MON., JAN 23, 2023 thru FEB., 3rd, 2023
On Monday we arrived at Catalina State Park, which sits at the base of the snow-capped Santa Catalina Mountains on the outskirts of Tucson. We had a smooth travel day. Although there was some cause for concern as we were handed a note when we checked in saying that “the campground entrance road could flood without warning during periods of heavy rain and you may be stuck here for several days.” Charming! Last week campers were stuck here for an additional 4 days because the entrance/exit road was blocked by debris from rain pouring down from higher elevations. We think we’re safe as there is no rain in the forecast for the 3 nights we’re here.
This morning, Tuesday, Jan. 24th, 2023 we woke up to temps of 22 degrees! Thankfully it’s supposed to warm up. Looking forward to exploring the state park today with friends, Linda & Phil, from Massachusetts who flew in yesterday to hang with us. They’re staying at a nearby hotel and will visit family in the area as well… it may be cold but at least no snow for them!
The four of us did a hike in the park although we were thwarted a few times with standing water in the washes and had to re-route. The park is 5,500 acres with approximately 5,000 saguaro cactus. Beautiful! We even saw the beginnings of the most rare “crested saguaro,” which has a fist-like growth coming out of one of the arms of the saguaro. We met a volunteer who said it can be as rare as 1 in 50,000 saguaro. Wow. This one started about 4 years ago.
We even enjoyed a propane campfire later in the afternoon until it got too chilly, and we had to move inside. Lots of talking and lots of catching up to do!
Wednesday, Jan. 25th, 2023 the four of us visited Biosphere 2. Owned now by the University of Arizona, it’s considered one of the 50 must-see wonders of the world. Completed in 1991, it remains the world’s largest “controlled environment.” Gary & I remember when in ’91 it made national news the closing of the doors on 8 crew members (“biospherians”) for a two-year experiment of living in that closed environment.
We learned from our visit that the 8 crew people took turns cooking. All the food was grown inside their closed environment… mostly vegetarian with some meat. They had sufficient nutrition but not a lot of extra. They lost 20% of their body fat in 2 years. Each crew person had their own private space. Living area downstairs and bedroom upstairs. The library was in the top dome. It didn’t get used much because it meant climbing a very long spiral staircase. The “lung” as it’s called is in the shape of a geodesic dome. It regulates air pressure inside the dome so lung is a good name for it.
Now there are 7 biome areas including a rainforest, ocean, mangrove wetlands, savannah grassland, “fog desert” (where a fog drip supplies the majority of moisture needed for plants), agriculture, and a human habitat with living spaces, laboratories and workshops.
UofA and visiting scientists are conducting all kinds of experiments in the various habitats. One experiment is various plants, vegetation and dirt being created from volcanic ash and tested. Another is LEO (Landscape Evolution Observatory) where experiments are being done on soil and climate change. And still another on Freight Farms, which is vertical farming of lettuces etc. in a shipping container using hydroponics.
A few stats:
- There’s a 9,000 sq ft “ocean” with a coral reef and beach area.
- A 20,000 sq ft rainforest with over 100 plants.
- And they have over 100 rooms available for visiting scientists and school trips.
We enjoyed an interesting self-guided tour once we got thru the “technological sh$tshow,” as Gary put it, of getting their app to work. Three of us downloaded the Biosphere2 app on our phones, which crapped out multiple times before we got going. Finally four of us huddled around one phone and we were good to go. On the plus side, we did the tour at our own pace so could take all the time we needed.
Afterwards we had a “linner” at Guadalajara’s Original Grill with Linda & Phil. They made salsa at the table and had a sombrero serving as a light above each of the dining tables. So cute! And the food was delicious!
On Thursday, Jan. 26th, 2023 we had an appointment to drop our tiny home off at a trailer place in Tucson so they could check to see if there was any underlying reason for our recent tire troubles. It meant an early departure from Catalina SP. We were on the road at 7:45 AM with all the other commuters. We got to the trailer place before 9, unhitched, and headed out for breakfast and exploring downtown Tucson.
We visited the historic train station, which was refurbished to the 1947 standard by the city of Tucson in the early 2000s. Paintings still on display in the train depot were done in 1907 by noted illustrator Maynard Dixon. The train station is now home to Amtrak and a museum with statues of Wyatt Urp and Doc Holiday who spent time in nearby Tombstone. On display is a locomotive built in 1900 with 1,000,000 miles, most of which was logged in southern Arizona. The locomotive is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
We also visited Hotel Congress, established in 1919 located a short distance from the train station. They had a fire in 1934 that destroyed the third floor and led to the accidental capture of gangster John Dillinger. The hotel still has original (refurbished) guest rooms, which were off limits if you weren’t a guest, but a cool lobby that we could see. There is a historic Tap Room in the hotel with an original mural from the 1940s. And a copper penny coffee table (very large!) in the lobby area.
Across the street was the historic Rialto Theater which opened in 1920. Once again a city’s infrastructure being influenced by proximity to a railroad.
We picked up our tiny home later in the day with two new axles and new shocks. Ka-ching. Hopefully our troubles are behind us now. Then we headed to the Tucson/Lazy Days KOA to settle in for our 9-night stay.
On Friday, Jan. 27th, Gary & I visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with friends Linda & Phil. What a fabulous day! The museum has everything… an aquarium, creepy crawlies, birds (although not too many when we visited) animals and, of course, acres and acres of cactus and desert landscape. We learned that when builders are clearing a construction site and dig up a saguaro, they have to find a new home for it. The museum has a lot of “rescued” saguaros. They can’t destroy them. Additionally, it can take 70 years for saguaro cactus to grow arms…
We saw another “rare” Crested Saguaro. We keep hearing how rare they are but every botanical garden seems to have one. Although compared to how many “regular” saguaros there are, I guess they are rare. Plus we saw saguaro cacti and palm trees in the same area. It amazes me these two are found together!
We had an hour long docent tour then explored on our own for another 4 hours. We even came across a docent who gave us a scat test! We did quite well. I told him of my ongoing search for a scat app. He took my email and said he’d ask around.
The museum had large sculptures for sale all around the grounds… $9,000 to $20,000. They’re nice, but we’ll pass.
Afterwards we drove Gates Pass, which is a mountain pass with gorgeous views, dips and sharp turns (too cool!). The four of us met up with Phil’s brother and sister-in-law for dinner at Monterey Court on the patio and heard live music. The band was called Baba Marimba. They had a fabulous eclectic sound. A delightful day and evening!
Saturday was a chore day… laundry and grocery shopping! On Sunday, Jan. 29th, 2023 we visited Sabino Canyon Rec Area with friends Linda & Phil. It sits at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson. First we did the “crawler” or tram for a one-hour guided tour to the top covering 9 stops in about 4 miles. We could have gotten out at any of the 9 stops and walked down the paved path or gone off trail a bit but half the bridges that we crossed were covered with water, so feet would have gotten wet. The water flows down from Mt Lemmon approximately 25 miles away. The week prior to our visit the tram was shut down for several days because of all the bridges being flooded. On our visit we opted to take the tram back down and then hiked a 2.5 mile loop thru various terrain to the Sabino Dam. Lovely hike! As usual, our hike was a mix of several different ones. One of the rangers helped us put it together, and we didn’t get lost. A rarity!
Afterwards we all came back to our tiny home for burgers on the grill and chillin’.
The final piece (we hope) of our recent RV travel woes was to get the last 2 RV tires switched out for new ones. Gary had gone out to loosen the lug nuts over the weekend and realized one was stripped from the recent axle work. Ugh. That meant packing everything up and towing our tiny home back to the repair place on Monday morning. Thankfully they were able to replace the lug nut and stud. They even took the two wheels off so we could take them to the tire place and get the tires mounted and then when we returned, they put them on for us at the repair shop while we waited. It was almost worth hauling the rig off our campsite so Gary didn’t have to dink with it all at the campground. And no charge for their part of the work.
We got back to the campground on Monday and unhitched… again. By then it was time to sit in a comfy lounge chair in the sun and read a book. We hit the hot tub in the afternoon. Afterwards Gary picked some lemons from the neighbor’s tree, and he picked grapefruit from another tree. The grapefruits were delish! Haven’t tried the lemons yet. He’s going to make chicken piccata with them. Yum. I’ll share the grapefruits with Linda.
On Tuesday, Jan. 31st, we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson with Linda & Phil! We did a tram tour to see all the outside planes on their property and then explored all the hangers on foot. 4+ hours later we were done!
I loved all the graphics on the old planes. They were done by artists in the squadron. Typically each squadron had somebody who had a talent for art. Therefore each squadron’s “nose art” or insignias took on the style of the artist. Pretty women were a common theme.
We even saw a plane from Davis Monthan-Tucson AFB doing maneuvers while we were visiting Pima. Wow.
Some standouts from our museum visit:
- The Bumble Bee – designed and built to be the world’s smallest aircraft.
- A Hoppicopter – built to be a low cost personal flying machine during WWII. Never got picked up by the military because the landing gear was a person’s legs. One misstep and a leg could be cut to pieces by the splintered rotary blades. Not the best design.
- A Ball Turret on a B-17. These poor guys got the short end of the stick. Sitting in a cramped position from the time the plane took to the air until it returned to base. Could be 10 hours, and having to be alert the whole time to enemy fire. Also no heat or air conditioning. There was a size restriction because of the cramped quarters.
- A seaplane. The most successful flying-boat operated by the US in WWII. It was the “most produced flying boat in the world” with 3,000 being made. (I just finished an old Ken Follett book about a seaplane entitled Night Over Water. I highly recommend it.)
- A Nissen Hut – named after the British Army Officer and engineer who designed them. They could be assembled quickly and with no special skills. They housed 6 men. They were home to thousands of airmen during WWII.
On Wednesday, Feb. 1st, 2023 we had the pleasure of meeting up with friends from NH, Linda & Jim, who have a winter home in Tucson. Plus we’re still having fun with Linda & Phil. So fun to meet up with friends around the country!
Five of us headed to the Titan Missile Museum which is now a National Historic Landmark. The tour below ground illustrates the safety measures that were in place back in the mid-1960s just to enter the silo. Then walks you through what a work day would have been like for the 2 enlisted men and 2 officers on duty if the unthinkable happened, and they were ordered to launch the Titan II. Sobering.
Developed during the Cold War, the Titan II is the largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ever built by the U.S. Titan II’s primary mission was to act as a deterrent… if the Soviet Union attacked us, we would attack them (Mutually Assured Destruction). It was designed to hit a target 6,000 miles away in 35 minutes and destroy an area of 900 sq. miles. There were 54 missiles stored underground in massive concrete and steel silos in three states. Thank you Jesus none were ever launched. All of the other 53 Titan II missile sites have been destroyed as per the SALT treaty. This is the only one still in existence and turned into a museum.
While the Titan II represented “humanity’s ability to destroy itself,” it also launched the Gemini’s Program’s astronauts into orbit, sent the Viking probes to Mars, and launched Voyager into the outer solar system. So good did come from the technology, and some would argue it kept us safe from the Soviets.
An awesome tour.
Afterwards we stopped at Linda & Jim’s beautiful and comfortable home in Green Valley with its amazing mountain views. Then the six of us headed out to lunch at funky Wisdom’s in Tubac and enjoyed great Margaritas and Mexican food. Next we explored Tubac with its more than 100 art galleries showcasing artists of every kind. Amazing art on display! I bought nothing but appreciated everything. We had to say goodbye to Linda & Jim in the afternoon. Then headed back to our tiny home with Linda and Phil for Happy Hour. A fun day with friends from MA & NH. We are blessed!
On Thursday, Feb. 2nd, 2023, we visited Saguaro National Park East with Linda & Phil. The city of Tucson lies in between the East and West side of the national park. We took an 8-mile scenic drive on Cactus Forest Loop Drive and did a few hikes along the way after getting some suggestions from a volunteer and two local ladies.
Saguaros (pronounced sa-WAH-row) are only found in the Sonoran Desert from Southern Arizona and California into Northern Mexico. Feeling blessed to have seen these majestic cacti throughout our time in Arizona. We also loved the Ocotillo. They look like spine-covered dead twigs but come to life after a rainfall with dark green leaves and flowers in spring that appeal to hummingbirds.
Afterwards we came back to our tiny home for Happy Hour, leftovers for dinner, and playing a card game. It’s convenient that there’s a bar and bbq restaurant at the campground. Linda & Phil fell in love with a local beer. We were able to get it “to go” and bring it back to our tiny home. Gotta love campgrounds!
On Friday, Feb. 3rd, 2023 we headed to Agua Caliente Park in Tucson for lunch with Linda & Phil and Phil’s brother, & sister-in-law. Big thanks to Kathy & Lee for treating us to a fabulous lunch! Best sandwiches ever! Plus we stopped at Kathy & Lee’s house first so I was able to get a dog fix with their two cuties!
The park is an oasis in the desert with tons of palm trees, mesquite trees and several ponds. Sadly there was a fire caused by lightning in September and 225 palm trees were burned. 40 palm trees were removed, and experts are watching the others. An utterly charming spot!
This is our final day in Tucson before we move on to Karchner Caverns State Park tomorrow. Luckily Linda & Phil will still be with us for a few more days before they head back to MA. The four of us even managed to do a FaceTime call this evening with other mutual friends, Diane & Mike. The six of us have been friends since the early 1980’s!
