Southwest took us to the South West

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Southwest took us to the South West. An early flight from Atlanta took us to Phoenix Arizona where the temperature was 102 degrees. Where is Fall? According to the radio, only two more days of the 100 plus temps. That is two days too late.

Morning had just arrived in Phoenix when we landed thanks to the time travel side effects of flying east to west. We were both ready for lunch even though it was 8am. Since it was too early for lunch we headed on to our first stop after obtaining our rental car - Casa Grande Ruins. The ruins that remained were unique and it is hard to comprehend how they were able to create such dwellings so long ago. The structures were built around 1350 by the Sonoran Desert people and abandoned in 1450. We will see more ruins and dwellings later in the trip so this was just a little taste of what was to come.

We left the ruins and went into the small town of Coolidge. We stopped at Tag’s Diner for lunch. It was then 10:30 so we thought it was ok to find something to satisfy our lunch craving. We both had Tag’s burger while everyone else in there was enjoying a breakfast. It was a cheap diner burger, but it was filling.

We then headed toward Saguaro National Park. That park is split into 2 sections that bookends the city of Tucson. We visited the West side first. A Saguaro is a cactus. The cactus we have all seen in movies and ads. It is about the height of a person and will grow arms about 2/3 of the way up. Not knowing much about this area I started asking myself why a park was created for this cactus. I can understand a national forest, a National monument, or something similar, but a national park? We were about to find out.

The cactus trees started to appear before we reached the park. Just sporadically about, on the sides of the road, in open pastures, etc. The area to access the park is off the beaten path. Not much traffic, pretty bare from any buildings and the roads were like a mini roller coaster - the kind designed for children. They had large dips in them every few feet. Just enough to make your stomach drop. Over and over. After a few dozen stomach drops, we arrived at the parks visitor center.

It was at the visitor that the reason for the park became clear to me. The Saguaro tree only grows in this region and the trees are old. Very old. The tree is around 75 years old before it starts growing arms. Most of them have multiple arms and some of these trees had dozens of arms so I can only imagine how long they have been there. Further in the park are groves of the Saguaro trees making it THE area for the unique cactus tree. One of the park staff gave us some suggestions for areas to see, things to do. So we grabbed a map and drove through the park.

We saw more cacti and Saguaro than you can imagine. Some were in bloom which added to their unique look. I carefully touched a few of the spikes on some and they were very sturdy, and dangerously pointed. So glad we did not ‘fall’ on any and have to get someone to pull the spikes out - like in the old movies. But you can tell they definitely would hurt. We saw many warning signs regarding snakes in the area but was so happy to not see any. I love wildlife but not the kind in these parts. We continued around the scenic loop we had started and made our way to the picnic area. It was there that petroglyphs were on many of the rocks and it was so cool to see. It was a short hot hike to view them but it was definitely worth it.

After the Saguaro National Park, we drove a few miles to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I had read it was a great place to visit and see many of the animals of the desert. It was a very well laid out museum with much thought put into it. It was more like a zoo for there were live animals throughout along with the flora of the region. We walked through the exhibits despite 100 degree temps and admire a few of the animals. However the mountain lion and bear refused to come out of their den. I can’t blame them as the temperature was so hot. But I felt like asking for a partial refund of my entry fee for I was gypped of the full experience. But I did not.

We made it back to the highway and went to the other side of Tucson to see the Rincon district of the Saguaro Park. It too had many Saguaros but not as many as the west and the trees were not as old based on the arms of the trees. We did see a few new types of cactus and drove the scenic loop through that side. We then were ready to find our hotel.

The route to the hotel took us by the aircraft boneyard. That was on our list of things to see, so we were pleased that route went right by it. The boneyard was huge and seeing all of the planes was a sight like none other. We did not opt for the actual tour of the facility, for that required advanced security clearance, so we just admired from afar. Which was not easy as the road was lower than the boneyard and it was very protected. We found our hotel and then grabbed an early dinner. Early for locals, but not for us as we still had not adjusted to the local time zone. We opted to go to Salsa Verde which was close to our hotel. Since it was early for dinner, no one was in there except us. After getting the rundown of their menu, we ordered a chimichanga plate and nachos. The portions were huge! They also had a salsa bar so we were able to try different ones, at least I did. The food was good and we were happy to call it a day, so back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

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