Desert Trails RV Park, Tucson, AZ

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in one place for over two weeks!  We checked into Desert Trails RV Park on the 13^th of November and are planning to stay here through the 13^th of January.  We weren’t sure at first if this would be a place we’d enjoy.  There isn’t’ much space between you and your neighbor and the lots are all gravel.  We met the neighbors behind us the first day.  They are avid mountain bikers.  The first thing they asked us is how long we would be staying.  We told them through mid-January.  They asked where we are going next.  When we told them we would be in Casa Grande, they were surprised.  Over the first few days here, we found that most people would be here for 4-6 months.

 

The park is southeast of the Tucson city limits and snuggled up to one of two Saguaro national parks.  Hiking/biking trails begin at the edge of the park.  Also, it is very quiet at night and we can hear owls calling to each other and coyotes howling.  There is also a creature here that is new to us.  They are called Javelinas and typically like to go through the park at night scavenging for anything they can pillage like, garbage, flowers, etc.  We haven’t seen them yet, but both our neighbors have seen them roving through the park at night.  We’ve been told they have very sharp teeth and when threatened will bite.  Another thing we’ve learned about the wildlife is to scout the perimeter of the dog run for rattlers.  A resident of the park said it would cost around $1,500 to have a dog treated for rattle snake bite.  Yikes!.  Needless to say, we are careful to keep an eye out for both these creatures when taking Bear out.

Shootout at Old Tucson



You can see that I misbehaved at Old Tucson

On Saturday the 21st, we went to the biggest tourist trap around call “Old Tucson Studios”.  Over 300 old westerns were filmed there by the likes of John Wayne, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood.  We watched some stunt actors explain how the original stunts were performed by the actors, a sheriff explained how he handled the bad guys and a judge explain how justice was handled in the early days of the West.  All in all, it was a one-time fun event.



Mission San Zavier del Bac

We also visited Mission San Zavier del Bac. See San Xavier del Bac Mission .  This is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona.  It is currently being renovated but still holds mass everyday in the morning and early evening.

We finally found a couple breweries in Tucson and it wasn’t an easy task.  “Ten 55” is a very small nano-brewery nestled in an industrial area.  They strictly brew beer (i.e. no food) but the brews are pretty good (see http://1055brewing.com/). We also found Barrio Brewing (http://barriobrewing.com/).  They have good food but are a bit snobbish about their ho-hum beers.  We brought our Ten Barrel growler along in case we wanted to get some fresh brew and the bartender said they have a policy that they don’t fill growlers other than their own.  Ooooo.  I thought that’s like biting the hand that feeds you. However he did “make an exception” for us since we’re from Bend.  We purchased a growler of their IPA.

Katherine and Mike and Ten 55

Last night was karaoke in the event hall.  I’m a bit shy when it comes to singing in front of people (although some of my Bend Research buddies might argue with that).  But, yours truly got up and sang 5 songs, two were duets with my recently made buddy (i.e. meaning last night on the stage), Nancy.  It didn’t matter how badly you sound, almost everyone who came took a turn.  It was hilarious fun!

Another Tucson, AZ Sunset

The weather today is supposed to be sunny and 76 degrees.  Guess I’ll be playing bocce ball with shorts and flip flops.

Tucson trivia:  An Irishman, Don Hugo O’Connor, founded the Spanish city of Tucson. He was an Irish expatriate hired by the Spanish Empire to upgrade frontier defenses against Apache raids and Pima discontent. He visited Tucson in August, 1775, and seeing that it was a strategic location, ordered that it become the Spanish military presidio.