Tucson Feb 20th - March 16th

Tucson – Rincon County West RV Resort

February 20^th_ March 16^th

We really enjoyed the time we have spent at this campground and the weather north of here did not look favorable to travel so we decided to stay here until March 16^th before starting our journey north. There always seems to be plenty to do at this camp, the management had a customer appreciation day picnic, where they served 1000 people in 45 minutes. It seems like a lot of people at this camp, but we have never felt that it was crowded. We also enjoyed a couple of potluck get togethers that our neighbors in the camp have every so often. There is a drama group here that put on a play that we went to. There was an arts fair that the people who live here put on, a group of singers were performing the night we left, and there were many other activities that were on going.

We visited a few more of the sites to visit in Tucson including The Mirror Laboratory where the mirrors for the large telescopes are built and polished. The maximum size that they can build a mirror is 28ft wide and that is due to width of the highways.

 We went back to the Sabino Canyon, but rather than walking into the Canyon we took the tram to the end station and went for a hike from there. The tram pretty much follows the river up the Canyon where we got off and enjoyed the flowing river.

We also went to the San Xavier Mission which is about 5 miles from the campground along the Santa Cruz River Valley. Very interesting and well maintained structure.

We also had a fun day at the Old Tucson Movie studies, where many Western Movies were made. We saw reenactment of 3 different gun fights and were shown how the stunts were done to perform these fights. There was lots of fun and historic stuff to enjoy at the studio.

We went for several bikes rides along the river wash, which has a lovely trail on both sides of the wash. The Santa Cruz wash was dry at this time of the year.

While at the campground we had some friends from Anchorage who visited us for a couple of days. Brook and Susan are doing similar to what we are doing traveling and spending time in a sunnier climate than Anchorage is at this time of the year.

The last evening we were at the camp we were in the swimming pool soaking up another beautiful Tucson sunset. We found a real comfort zone at this his camp, but we have to move on.

Mirror Lab

San Xavier Mission

San Xavier Mission

San Xavier Mission

 Sabino Canyon Tram

 Sabino Canyon

 Sabino Canyon

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio (stunt)

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio 

Old Tucson Studio Stunt Team

Old Tucson Studio

Old Tucson Studio Street

Old Tucson Studio

Rincon Customer Appreciation Day

Desert Museum Tucson 7th March

Here are some of photos I took at the Desert Museum In Tucson

Owl and  Handler

Javallina

Red Fox

Bob Cats

Bob Cats

Big Horn Sheep

Codi

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