On February 19th, we flew to Tucson for a 4 day vacation in the sun. We originally planned this back in the fall and thinking that we would like to get out of the cold weather sometime in February. Well, it wasn't really that cold this February but it was nice to be able to hike in the desert and play tennis.
The first day we drove south of Tucson to Tubac a small artists communities in the southern desert. It was fun just walking around and enjoying the local art. What we did not realize was how long it would take to drive back through Tucson to our lodging north in Oro Valley. I-10 near Tucson is under major rework and all on & off ramps were closed. Traffic lights on the major north-south street are not synchronized and we had to stop at each for about 18 miles. We finally got off on a side street and were able to catch the sunset before we continued on.
This photo is of Saguaro Cactus.
On Friday, we drove to the Saguaro National Park and took a wonderful hike for about 6 miles through the desert. We were too early for the catus to bloom but it was still very pretty. I did not realize that Saguaro Cactus are wood inside.
After our hike we went to the Saguaro Desert Museum and hiked another 2 miles taking in all the areas of the outside museum. Driving back to our place was once again very slow but we did make it and found a nice spot near by to watch the sunset. This photo is the sunset from that spot.
Saturday, we drove up to Mt. Lemmon which is about 28 miles north of Tucson. You start at about 2000' and drive up to about 9000'. It had snowed the week before and there was still snow in the trees and along the road above 50000' . At the end of the road they have a very small Ski area called Ski Valley. There must have been a local bike rally to ride up to the Summerhaven near the top of the mountain. We must have passed well over 100 riders on our way up. This would be a very hard ride since you start at 2000' and gain over 7000' in 25 miles.
On Sunday, we hiked up Pima Canyon for 3.5 miles (7 round trip). Luckily for us, there was a slight cloud cover that kept the temperature down. This was a really interesting hike as you started with Sagauro Catus and ended up in scrub oak.
On Monday, we drove to the San Xavier del Bac Mission which was built in 1790's. It was really hot (90) . We flew home around 6:30PM and by the time we drove up the mountain to our house we were in a snow storm. It had not snowed since we left but started on Monday afternoon.
We have several bird feeders in our side yard and keep them full to feed the birds. Downside is that we also have big windows on this side of the house and lose several birds each year as they think they can fly through the window.
