Bac Mission is just south of Tucson and is part of the Tohono O’odham nation. We couldn’t resist touring it! It is nicknamed “White Dove of the Desert” and it’s easy to see why! Its stark white façade set against the mountains makes it stand out and be visible from miles away!
Our timing was perfect as we were also able to attend outdoor Mass there. It was a very casual Mass, in the courtyard just behind the mission. The priest came out and started chatting with the small congregation that had gathered. Just before beginning to celebrate Mass, he asked for volunteers to lector. Dick raised his hand when no one else was volunteering. It was an amazingly intimate Mass and we felt blessed to be able to participate with the community.
Across the road from the mission is a small plaza where we met Joe Begay. Joe is a Navajo silversmith who makes beautiful jewelry. I purchased earrings with a design called “The Man in the Maze”. The design features a man at the top of a maze, symbolizing birth. The maze symbolizes your life, where you encounter many turns and changes. As you progress deeper and deeper into the pattern, one acquires more knowledge, strength and understanding. As you near the end of the maze, you see death approaching, but this dark center can be bypassed where you can retreat to a small corner of the pattern. Here you repent, cleanse yourself and reflect back on all the wisdom gained in life. Finally, pure and in harmony with the world, death and eternal life are accepted. I thought this was a wonderful way to look at life! The Native Americans have so many things figured out!
Birds are abundant here, and my very favorite sightings were the Vermillion Flycatchers and the Roadrunners! I know Roadrunners aren’t the nicest of birds, but they are new to me and I find them fascinating! The Vermillion Flycatcher is such a bright red and is simply stunning!
Perhaps the most interesting trail we hiked was the 3.1-mile Tumamoc Hill! Making it unique is the app you can download, audibly telling the history of the hill -- super fascinating. On our way down the hill, we came across four deer munching on the buds of brittlebush. It brought back memories of trying to keep deer from eating my hostas and day lillies. It was always so infuriating! At least the desert is FILLED to the brim with brittlebush. There is plenty to share with a few deer!
Another nice hike was at Painted Hills Trails Park. There, we hiked a four-mile loop trail with rich cacti covering the landscape. It was located near a residential area. How fantastic would it be to have the Sonoran Desert just outside your door?!
Driving on I-10, you pass by the giant “A” built into the side of a hill for the University of Arizona. A fun, short hike is the trail to the top of this hill, giving you an amazing view of the Tucson Valley! The trail begins in a parking lot, located most of the way up the hill. It did have a little grade and was on loose rock, so I was glad I had on good hiking shoes despite the short, one-mile hike.
Our very favorite hike in the area was the Bear Canyon Trail to Seven Falls in Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. Our National Park Pass got us in the park free! We did treat ourselves to a shuttle ride, which shortened our hike by a couple of miles. This was an out and back trail, where we crossed the Seven Falls Creek several times (seven to be precise). At the end of the trail, we enjoyed a picnic lunch at the base of the waterfall before heading back down the canyon.
The number of trails in the Tucson area is unbelievable! I could live here a long time before coming close to having to repeat a hike, although there were several of these hikes I would repeat in a heartbeat!
Everywhere you go, you see food trucks and vendors featuring the Sonoran hotdog. One evening, we did our own taste-off of Sonoran hotdogs, comparing the two competing originators of the Mexican style hotdog. El Guero Canelo and BK Carne Asada & Hotdogs both claim to have the very best Sonoran hotdog in the industry. El Gurero Canelo has been featured in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, and Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food” and we went there ready to declare it the winner without having even tried it. These hotdogs differ from other hotdogs by being wrapped in bacon, grilled, served on a bolillo-style hot dog bun and topped with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, mustard and jalapeno sauce. El Gurero Canelo was certainly priced right, but we preferred the ambiance of BK’s. We will pay a little more for a fun environment! Our verdict on the Sonoran hot dog: definitely worth trying, but once will do it.
Green Valley is about 30 miles south of Tucson. On Wednesdays, they host the Heirloom Farmers Market where we had to try mango and cherry empanadas made fresh by a Mexican bakery! Warmed up, they could pass for a slice of heaven!
After taking in the farmers market, we met with Dick’s cousin, Mike at Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant. Mike has lived in Green Valley for 27 years. He moved here with his parents from Homer, Alaska. Now, that would be a dramatic change in environment! Mike is doing well and it was great to visit with him!
Green Valley has a volunteer gardening group who designed and maintains the Desert Meadows Park. Following lunch, we went to the park and wandered the gardens. There was a group of women gathered, working on painting projects, another group chatting in a gazebo, and many others taking in the beautiful afternoon. It is an extremely serene and peaceful setting!
A Titan II Missile Site is located just outside of Green Valley in Sahuarita, Arizona. Going into the control room and watching them simulate a launch sequence was fascinating! Thankfully, these missiles were never used and are now disarmed as part of the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty). Interestingly, the Titan II was used as the launch vehicle for the Gemini manned space program!
Our last day in Tucson was a day of real-life stuff. We spent the better part of the day looking at reservations for summer of 2022, where we will be visiting the Northeastern United States. We like to plan out at least six months in advance and we had gotten behind this goal a bit. Please let me know if you have any “must see/do” items for the Northeast!
We ended the day by going to Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral in downtown Tucson before heading out for dinner.
Tucson boasts “23 miles of the best Mexican food in the nation” and we had heard good things about Mi Nidito (My Little Nest). When we arrived, the road in front of the restaurant was blocked off as a local native American nation was celebrating and blessing the neighborhood. The sound of the drum beating, the aroma of the incensed fire and the dance of the gathering was interesting to observe. It was heartwarming to see the people of this nation gathering and celebrating their heritage.
When our name was finally called for dinner, we didn’t regret the wait! Inside the front door was a wall of photos of celebrities who had also selected Mi Nidito for dinner, including Goldie Hawn; Bill Clinton; Gabrielle Giffords; and Crosby, Stills and Nash. I ordered a prickly pear dish which was super yummy, although a bit spicy. We joked about serving the prickly spines on the side as toothpicks, but no need! This dish was amazingly tender. I’d heard about eating prickly pear and finally had the opportunity! As many prickly pear cacti that we had hiked past over our trails, it was fun to experience some nourishment from this stunning desert. These spiny fruits may be difficult to prepare; however, they offer an abundance of nutrients including Vitamins C, E, K, Beta-carotene, potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus! Who knew?! Always something new on this grand adventure!
Next Up: Las Cruces, New Mexico!
I’m glad you got to the Titan Missile Museum- that was a fascinating experience. I was glad when we toured it there were no rattlesnakes lurking around. Since Dean is retired military we like to go to the base family camps. They are usually full hookups and very clean and usually smaller. Keep on having fun!
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