Tucson Feb 2013

1. Anchorage – Tucson
   January 27^th – February 20^th
   
   
   We left Anchorage early morning on January 27^th and flew to Seattle and changed planes and onto Tucson where our friends Lyle and Rose met us at the airport and drove us to their home in Green Valley about 30 miles south of Tucson. We had stored our truck and trailer in the Green Valley area. It was nice to see our rig again and the truck started up instantly after been stored for a couple of months which is also a nice feeling.
   We stayed with Lyle and Rose a couple of nights and then drove into Tucson to Rincon Country West Campground. We had stayed here last year for 5 nights and really enjoyed the camp. It is a large campground with about 1000 sites and has both park models and RVs here. We had made reservations to stay here a month. The 1^st week we were here we were both laid up with a nasty cold, that really slowed us down. We did manage to reassemble our folding bikes which fit into suitcases. The 2^nd bike assembled much faster than the 1^st one we put together as we found a few shortcuts. The campground backs up to a dry wash which joins the Santa Cruz River, also dry. There is a lovely paved trail on either side of the river, where we have gone for several bike rides.
   There is a lot happening in Tucson and the Gem and Mineral show is one of the big attractions here during February. It is held in several locations in Tucson so we enjoyed the 3 or 4 venues that we visited; there are many more venues that we didn’t go to. The scope of rocks and gems and fossils at each of the venues was overwhelming.
   We went for a hike in Sabino Canyon with Luci and Jim, some Anchorage friends who have a home in Tucson. We went on a tour of Biosphere 2, a giant green house which is managed for study and experimental purposes by the University of Arizona. When it was 1^st built it was occupied by 12 scientists for a period of 2 years, the goal was to live on the food grown in the Biosphere.
   One of our favorite places in Tucson is The Desert Museum, a museum of the animals, birds and plants that live in the Sonora desert. One of the many highlights is the demonstration of the birds in free flight.
   There are several activities at the campground that we participate in, each morning at 7:15 there is an 30 minute stretch class that we go to, followed by a 45 minute aerobics class. I try my luck playing in a pool tournament on a Thursday. There is also a nice heated swimming pool we like to frequent regularity. There are 3 jacuzzi pools that we spend time in. There are many activities available here, like Saturday there was a very large quilt show. Every Wednesday there is a farmers market.
   Since we have been in Tucson the weather has been unusually for this time of the year--we had about 3 mornings in a row of below freezing temperatures and today we had snow here.   

 

Sabino Canyon

 

 

 

 

 

Down Town Tucson

Gem and Mineral Show