To Tucson and Beyond!

As we continue our journey Eastward, our current location is predicting temps in the mid 80’s for Christmas Day, while our friends and family in Bellingham are looking at the strong possibility of a white Christmas.  I love the beauty and feeling that invokes as I recall the Christmases of my childhood, a couple of which were white, but at this age I’m down with having a beer outside while soaking in some rays.  To new traditions!

Our next stop was a couple hours southeast of Phoenix in Tucson. We stayed at the KOA there. The sites are large, people were decorating their rigs and sites for the holidays, and there’s a BBQ restaurant on site that had some great live entertainment.  One country duo featured a guy who was pick’n and grin’n at a level way beyond my abilities (at least the pick’n part). Playing solos on acoustic guitar takes some really strong fingers that us light string electric players don’t have to worry about … unless the string breaks.

The majority of Tucson, at least in the areas we visited, is a dirty, dumpy, old town.  Whereas the park we were in is quite nice, you get the feeling that the surrounding area may not be the safest place to hang out.  Homeless camps go on for blocks in the ditches and sun sheltered treed locations, and the main thoroughfares and highways are strewn with litter.  This really surprised me as it seems in direct contrast with our experience of eastern Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Fountain Hills which all appear very clean and hardly a pan-handler is seen.  Despite all that, Tucson had quite a few places we wanted to visit so we blocked out the bad as best we could and focused on what interested us.

At this time of year when planes, trains, and automobiles are commonly the center of activity, they were also a big part of our lives, but in a different way.

Automobiles – Yes, this is out of order but just go with it. This way the analogy works better!

Being on the road for several months now we’ve seen our share of crazies behind the wheel, but the near constant sound of sirens, actually driving by several wrecks, and watching the local news, tells the tale of a town full of people that maybe shouldn’t be driving. And those who are familiar with Tami’s scanner addiction will be pleased to know that she found the local police scanner report which even furthered our belief that this is a rough area.

Planes

First off, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is within the city limits, and only a few miles from where we stayed.  This offered an air-show like environment for a couple hours per day – most days.  Military jets flew in formation around the area doing their touch-and-go practice, and military helicopters could be seen patrolling the surrounding region.

Across from the AFB is the Pima Air and Space Museum.  This, in my opinion, is much better than the Museum of Flight in Seattle.  Hundreds of air-craft are on display, as well as simulators used for teaching pilots and astronauts – including one used for the space shuttle.  Many of the aircraft on display were actually used in battle and their list of missions is shown.  We spent several hours browsing the hangers and outdoor exhibits playing to my boyhood fantasies of going supersonic.  Tami enjoyed the more personal aspects of the displays with stories of the young pilots and gunners, many of whom lost their lives fighting for our country.

Trains

If the sound of jets flying over and sirens going by at all hours aren’t enough, then Tucson has one more surprise in store.  Trains!  Not just trains, but the ‘whistles’ (more like horns) that are blown numerous times as they make their way through town.  I’m guessing they have to do this because the drivers aren’t smart enough to get out of the way here …this based on slightly more evidence than pure conjecture.

Surrounding Area

A must-see of the Tucson surroundings is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  We could have spent an entire day here, but we jammed it into a few hours.  This ‘museum’ is a an extremely well-done combination of live animal exhibits, desert flora or botanical gardens, and static displays in a 21 acre setting in the Tucson Mountains. Our last stop inside the museum was the hummingbird aviary that at first seems empty, but sit and watch for a while and you’ll notice these little guys in the dense trees, and sometimes buzzing over your head to land on the feeders. Some of most colorful hummingbirds I’ve ever seen are living here.

Just down the road is Old Tucson, which unfortunately is now closed to the public due to COVID.  Old Tucson was the set for hundreds of western movies over the years, including a couple of our favorites:  Young Guns 2 and Tombstone.  I would have loved to tour – but had to see it from afar.

Not expecting to see snow in Arizona, a winter storm passed through adding a little moisture to Tucson and a pretty good batch of the white stuff to the northern mountain range.  Not sure if it did actually snow, but hoping so, we headed to Mt Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains, named for the first non-native American woman to make the summit (not the fruit).  I imagine our adventure in the Jeep was much easier than hers was, but we sure enjoyed the views nonetheless.  The pups got to play in the snow a bit as well.  

New Mexico

After Tucson we spent a few days in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  From the map I thought Las Cruces (The Crosses) was a very small town, but turns out it’s the second largest city in NM behind Albuquerque.  The Rio Grande flows through the west side of town, and it sits about an hour north of El Paso, TX.  Just south of our park was Old Mesilla, a remnant of 1800’s New Mexico with tiny little alley-way streets and colorful adobe buildings.  Also – it has a chocolate factory and a distillery.  Score!  

From the Chocolate Lady we loaded up with some delectables, my favorites were the turtles made with local pecans and chocolate covered Ritz (rest assured I only ate one Rit at a time … Kyle).  At Dry Point Distillery we tasted (and came home with) their Blue Corn Bourbon, a 98% Rye Whiskey, and a barrel aged gin rich with anise and floral notes.  I loved their tag line – “From Farm to Liver”.

The Martini

I’ll end with funny little story from Tucson.  On one of our last night’s there we decided to go out to eat and looked around for some good local cuisine.  Nothing in our area stood out as particularly enticing, so a local sports bar that had a few decent reviews was our choice.  Famous Sam’s sign advertised: “Soup of the day, Beer”.  Sounds great!  Although beer must be the only drink they know.  Tami ordered a red wine and they didn’t have that, so a vodka martini was next on the list.  The waitress came back a while later and asked if a dirty martini was OK, and as that’s how we both like them – Yes, great!  When she came back with the drink I took one look and knew something was wrong based on the fact it was far from clear.  I tasted before Tami did and it was quite obvious it was about 99% olive juice.  If you like to drink salt- this drink is for you, but I think for most people, not so much.  I told the waitress it probably wasn’t drinkable, so she asked us:  “What’s in a martini”? and at that point we wondered if we should cut our losses and go back home. I’m not sure what Famous Sam’s is actually famous for, but apparently it’s not their bartending.   Luckily they didn’t ask what was in a burger and the food turned out to be pretty good.

Merry Christmas!

We want to thank y’all for following along on our adventures so far.  Can you tell we’re in Texas now?  Reflecting on this holiday I think back on how my parents instilled in me that Christmas is about family (much like Clark Griswold). Of course I always loved opening presents, but Christmas Eve we sat together and listened to the old classic carols, had crab fondue or some lengthy meal, sipped egg nog, and for several years we even made our own cards forcing us to think about what our family members meant to us. As we’re not home this year we’re happy to see the kids carrying on the tradition, and we’re making the fondue in the MoHo. Several years ago our good friends brought us into their tradition and since then we’ve always spent Christmas Eve there with our ‘extended family’. I know we’ll do that again and we really miss you guys! For now, we hope you all have the time to slow down enough to enjoy these days with your friends, family, pets, or whatever your traditions may be. We sincerely wish you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!