We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day. It was a little on the warm side, but that was balanced by a light breeze. After we checked out, it was off to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
Tracie and I had been there in 2003 and was probably the highlight of that trip. The museum is way out in the hills on the western side of the city, surrounded by nothing but desert and tens of thousands of saguaro cactuses. Part zoo, part natural history museum, the ASDM focus is on the Sonora Desert and out interaction with it.
The museum is laid out on various paths and trails, with the various exhibits along the way. Being a hot day, most of the animals were pretty hard to find. Tyler had fun stamping a book with footprints from all the animals in the park.
We decided to have lunch at the museum as we were heading back to Phoenix immediately. Ok, I know that you always get overcharged at these places, but $3.25 for a soda!???!? Lunch for us all came to over $35.00, not the best value for sure, but with the facility so for removed from civilization, you do not have a lot of options.
After lunch we headed for home and drove through the Saguaro National Park. Very cool drive, through windy roads, and literally a forest of cactus. And so ended our Tucson trip. We probably enjoyed this one a little better than the last. Maybe we will come down this way a little more often. I always heard Bisbee was nice, perhaps that will be our next foray into southern Arizona.
We spent the better part of the day at the Pima Air & Space Museum.
The museum is about 15 miles south of Tucson, near Davis-Motham AFB. The museum is really two parts, indoor themed displays with various interactive exhibits, and a massive outdoor static display of various aircraft. We saw most all of the indoor displays, and all the static displays that Tyler’s three year old legs would allow. Expect to take about 3 to 4 hours to see it all.
We were very impressed with the wide variety of aircraft, especially large aircraft, on display. Most museums would be proud of 1 B-52, but 3 side by side? They also had a B-17, B-29, and an SR-71. Most aircraft were available to go right up and touch, but very few were you able to actually go inside.
After lunch we decided to head back to the room. We were a little annoyed that by 3pm the room still hadn’t been cleaned! Still we took a nap (well Tracie did anyway) and then decided to do some shopping. Didn’t buy too much (for myself that is), Tracie finally got her own laptop though. With Tracie doing her Masters online, I’ve just got tired of sharing mine all the time.
Ended the day with our first ever trip to the Waffle House. I know they are raved about in the south, but there is only one that I know of in Phoenix. Well we had come across 3 or 4 in Tucson so decided to see what the fuss was about. To me it seemed a step down from a Denny’s. The staff were pleasant though, and the food was good for what it was.
Tomorrow its the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
It’s been 6 years, one dog and one kid ago, since we’ve last been to Tucson. We went for a few days and had high expectations because of what we had been told to expect there. Everyone said we would love it.
Well as I said it’s been 6 years, one dog, and one kid and we have really never felt the need to go back. Maybe that trip was doomed from high expectations, with this trip having such low ones hopefully the opposite will be true.
We stayed at the Best Western Inn and Suites at the Tucson foothills. Nothing really that special, but it was clean and quiet and recently remodeled. Could have used a few more plugs around the room, (indicative of an older facility) but the fridge and cook top was a nice touch, and as always important for me the free wifi was excellent 1.3 m/bit up 1.5 down.
Tomorrow the plan is to see the Pima Air and Space Museum.
