TUCSON (AGAIN AND
LAST TIME)
Greetings from Arizona (this is picture of me).
Wednesday 19th
Heading to Tucson. Not too early, not too late, but we
still hit some heavier traffic. Luckily there is a commuter lane and
it is usually pretty empty. There were some stupid people driving way
too slow but it was still relatively close to normal drive. Sprawling
Phoenix. Airport. Few hills – parks within city limits. Some
developments and malls really far from the city (what the hell is
going on?). Drive. Drive. On the north side of Tucson we were
visiting Tohono Chul gardens. Nice and smaller botanical garden. It
was pretty but unfortunately it was surrounded by the city so the
magic of nature was not really there. There were nice places to sit
and relax within the garden and it would nice to go there if we were
living somewhere nearby. We found two ponds with tiny blue fish
(apparently native to Arizona rivers before people helped the
environment and made it more civilized). Without knowing much about
Sabina Canyon, we decided to go and visit. It is part of some
national agency and it was packed. We looked around a bit and decided
to take a private tour (the whole canyon is about 6 miles long, there
are some trails around but nothing really interesting for about two
hour walk. The drive/guide talked a bit rigidly and J. was making fun
of him (making robot voices). It was interesting place, really nice
landscape but (unfortunately for us) we saw so many beautiful and
interesting places in Arizona that this place looked just too normal.
And so many people. On the way back (it was drive to the point in the
canyon and back) we got off the trolley and walked back some. A bit
lost. After that we drove through the city to Pima Air Museum. Some
construction. Sadness from so many parts of the city – airplane
graveyard, air base, trailer parks, … Museum. 4 hangers – second
war, space, and something else. Really huge space outside with
hundred or more planes there (a lot of money just fading into the
trash or history). Some really interesting creations. J. was not
really excited about the museum. I thought it would be even better,
but it was quite interesting. Unfortunately no plane was “open”
to explore. It would be much nicer if we could go into the planes.
Kind of goofy time after we were done with the museum (4:30), too
late to start something else. We found Mexican restaurant more less
on the way to our motel “Crossroads” so we figured out we would
have some nice dinner. Found (in sketchy looking part of town).
Parked. Colorful and overdecorated place. Excellent dinner – it was
not very spicy but it was really tasty. J. had some margaritas. Nice
day.
Thursday 20th
Morning coffee. Sunny. A bit breezy. About an hour drive
to Tombstone. Sprawling city, kind of ugly and sad when there is a
subdivision in the middle of nowhere. Nothing really special or
pretty along the way. Tombstone – hard to describe the place like
that. Smaller town (with some colorful history) currently catering
mainly to tourists. Hard to say how much stuff is authentic and/or
real. On a plus side, there is some life and the town is not complete
ghost town. On a minus side, it is kind of unreal and pretentious.
Might be just life. It was way too early, around nine o'clock, so
there were almost no people and the shops were just getting ready to
open. We walked along the main street, apparently featuring gunfight
daily, and were kind of sad with the offerings – same stuff one can
buy almost anywhere in Arizona (boots, trinkets, Indian art, shirts).
As we were expecting there was not much that would be interesting for
us. We went to state park – Tombstone Historic Courthouse. It was a
destination for people who were early in town. It was lightly
interesting, there was nice collection of barb wire, court room, and
bunch of small stuff from that time period. It is however not that
old so many of those artifacts can be found in antique shops or
elsewhere. Still, somewhat interesting. Another half an hour to
Bisbee. The landscape got more interesting (hilly, more diverse).
There was a mine tour that we wanted to take (closed mine). Kind of
goofy and small place next to the main road, parked, went inside to
see times for tours with signs “sold out”. We discovered that
several school groups were taking a tour and that meant there were no
more spaces on it. Highly disappointing. We looked around (children
were getting lamps and helmets) and left. Oh well … (I was not
happy about that.)
Again, very disappointing (did I say that before?). We
drove (very short distance) to the town, parked and walked around. It
was nice smaller town nestled around the hills. Narrow streets,
relatively lively scene of stores and restaurants. Much nicer than
Tombstone (no offense there). Several antique (junk) stores, walk up
and down the street and leave. We were heading to Coronado National
Memorial. http://www.nps.gov/coro/index.htm
Almost 30 miles from Bisbee, few towns and not much else. Coronado is
mostly protected land with some camping and hiking, relatively
primitive and next to the Mexican border. Heading to the visitor
center we saw something dark in the desert and were guessing it was
“the fence”. Visitor center – nice old gentleman (volunteer) in
nice building in very quiet and serene area. We asked about the fence
– and it was fence. Here is the picture of it, together with some
special surveillance truck that we encountered on the top of the
mountain.
As we had plenty of time (thanks to no tour of the mine
in Bisbee), we decided to walk up to the cave and go in and than
cross the mountains (dirt road for 15 miles) to Tucson (longer by
about 1 and ½ hours). Really nice walk up to the cave, great
landscape, incredible views and no people around. The cave was
relatively small (600 feet long), but there were some cool rocks and
overall it was great experience (except one lousy flashlight). There
was also pretty nice view of the fence. Continue along the road
(changed from paved to dirt) to the Montezuma Pass (highest point in
park, almost 7000 ft.). There was the spying truck (probably border
patrol). 0.4 mile long walk to the top of the hill, windy with
amazing views. Strange country. After that too many miles of dirt
road. We encountered road work (grading the road). Dust. A lot of
dust. Other than that – it was interesting landscape and nice drive
but after a while it just got too tedious and a bit boring. We were
happy to be back on the paved road. Go, go, and go to Tucson. We were
tired and kind of lazy, so we had a dinner at In-n-Out fast food
restaurant. Pretty good. Done for a day.
Friday 21st
Slow morning. We did not really have any solid plans so
we leisurely left the motel and drove to Saguaro National Park –
East. Construction. Planes grave yard – we saw this place quite a
few times. Park. Visitor center. Paved loop (around 12 miles). Small
recommended walk (hike). The park is just below the mountains but
unfortunately also next to the city (that keeps sprawling and
sprawling). We had mixed feelings about it. It was still pretty nice
place with luscious vegetation (for the desert) and we enjoyed it.
Most shorter hikes were unfortunately flat and not really exciting
for us. In the end we just drove the loop, stop few times, walked up
some rock formations and left the park. There are some interesting
things and places in and around Tucson but all in all it is not the
prettiest city, unfortunately. And it is sprawling. For a while
driving on I-10 towards Phoenix. We made smaller detour and were
heading to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.
http://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm
We were not expecting much and it was more less on our way, so there
was no harm. The road to the ruins (about 25 miles) was really
boring, flat, some farming and the rest just nothing at all. Sad.
Ruins – parked – some display – tour. There was a lot of older
people, it was longer talk while we were sitting and some more
information next to the big house (when looking at pictures it is the
one with the structure around it. The monument was not the most
impressive (flat field, some walls and one great house, city in
visible distance) but the tour was quite interesting. History of the
ruins and people associated with them. Some current notes about water
and Arizona. Apparently Central Arizona Project
http://www.cap-az.com/
transports water from Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson areas
(over 300 miles and 2000 feet of elevation changes). Especially with
current weather, it is interesting to think about Arizona (or South
West in general), its future, and water. How many more people can
live here without destroying the environment? In the end, we were
pleasantly surprised by the visit to Casa Grande. Home. Phoenix.
Freeways. We had to unpack, do some cleaning, homework, cooking and
baking. Easy and pleasant evening.
