Well we arrived in Tucson yesterday evening fully expecting to be living in luxury for our stay here. We’re camping at Tucson Mountain Park, which is just south of Saguaro National Park (the national park doesn’t have any campgrounds), which unlike all our other stops, has electric hookups. We thought we would be able to watch TV while we were here but much to our dismay, all our antenna was able to pick up was six channels of Telemundo in various stages of static. So we decided we would rather enjoy the peacefulness of the Arizona desert than watch Spanish soap operas all evening.
This morning we woke up bright and early and after a quick visit to the Saguaro National Park visitor center, we headed out on Bajada Loop Drive. This is a 9-mile gravel loop that goes through the densest area of saguaros. After standing next to these big giants, you really appreciate the size of them- they can grow up to 50 feet tall, but few ever make it that big before dying. It’s also cool to see them in various stages of growth; they start out as little round nubs on the desert floor, grow vertically, and then grow arms only after years of vertical growth. The desert landscape is absolutely beautiful! It looks like it’s been landscaped; there is no grass but there are so many varieties of cacti and other water-conserving plants that sprinkle the desert floor. We took a short hike off the road that led us through the desert to a panoramic view of the Tucson valley below. Next we took a short hike up to Signal Hill, where Hohokam Indians drew petroglyphs on the rocks thousands of years ago.
After eating some excellent BLT sandwiches made by Chef Jack at a picnic lunch in the desert, we quickly fell into a food coma. We decided to spend a lazy afternoon reading, napping, and working on our tans under the hot Arizona sun. After recovering, we drove up to Gates Pass for sunset, which is a mountain pass overlooking Tucson and the national park. We were hoping for the perfect sunset picture of a saguaro silhouette in the sunset, but our photography skills continue to be substandard...luckily, we have 37 more days to perfect our skills!
In the morning, we’ll be California bound!
With Love,
Jack & Megan
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