WINTER ESCAPE - PART III: OUTINGS IN THE SONORA DESERT

Sabino Canyon was one of the really great outings we went on while in Tucson.  Frank, Carol, Jim, Naomi and I went for this adventure while Ron was on an 8 mile hike.  This amazing riparian area is right in the outskirts of Tucson and is so different from the other Sonora Desert areas we were used to.  Of course we saw saguaro cacti...

 
 But a big difference in this landscape is WATER.

 
The park has trams (no personal cars are allowed in the canyon) which take passengers up to the top, following Rattlesnake Creek.  There are multiple stops along the way so it's easy to jump off and jump back on. 

Spring comes early in the desert!

 The park is in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. 

 

There are many, many trails and lots of people were out hiking.   We hopped off the tram on the way down and hiked a ways.  Here are Carol and Naomi.


I loved this sign we saw on the road.

 What a difference a creek can make in the desert.  We found the scenery very restful.

Sabino Canyon is definitely a return-to place.  Next time we will hike all the way down and maybe try some other trails.

Our next outing was Jim, Ron and I to the Sonora Desert Museum.  This is an outdoor park - a sort of cross between a museum and a zoo.  Jim and I first came to this museum 30 years ago and have been in love with it ever since so we were eager to show it to Ron.  The Desert Museum is only a few miles away from Tucson Estates and just past Old Tucson, which is the movie set where many a Western has been filmed.

One of the things I love about this park is that they have labelled all the local plants so you can positively identify them. 

I was excited to see this one because it is the very agave we had bloom in our front yard in Santa Rosa last year.  I never knew what kind of agave it was; it was in a bucket in the backyard when we moved in to that house.

In the wild desert one only gets to see the flowers bloom if there has been rain.  At the Desert Museum they do water so we got to see more things in bloom than would be outside the park.





But the Sonora Desert Museum is far from just a botanical garden.  There are many opportunities to see the wildlife that populates the Sonora Desert.   Here we got to see a Curved Bill Thrasher tending her nest high up in this cholla cactus.

 

And I was thrilled to go into the Hummingbird House, where we saw this little beauty sitting on her tiny nest.

 As we wandered around the grounds we had this visitor come for a little drink right in front of us.

 

Some of the many animals on view include javelinas (wild pigs), bobcats, foxes, coatimundi (relative of raccoons), various reptiles, big horn sheep...



and otters!

 The day was quite hot but Ron and I decided we wanted to see the Raptor show.  We didn't realize this meant standing for 1/2 hour in the beating down sun.  (Jim was smarter and found the cafe where he could see the show from the shaded terrace while sipping a cool drink).  The show was worth it, though, and Ron and I got to hear the narration which Jim couldn't hear from his location.  Here are some of the Harris Hawks which swooped right over top of our heads.  They are so majestic (and huge!) and hunt in groups, with the alpha female in charge (and she gets to eat first, too).



 

 We had a lovely outing in spite of the heat.  Here is Ron and Jim and a rare photo of yours truly.

Next time you are in Tucson you MUST stop at the Sonora Desert Museum.  It is an experience unlike any other.

 Next - more in and around Tucson.

Audrey

WINTER ESCAPE - PART II: THE ARRIVAL OF RON AND NAOMI

A little over a week after our arrival at Tucson Estates Ron and Naomi Garwood arrived from Rochester, NY.  Ron and Naomi are long time friends of my sister Carol's from when she was a short term missionary in Japan in the 1970s.  It just so happens that I visited her in Japan during that time and met Ron and Naomi who were also short term missionaries and who were not a couple.  I had not seen them since 1976 and Jim had never met them so this was a much anticipated visit.

The day before their arrival, Ron had to dig out their driveway from 10' of snow.  No wonder he was so
 taken with all the citrus available for free at TE.


The week Ron and Naomi were with us was packed full of activities.  One of these was making 28 lunches for a Vista Missions (http://vistamissions.org) team which arrived at the Tucson airport from Seattle one Saturday.  We made bag lunches for the team and met them at the airport while they were awaiting vans coming from Mexico to take them to their destination in Mexico, several hours south of Douglas, Arizona.  This team was doing construction work as well as running eye clinics and dispensing glasses.  Our sister-in-law, Carolyn Watson, used to run these teams and now that she is semi-retired from teaching Spanish, she still goes along as a member of the team.  Here is Carolyn lending a helping hand.

She knew that Carol and Frank were bringing the lunches but Jim and I were a total surprise to her as she didn't know we were in Tucson. 

Ron is a major pickle ball player so every morning (unless going on an 8 mile hike) he would be on the court at 7:30 am and we wouldn't see him back until 9:30 or 10 am.  He's a guy who likes his exercise so when not playing pickle ball he would be biking, hiking, walking or playing golf.  This freed Naomi up to go thrift shopping with Carol and me.  The day Ron when on the 8 mile hike, the rest of us visited Sabino Canyon (a future blog) and on a hot day (too hot for Naomi), Ron, Jim and I visited the Sonora Desert Museum (another future blog).  

When not out running around we found time to enjoy each other's company at home, like this tea party we had just because Carol made scones.

And they were GOOD.

A week  was way too short with Ron and Naomi and we were sorry to see them go back to snowy New York.  We all tried our best to help lure them to be permanent snow birds in Tucson (now that Naomi has retired they are selling their home in Rochester but keeping their summer cabin in upstate NY).  I hope I don't have to wait another 30 years to see them!

 Next time - Outings to Sabino Canyon and the Sonora Desert Museum.

Audrey

WINTER ESCAPE - PART I: TUCSON TIMEOUT

When we travel we like to take the lesser path, the road not taken.  So when Jim noticed on the map that we were near the Sonoran Desert National Monument we started looking for signs to enter the monument.  There were none, but we did find an exit for "Freeman Road" and decided to get off.  Not far from the exit ramp we found a dirt road and this sign...

 
 and this sign:

This was not the last time we would see references to being near the border with Mexico.  More on that later.  We did see our first saguaro cacti here - the Sonoran Desert is their home, both on the US and Mexican side of the border.

Our destination was Tucson, Arizona, and more specifically Tucson Estates, which is a 55+ mobile home park made up of 75% snow birds and 25% year round residents.  My sister Carol and her husband Frank winter here most years in a mobile home owned by Frank's brother and loaned out as a guest house.  This spacious accommodation has three bedrooms and three bathrooms and comes with its own golf cart!

 I never had cause to drive a golf cart before.  Who knew how much fun it would be?  Everyone in Tucson Estates, or TE as it is called, has golf carts so no one worries about ever taking the keys out of the ignition!  Yes, there is a golf course here, as well as three swimming pools, a huge jacuzzi pool, sauna, pickle ball, shuffle board, tennis, exercise room, exercise classes, quilting classes, travelogues, potlucks by region (the Minnesota dinners were the biggest), and countless other organized activities.

TE has the advantage of being out of Tucson to the west and so it abuts Tucson Mountain Park, among others, with hundreds of miles of trails.  We loved piling all 4 of us on one golf cart (someone stands on the back and the 3rd person in front has only one cheek on the seat) and driving up to the end of the road to start our hike in the desert.

 

 Here are Jim and my sister Carol checking out cacti.

 We were continuously blessed with gorgeous vistas of mountains covered in cacti (mainly Saguaro, Cholla, Prickly Pear and Barrel), Palo Verde, Ocotillo, Creosote Bush and...

 Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla).

When we first arrived at the end of January none of the Ocotillos were in bloom.  Here they are (the tall wispy bushes) looking dead but just waiting for a bit of moisture so they could start blooming.  The cacti in the foreground is Cholla.

 After a rain storm we saw this Ocotillo getting ready to bloom.  These are such interesting plants - they bloom at the end of dead looking branches and then they leaf out.

 Here is one in full bloom

And here it is after blooming, all leafed out:

The Fish Hook Barrel cactus (below) is well named, but maybe not as evocative as the so-called Horse Crippler cactus!

 The mighty Saguaro never fails to enchant.  These desert giants do not put out "arms" until they are over 70 years old!

This is the magnificent Hanging Fruit Cholla, so named due to all the pendulous fruits.  Other chollas have equally fun names, such as the Jumping Cholla (watch out, it WILL jump on you if you get too close), the Pencil Cholla and the Teddy Bear Cholla.

 

 Happy hikers Frank, Jim and Carol on the way home.













Next time - A Visit from Ron and Naomi

Audrey