Arizona Desert Museum

This is a worthwhile trip if you spend any time in Tuscon. We enjoyed the big cats and the best rapture show we have ever seen.

Gates Motel

OK it is not a motel but it is a little picnic shack on the top of Gates Pass. We are on the far side of the Saguaro National Park west of Tuscon, the Gates Pass is the beautiful drive over the mountains into the park. As we drove through the park last evening we saw a coyote walking along the road. We hear them every night but this was the first time we actually saw a live coyote.

The Saguaro NP is beautiful with easy walking trails, winding roads, petroglyphs and the Arizona Desert Museum which is as much a zoo as it is a museum.

Tuscon retreat

We had a wonderful time hiking around Catalina State Park, Pima Canyon and Ramero Ruins. Best of all was the evening in Saddle Brooke at the home of Jim and Marilyn E... Our hosts took us for a tour of the community, Marilyn served up a fantastic meal and the conversation was light and refreshing. Our hosts home was decorated in an easy comfortable style with beautiful art everywhere. The communities facilities were unbelievable, unlike anything we have seen! Plus, Jim and Marilyn gave us some great information on what to see in the area which lead to some of the nicest hikes we have enjoyed so far.

Today we moved across the mountains to a nice little campground near the Saguaro National Park and will spend a week exploring the surrounding area. Tomorrow we head for the Gates Pass scenic drive and Sonora Desert Museum. We are very happy that we stayed to the south as Flagstaff received a record breaking 21 inches of snow last night. Our low temp's were in the 50's.

Romero hike

Today we hiked the Romero Canyon and pools hike, a beautiful 2.8 mile up the mountains behind the campground, and 2.8 miles down. We had a perfect day with cool but sunny weather. We found a few local creatures including this little lizard and a small snake I could not photograph. After the 4+ hour hike we were eating dinner and heard Wile E Cayote in the wash behind our rig. Yet to see them but you sure know when they are around with barking and howling that gets the campground dogs joining in.

Meep Meep

We've moved to Tuscon. Our home for this week is Catalina State Park. This is a great area for hiking and Tig has already had a nice long walk. We hope to connect with family in the area.

We saw the road runner in the park as we went for our first walk, wonder if we'll hear the Wile E Coyote tonight, there is a full moon tonight.