Tucson

In mid-October Cindy and I found ourselves with a chance to spend a few days visiting Tucson, Arizona.   We were flying into Phoenix anyway (to visit my brother Dick and his wife Sandi in Sedona) we decided to extend the trip forward a few days to check out Tucson.  It’s an easy 90 minute drive to the southeast from PHX assuming light traffic on I-10.  We’ve “visited” Tucson a number of times over the years via various TV programs and thought that it looked like someplace we might enjoy, especially in the fall when the temperatures in this sometimes blistering desert landscape would be much cooler for hiking and other exploration.

Cindy found is a great VRBO rental for our three night stay – it was a small standalone casita on a large multi-acre estate in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains, just outside of Saguaro National Park.  The owners were very accommodating- they more-or-less just checked us in, advised us about rattlesnakes/scorpions, and then left us alone for the rest of our visit.  They also pointed us to a great “locals only” kind of Mexican restaurant down closer to town where we picked up a bulk order of homemade cheese enchiladas and flour tortillas that we enjoyed for various meals!

Since this was our first visit to the area we tried to check out as many of the sights as we could in the short time that we had.  This meant two different outings on both Friday and Saturday plus a bonus hike on Sunday morning, the same day that we traveled up to Sedona for the next part of this adventure.  We also managed to go check out a couple of Airstreams at a local RV dealer – they’re sometimes hard to find on the East Coast so this was a great chance for us to compare a Classic and a Flying Cloud back-to-back without having to drive any real distance.