Tucson, AZ -Nov 21, 2007 - January 12, 2008
By the time we reached Far Horizon Tucson Village in Tucson we were ready to stop and drop for a while. We prefer to stay two to four weeks in an area and we hadn't had that luxury since July.
Tucson Village, located on Pantano Wash on the eastside of Tucson, offers a very pleasant environment with an abundance of quail and doves. The park is well maintained and except for the evening calls of the coyotes it is very quiet. We were able to walk to many services and restaurants and had easy access to Saguaro National Park and Sabino Canyon for hiking.
Tucson is one of the few places to which we have made a return visit. We were happy to be in a place where we have been before. One of the challenges of full-time traveling is when you arrive at a location you don't know where you are in relation to everything else. So returning to Tucson offered a small taste of hometown familiarity. Little did we know that we would so thoroughly enjoy the region with its breathtaking mountains, deserts and sunsets that we would consider making it our future home.
We initially returned to Tucson to establish a medical base. Another full-timer's challenge is getting routine medical care, which can be more difficult if one does not have a primary care physician. Fortunately, we are both in good health, but wanted to get the routine 'check under the hood and tire rotation'. The medical appointments were a nuisance, but we are happy to report we are good to go another 15,000 miles.
The big event while in Tucson was our friend Claire's four-day visit in mid-December. We advised Claire to bring her swimsuit and shorts. She wisely ignored us and brought her gloves and wool scarf. It was quite cold during her stay - snow in the surrounding mountains, frost on the car. Brrrrr.
During this cold snap we celebrated our three birthdays (Susan-Nov., Claire-Dec., & Bill-Feb.) by participating in the Kitt Peak National Observatory's Night Sky Program. The National Observatory, home to 23 optical and two radio telescopes, is located 6,900 feet above the desert floor. The night we visited there was snow on the mountain and the temperature dipped to 17 degrees, plus it was windy. (Double BRRRR!)
Our guide and astronomer first introduced us to the Observatory's history and mission and then led us outside to watch the sunset over the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. Once it was dark we viewed planets and galaxies using a 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Our observations included the Pleiades Star Cluster, the Great Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy and Mars. The 16" telescope brought the moon so close we couldn't see the entire orb, but we could see shadows in craters only 3,000 ft. deep. That's pretty good at nearly 250,000 miles away. It was so close we could almost see Neil Armstrong's footsteps in the moon dust - really.
When we left around 11:00 pm we had to keep our car lights off for the first several miles so as not to shed light on the night sky and ruin viewing for researchers using the telescopes. Although we were led down the mountain by our guide's taillights we were all a little tense going down the icy, mountain road in blackout conditions.
Also during Claire's visit we drove south to the artist community Tubac for lunch and a little Christmas shopping. Tubac was nearly deserted on this very chilly day, but was beautiful with the snow-covered mountains in the distance.
On the way south we stopped for a brief tour of Mission San Xavier del Bac also called the 'White Dove of the Desert'. After visiting Tubac we drove a bit further south to Tumacácori National Historic Park. We had visited these places in February 2006 but wanted to share them with Claire, and they were worth a second visit.
The rest of Claire's visit was spent checking out Tucson, getting stuck in traffic, going for walks and trying to stay warm. During this time she convinced us that we really need to accompany her and Ken on their trip to China in March - then she left.
As mentioned, we fell for Tucson's allure and spent several days checking out various neighborhoods and properties. We found a small neighborhood on the flank of the Tucson Mountains that enticed us with its location, architecture, design and friendly folks. After consulting the real estate projections for the next year, we decided we could procrastinate on a home/lot buying decision - but it was fun fantasizing about the next phase of our lives.
We took three hikes in the Catalina and Rincon mountains north and east of Tucson, respectively. Our first hike was to the Seven Falls in Sabino Canyon. We were amazed to see these beautiful falls in desert. We highly recommend this scenic trek, but the hiker will need to ford Bear Creek several times which could prove challenging to the inexperienced rock-hopper. Tucson had significant rainfall the previous week so the creek was flowing high the day we hiked - but we managed to stay dry.
Our other two hikes were in Saguaro National Park. The first was a several mile trek in the desert the day after Thanksgiving. The second was the more challenging Douglas Springs Trail that led us into the Rincon Mountains and to another set of waterfalls and fabulous views of the Tucson Valley.
As we continued to explore Tucson and learn more about what it has to offer the more it enchanted us. There is so much more for us to discover and explore, so we will absolutely return - maybe to establish a home. We will see what the future will bring.
Our Tucson idyll drew to a close on January 13 when we headed north to Phoenix to meet with satellite internet clients and friends, Henry and Mary. Plus, Susan had planned flight out of Phoenix to visit her buddies in Sacramento, but that will be in the next installment.
