Tucson, Arizona - IV

February 1 - March 1, 2009

Voyager RV Resort, Tucson, Arizona

You remember what the Jeep looks like...bikes on the back, kayaks on the top, paddles and lifevests as well as golf clubs and shoes inside. Well, for convenience's sake, we don't take the kayaks off unless we're using them. I can't tell you how many "looks" and comments we get on the yaks here in Tucson, where there is NO WATER!!

We sure haven't run out of things to do here!

We visited the Desert Museum Monday. (Jodie suggested we might want to visit the Winter Wonderland Snow Museum in Laconia, New Hampshire...too bad it's too far for a day trip!)

It's called a museum, but you will find it is really part zoo, part museum and part botanical garden with almost 2 miles of nature trails through 21 acres of (some would call) beautiful desert.

I have to say, the cacti are beginning to bloom... spring is coming...and they are beautiful. Again, I think we're a little off-season in our time here. I think it will be quite breathtaking in another month.

The Museum displays animals and plants native to the Sonoran Desert region, encompassing parts of Arizona and California as well as the Mexican "states" of Sonora, Baja and the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California).

The zoo "cages" are all very natural and the animals are in their own environment. However, like all other zoos, the animals are caged and therefore, not free to live a natural life. We know that this offers scientists the means to study these animals, but it is still sad.

Who do we meet up with but our neighbors, Jean and Jim. You met them last blog. Here we are in the "Hummingbird Aviary. Jean and Jim, as I said, are from El Dorado, Kansas. They are cattle barons, vineyard owners and winemakers, golfers and very fun people. We enjoyed late afternoon glasses of wine and a couple of dinners while we were here at the Voyager together.

We've already made plans to meet up with them in two years when we do our winter trip to Texas. We're taking them up on visiting one of their favorite resorts, Lajitas near the Big Bend National Park. See you then, Jim and Jean!!!

Tuesday we went to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, just north of Tucson, to watch the second practice round of the Accenture Match Play Championship with the hopes of seeing Tiger Woods in this return to golf after almost one year. We weren't disappointed.

We watched Tiger on the 18th hole...didn't play it very well, but this was only practice!! It was great seeing him. Both he and Stevie look a lot thinner than they do on TV. (Maybe I should get a TV show!)

The course just opened a couple of months ago and it is absolutely gorgeous.

Wednesday Ken and I were to play golf again at Arizona National Golf Course. The day was sunny and very, very hot...not my idea of great golf weather. So, we asked Jim to take my place. While they were gone, I sat in the nice air conditioned motorhome doing laundry and watching the Match Play, recognizing holes and places shown on TV. It's fun to say "I was there". Then, as soon as golf was over, the first Red Sox spring training game was on. What a wonderful day!!

We finally got over to Saguaro National Park for a desert hike. The saguaro cactus is only found in the Sonoran Desert which covers extreme southeastern California, southern Arizona and adjoining northwestern Mexico. Saguaros begin to grow arms at about 65 to 75 years of age and a mature saguaro is considered to be at least 125 years of age with an average life span of 150 to 175 years of age.

Here we have five "youngsters" surrounded by prickly pear cacti.

This older saguaro doesn't seem to know which was is up!

And this one is called "Mr. Perfect".

Saguaros are cactus that are also considered to be trees...their inner shell is actually wood.

And this is the teddy bear or jumping cholla (choy-a), just like the one that "jumped" at me on the golf course and stuck!! I couldn't just grab it and pull it out. I had to pull the "prickers" off and then grab the bulb and then pull the rest of the "prickers" out of me.

Last night we sat outside for awhile and what a view we had of Venus sitting next to the moon!

Does it look the same on the east coast?

We leave Tucson heading for Verde Valley near Sedona for a week. We have really enjoyed our stay here and hope we can make it back here again someday.