Enjoying Tucson

Tuesday the 21st Gary and Dan went to the Pima Air and Space Museum with over 300 planes, it is one of the world's largest facilities of it's kind.  They spent over 4 hours digesting everything aviation. I stayed behind to do laundry, that morning  I managed to spill my coffee all over the placemats.  I also had to go to Walmart, we had a smoke detector go gunny bag. Charlene stayed at their hotel doing a little walking and R&R.  Then the four of us went to Old Tucson to check out the sights.  Our first stop was Old Town Artisans, a group of local artists who'd set up shops in a very historic building.  One of the artists told us about the building, showing us very old wallpaper and brick walls.  She also told us about the Turquoise Trail. it is literally a turquoise line around the downtown area, about 2 1/2 miles.  We decided to do that another day.  In the Tucson magazine something intrigued our brew pub minds, there was a photo of an old warehouse that is now a brew pub.  Just above the corrugated overhang in faded letter was an address.  After driving around downtown Tucson during rush hour we discovered it was wrong.  So we gps'd it, (why we didn't in the first thing??) we found the Barrio Brew pub.  It had outside seating, there was a couple from Washington state (Ellensberg) on the loading dock (patio) with their gorgeous German Shepherd.  Of course there was a lot of Seahawk talk going on!  It was a little too cool for us so we went inside for dinner. The food and beer was good.

Wednesday the 22nd we took Luci to doggie day camp so we could spend all the time we wanted at  The Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum.  We have been here before, it is one thing you don't want to miss while you are in Tucson.  It features the Sonoran Desert region in a mix of a zoo, botanical garden, art gallery and aquarium.  All exhibits feature the plants, geology and native cultures of the Desert. TOO MANY SNAKES!  There are over 2 miles of paths through 20 acres, over 230 animal species, 56.000 plant and regional mineral collections. They have several live animal presentations daily, we were able to see the Raptor Free Flight.  They fly so close you can feel the brush of air as they go overhead. Four assistants moved through the area placing tasty treats for the birds so the birds would fly from tree to tree over our heads.  The first was the barn owl once on the endangered list because of DDT, now making a comeback.  The Harris Hawks were interesting, they hunt in groups, some chasing the prey until it gets tired then others will move in for the kill. The Peregrine Falcon  hunts from above then dive down, even catching prey in mid-flight.  They can dive up to 200 mph.  I'm not to crazy about birds (thanks to Alfred Hitchcock) but they were just beautiful.  We picked up Luci (who was very tired) and went back to the coach for BBQ meatloaf.  It turned out "delish" even if I do say so myself.  Dan helped, he took care of the BBQing.

Thursday we took Luci downtown to do the Turquoise Trail, the historical walking tour of Tucson.  You follow the turquoise line over 2 miles long, each point of interest had a number so you could read about it.  There were over 23 sites you could visit.  Our first stop was the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson established in 1775.  We didn't quite finish, it was getting warm and we were thirsty and hungry, Luci too.  So we went back to the Barrio, easier this time with the correct address.  We sat outside on the loading dock with Luci, her second restaurant.  Finished the day playing Mexican Train, I think we have the Lawry's hooked.

Friday Gary and Dan were going to ride, were being the key word, we woke up to a very windy day, the guys decided they didn't want to battle the wind.  We did some shopping, lunch at the Thunder Canyon Brew Pub  then back to the coach for Mexican Train.  Charlene bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco and made a salad.  Then more Mexican Train. We said our good-byes, they are leaving Saturday morning to go back to Bend.  10 days can sure fly by. 

Saturday we got caught up on chores, we leave Cactus Country RV park for Davis-Mothen Air Force Base for 3 weeks.  In the afternoon we took our defaulty new smoke detector back to Walmart.  On our way back we spotted a sign for Purple Heart Park, we'd been up and down the road many, many times and never noticed.  At first it didn't look like much of a park, but it had an aquatics center, several baseball fields and best of all a great dog park dividing the small and large dogs.  We also picked up a geo cache.

Sunday, moving day, we first went to church service at the club house, we enjoyed Fred's sermon last week.  He amazed us by remembering

our names.  A funny thing happened, when he learned we were going to Davis-Mothen, he mentioned a friend of his was leaving the base this morning, maybe we'll get his spot, 124, sure enough we are in space 124.  We packed up after church, drove 18 miles to the base and were settling in by 12:30.  You can't make reservations at MD FamCamp, we were afraid we might have to go to overflow until there was an opening, we were pleased to get right in.  Last spring we were in 121, nice and close to the dog walking area and dog park.

Monday Gary and I rode about 4 miles along a nice bike trail, picked up several geo caches along the way, later took Luci on a long walk down to the main gate of the base.  There are several airplanes on display near the entrance, you could walk right up to them and even touch if you desired.  After a late lunch we went to pick up our mail at General Delivery in the main post office in Tucson, we were meeting Nancy and Larry Lewis at 6 for dinner.  Having some time to kill we ended up at a local tavern.  What fun!  Shannon, the bartender introduced us to all the people at the bar.  Brian had sent us some Seattle papers, of course big news, (if you didn't know) THE SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!  We showed them to her and she passed them up and down the bar.  Most everyone there was a Seahawk fan.  It was nice to see Nancy and Larry again, they own the bike shop Gary frequents.  They bought our dinner since we missed their annual after Christmas party, we did get a phone call that night, they were talking how they missed Gary so decided to call.  It was 2:30 our time, so we phoned the instigator at 8:30 our time, it went to voice mail.  Later we did get a "thank you for the wake up call" e-mail.  I don't think she was serious, thanks Julie, it was good to talk to you.

TTFN Gary and Pam
Photos from top to bottom: plane at Pima Air Museum; plaque at Presidio; view of Arizona Desert Museum; squirrel at museum; Luci and I at a statue along turquoise trail and the "Thud" an airplane on display at gate entrance.