Day 20, Thursday January 28

Today was a golf day (for Dave).  I'd planned to go, but a few nights of restless sleep caught up with me and I decided my patience level wasn't up to golf.  He played a course in Marana called Quarry Pines.  It is a combination of the original The Links at Continental Ranch course (front 9) and the later addition of a back 9 in an adjacent sand and gravel quarry.  The reclamation of quarries by the construction of golf courses has become increasingly popular due to more efficient use of water resources due to the water run off from the slopes, reclamation of unsightly real estate, and the ability to offer golfers dramatic elevation changes.  This is Tucson's first quarry course and Dave really enjoyed it.

I had originally planned to spend the day taking a walk, reading a book and talking to the cat.  I kept looking at the nice sunny warm day and the dirty carpets and the opportunity to open all the windows and actually dry the carpet in one day (can't do that at home), and decided "this shouldn't take very long".....huh!  3 hours later my back was telling me I'm too old to be on my hands and knees for that long. 

I must say the carpets look really good and it's the kind of work where it's worth it when you can see an immediate reward (unfortunately, the chores follow you from home, but at least they're on a smaller scale). 

Day 21, Friday January 29

Today was a chore day for Dave.  We'd been accumulating a list of little things that needed attention and today was the day to tackle some of them:  drip under the kitchen sink, replace sweeper on shower door, inspect roof fans for issues, reorganize storage, etc.  

I went grocery shopping at a nearby store called Food City.  It looked pretty innocuous - in a major new shopping center with Target, Home Depot, Marshalls.  It turned out to be a Hispanic grocery.  I didn't recognize a lot of what was in the store.  The produce was beautifully displayed, but I didn't know what some of it was.  It had it's own tortilla bakery.  Much of the food was sold in bulk.  The meat department had chicken feet and an assortment of items I didn't recognize.  I got most of what I needed, but couldn't find any yogurt.  The beer was primarily sold in 12 or 24 packs and was mostly Coors, Miller, Bud (the usual domestic generic beers).  The wine was under lock and key (fortunately, I'd already done my wine shopping at Target).  All in all, it was an interesting visit.


Day 22, Saturday January 30


Dave went for a morning hike up Sentinel Peak.  The peak has an "A" inscribed on it that was constructed in the 1910s by University of Arizona students using basalt rock.  The "A" is 160-ft tall and gives the mountain it's name:  "A" Mountain.  The peak is part of a 272-acre park, the largest natural resource park in the city of Tucson.

 

Saturday afternoon, we took a leisurely drive to Saddlebrook Ranch to visit our friends John and Jamie Calhoun.  They used to be our neighbors at Trilogy and some of the first friends we met when we moved there.  They had a house built on a corner lot that has views of the desert and the Santa Catalina Mountains.  The house is beautiful, decorated Southwest style with a large patio surrounded by 2 outdoor fireplaces.  Jamie, being a Master Gardener, has landscaped the garden with a variety of beautiful desert plants, cactus and trees (of course, I forgot to take pictures again).  We visited over wine, took a tour of their Clubhouse and then went to Cayton's Burger Bistro at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain (Ritz Carlton) for dinner.  We had intended to sit outside on the patio, but it was too cold and windy.  Great dinner and conversation but unfortunately, too short a time.

Day 23, Sunday January 31


Today was spent at the Arizona Desert Museum.  What a fantastic place!  It's a Zoo, Botanical Garden, Natural History Museum, Art Gallery and Aquarium on 21 acres.  It is a series of paths that wander through desert vegetation and native animal habitats.  We sat in on a lecture about the Gila Monster and the Rattlesnake as well as a Raptor Free Flight demonstration of Harris's Hawk.  The birds fly completely untethered over the open desert.   Arizona is one of the only states where Harris's Hawk can be found in the wild.  They are the only raptor species in the world that hunt as a family using strategy like wolves.  It was fascinating!  Hard to get photos.  They were so fast.  We spent about 6 hours at the museum and didn't have time to see everything.

Day 24, Monday February 1

Sunday night we had a ferocious wind storm.  The winds began in the afternoon and progressively increased throughout the day.  The prediction was strong 30mph with gusts 40-60mph!  We were hoping that because we were tucked between other RVs, we wouldn't feel it too bad.....but we did.  Neither of us got much sleep that night.  Don't think we had 60mph winds, but it sure felt like 30-40mph.  The coach rocked, rolled, creaked and groaned all night.  The heavy rain began a little after midnight, so more noise.  At least they don't have huge trees that come down in wind storms like at home, but there was plenty of palm debris on the roads and some roads were closed with flooding.  There didn't appear to be any power outages either.  The winds lightened some Monday, but it was still pretty gusty and cloudy.

Another day of exploring.  the Saguaro National Park is divided into 2 districts:  one east of Tucson (Rincon Mountain District) and one west of Tucson (Tucson Mountain District).  While they are both set aside to protect the Saguaro cacti, we found they are totally different experiences.  We've been to the Saguaro National Park west of Tucson, but not the park east of Tucson.....so off we go.  It's a totally different driving experience in this park.  The park on the west of Tucson is a multi-lane drive through the Saguaro Forest, but also through residential developments.  The park on the east is a one-way 8-mile circular drive through nothing but cactus.  Both districts offer interpretive centers, viewing areas, picnic spots and hiking trails.  The day was cloudy, cold and spitting rain, so we didn't take advantage of much but the interpretive center.  

The Saguaros grow very slowly, mostly in spurts in the summer rainy season.  After 15 years it may be barely 12 inches tall.  At about 30 years it begins to flower and produce fruit.  By 50 years the Saguaro can be as tall as 7 feet.  After 75 years it may sprout its first branches, or arms.  Saguaros that live 150 years or more are the grandest of sizes, towering 50 feet and weighing 16,00 pounds or more.  They are quite magnificent.