Back From the Desert

We rolled in Friday night after leaving the El Paso area about 8 a.m. or so. We haven't posted because we haven't had access to wifi in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted you to know we are home and I'll be posting lots of photos beginning with Yuma, AZ through southern CA and home. I'm just too darned tired to do it right now. So. . . more to come. Stay tuned.

We're not goin' nowhere on Friday the 13th!

I knew that was a good decision. By staying safely put, we had a perfect day without incident. We will be taking off in the morning (the 14th) - headed for Yuma, AZ then southern CA for a little while.

This last week was very enjoyable but not so photographable. (I don't care if that's not a word. . . or if it is and I don't know it.) We toodled and shopped and ate and relaxed and read and did art projects, etc. All enjoyable but not too exciting for the blog visitor!

We did attend the Gaslight Theater melodrama "Gunsmokin'." Funnnny. Jane, if you're reading this, some of the same actors were in this one as when we saw "Prince Valiant" a couple of years ago. It was fun watching them have fun - a great time.

We visited the Biosphere 2 - the self-contained structure made for research. Interesting but we forgot to take photos.

We've driven allllllll over this city multiple times and think we have it down pretty well so it must be time to move on to someplace where we have no idea what's where or how to get there.

We'll try to provide you some visual entertainment next time around. Until then,
Happy Trails.

Still Toodling in Tucson

We're enjoying the Tucson area so much that we decided to stay another week! We never stayed anywhere more than four days before so that tells you something. It is a combination of so many things to go see as well as such a fantastic RV park. We did move sites today because the other was reserved for some folks coming in this week. Here are a few sites we've seen in the last week, in no particular order.


We drove up to Mt. Lemmon which is 25 miles from the east side of Tucson. 23 of that 25 is up the mountains, twist and turn. We found ourselves in fir and aspen and about 20 degrees colder! Our site is at 2,400 ft. and Mt. Lemmon is above 9,000 ft. Quite a change.


Kitt Peak which is home to a number of telescopes including the largest solar telescope in the world. That's what you see behind you. It continues down into the mountain for another 100 ft. at that angle which is the same angle of the earth's axis. The outer housing is made of copper and contains ridges that are actually tubing that carries water. They regulate the temperature within the structure by heating or cooling the water. This is to avoid turbulence resulting from hot air rising up through the tunnel on very cold days. Who knew?!


We visited Bisbee, AZ which is southeast of Tucson out in the mountains. We tried to lunch at the Copper Queen Inn but we were too late. (I didn't get to have my Monte Cristo sandwich I was so craving from my last visit!) Bisbee was originally a copper mining town and all the homes are built on rather steep slopes. The main part of town is down in a narrow valley. This pic doesn't really show it very well. On our way back, we drove through Tombstone, you know, Boot Hill and all that. Tombstone began as a silver mining town. From the looks of the surrounding area, you'd never guess there was silver in them there hills!



A couple of photos from the Desert Museum which is a wonderful place. Not only do they seem to have every type of cactus around, they have a beautiful cave, a hummingbird aviary, prairie dog town, otters, butterfies, bees, and a fabulous mineral display.

The Pyrrhuloxia (the bird) visited us while we sat on the patio. The saguaro had to be 40 feet tall. We have a bunch of photos of cactus, all of which I will not share with you but I will add a couple more.


Mom in her cute hat looking at the Santa Rita Prickly Pears which are very purple.


Organ Pipe Cactus

We have seen some beautiful sunsets. I'll leave you with a couple of photos from one evening.