As our stay in Tucson winds down, this post covers a few nice walks in the desert, an otter-copter, a night out in the downtown district, a mission renovation that’s finally complete, and another beautiful sunset.

Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit Return to the Red Rocks 2024.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

While most of our Tucson outings have been relatively close to home, today we ventured out a little further. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum was about an hour away, but there were several other things we could see and do between here and there.

This museum has been on my list for years, but when a friend suggested the Raptor Demonstration, we decided to make a day of it. Unfortunately we missed the raptor’s 10am showtime, but enjoyed everything else there on this gorgeous day. Now the raptor demonstration will give us a good reason to return on our next Tucson visit.

If just watching the raptors isn’t enough, Avian Adventures is available. “After a quick glove training, you will watch the majestic Eurasian Eagle Owl fly to your very own glove and experience what it is like to hold a four pound owl!” There is a hefty fee involved for that experience, but it sounds amazing!

“The Desert Museum is a fusion experience: zoo, botanical garden, art gallery & classes, natural history museum, and aquarium.”

Riparian Corridor

This lively river otter was going nowhere fast, but certainly provided lots of entertainment! Turn up the volume to hear a young boy’s excitement at the otter’s speed and agility, and with coming up with its new name – the otter-copter!

“This exhibit is a burbling, shady respite near the middle of the Desert Museum grounds. It serves as a reminder that a stream is one of the most precious things you can find in a desert.”

Earth Sciences Center

So many interesting areas to discover including, wait, what? A cave in the desert?

“Bright sunlight fades as you descend the gentle incline into ASDM’s utterly convincing artificial cave. A yielding wall of cool air parts to let you inside, and the blackness seems total at first, until your eyes adapt and you begin to make out the dim silhouettes of arches and side chambers. Along this passage, the mechanisms and residents of a rarely seen environment are revealed within pools of light that lead you from each display to the next. One charts the development of a limestone cave and the formation of stalagmites and stalactites, another shows the animals that frequent the twilight zones of cave entrances: bobcats, pack rats, ringtails, and barn owls.” ~ READ MORE

Desert Museum Gardens

If you’ve read many of my blogs, you know how much I love gardens (and the desert). During this time of year (mid-January) there were only a few flowers blooming, but in a couple of months the colors should start popping!

Annual wildflower blooms are almost impossible to predict, but since cactus store water, they aren’t as dependent on the rain occurring at the right time of year. They bloom nearly every year, though the wetter the better for more flowers. The biggest variety of spring-blooming cactus flower in April, with prickly pears following in early May, and saguaros showing off in mid-May to June. I guess that’s a downside of being a snowbird versus a full-timer.

Even with very few flowers, our visit was wonderful with benches to enjoy the sunshine and pergolas when we’d had enough, sculptures of creatures who reside here, and great views out over the vast desert landscape.

The Scenic Route

On our return trip, we drove through the western side of Saguaro National Park just to see it one more time, to stop at several of the most memorable overlooks, and to get a stamp in my National Parks Passport. Last trip through I left mine at home.

“West of the city of Tucson, the Tucson Mountain District is the smaller of the two sections of Saguaro National Park, which are separated by Tucson’s one million residents. As you enter Tucson Mountain Park, it starts out very steep and curvy, but levels out to a magnificent desert floor.” ~ READ MORE and see more photos from our last visit

A Stressful Dinner

The hosts at our Airbnb suggested Rocco’s Little Chicago for excellent deep dish pizza. It was quite a ways away, but luckily on our way home today! Let me start by saying that the pizza was really amazing and we had plenty left over for dinner tomorrow night. We would definitely come back here – even though this time was, well, nerve-wracking!

We could have taken a table outside, but no! It had started to cool off, so we sat inside. We were two tables from two screaming babies which the parents just couldn’t make happy. The volume in the restaurant started to increase to compensate for the screaming babies. The babies may have been screaming because of the headbanger music that was blaring over the speakers (which they may have turned up to drown out the screaming babies).

The phones were ringing, a car alarm was going off. AND the sun was setting directly in the gap between the patio roof and the buildings to one side. I was blinded and my head was ready to explode! When we sat down I didn’t order a drink, which was my first big mistake, really big, HUGE! When we left we sat in silence for the first ten minutes.

“A Taste of the Windy City. Rocco’s Little Chicago has been serving up Authentic Chicago-Style Stuffed Pizza in Tucson since 1998. Our buttery crust is filled with quality and tasty ingredients to create a pizza marvel. Everything at Rocco’s is Made Fresh Daily using only the finest ingredients.”

I’m sure the screaming babies have left by now, so be sure to stop by! It really was delicious!

Next Day

The next day we took a few short hikes back at SNP east, to wear off the pizza and make room for more! Several gin and tonics and a great sunset in the pergola rounded out another glorious day in the desert.

Lazy Day, Great Night Out

Parking can be tricky in the Downtown District sometimes, but we found a spot that was in-between our dinner/brewery spot and our entertainment for the evening. We enjoyed Borderlands Brewing two times on our last visit here – once just for beers and once for awesome tacos from their food truck (and beers). Of course last time we were about five minutes away from home and tonight we’re about thirty. Tonight we returned for awesome tacos (and beers) before our Evening with Marc Cohn at Fox Tucson Theatre. It was a great evening and the Fox was a fabulous venue!

“We make memories. We make connections. We make Tucson proud. We enliven Tucson, fostering community growth and connections by shaping exceptional, live arts experiences in a celebrated setting.” ~ READ MORE

A Return to the Mission

Today we made the ninety-minute round trip to see Mission San Xavier Del Bac… again. Known as the “white dove in the desert,” this place is amazing! I have been here several times over the years, but I think on every visit there was a project in the works. Two years ago the entire right-hand white tower was shrouded in scaffolding and plastic, and inside the sanctuary was roped off. It was a pleasant surprise today to see no signs of construction!

Today I got a great distant photo of most of the buildings that make up this beautiful complex. I don’t remember seeing the design in the gravel in front of the buildings last time, but most times there are more visitors milling around. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen fewer people here, so it was quite a treat.

Click on this link to see some pictures from our last visit, as well as some history of this place and its founder in 1692. Although there’s clearly construction going on in those pictures, the clouds and rain gave this beautiful place an ominous (almost spooky) feel that I just love.

“The great news is that the renovation has largely returned the church, considered the finest example of Spanish mission architecture in the United States, to its original splendor, with beautiful white walls that call to you on the drive up and colorful murals inside reflecting the collision of culture and traditions that has happened here for centuries. Whether you take one of the free docent-led tours or simply walk around the grounds by yourself, once you enter the giant carved doors of San Xavier, you’ll understand why this place is so special to the Tohono O’odham Nation, Tucsonans in general, and is such a wildly popular destination for visitors.” ~ READ MORE

Another Great Stop

The READ MORE link just above also calls out Tumacácori National Historic Park, which is also fantastic! We stopped there on our last trip to Arizona and you can see photos near the bottom of my post entitled The Wild West.

We ❤️ Tucson!

After our outing today, we finished packing up for our departure in the morning. Florence and Phoenix here we come!

Next up: At Home in Phoenix

Happy trails,
Barb