Lisa
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Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Very near the Mexico/Arizona border is a National Monument formed to protect the only place where Organ Pipe Cactus grow in the US. They like a desert with a predictable rainy season and no freezing temperatures. They are more common in Mexico and grow larger there with this protected park being their northern-most range. The…
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Pima Air & Space Museum
Years ago when Tony and I spent a few days in Tucson, we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum, and thought it would be something my dad would love to see. How fun it was for us to hear about his knowledge, gained from a lifetime interest in aviation and decades of reading Flying…
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A Warm, Moist Cave?
Another fun day trip while Dad is in town with Sandy and David. Kartchner Caverns Kartchner Caverns is less than an hour away from Tucson, and has cave tours into a series of caverns that were discovered in the 1970s. The tours are accessible to all and have paths carefully laid out to protect the…
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Dad comes to Tucson for a Visit
Longtime friends of Mom and Dad currently live in Surprise, AZ, and Dad loves to join David and Sandy for a couple of weeks during winter to enjoy the milder temperatures and lack of snow. This year, they pulled their fifth-wheel RV down to the campground where we are staying for part of his Arizona…
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Saguaro National Park – Meeting the Saguaro
It is so nice to find ourselves so close to a national park with lots of hiking trails. We started with the west part of Saguaro National Park with its intense amount of saguaro cacti. Red Hills Visitor Center was our first stop to get another America the Beautiful Pass. Signal Hill was recommended by…
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Kartchner Caverns State Park, AZ
This was a nice weather day for hiking and not having to drive anywhere. We took the Foothills Trail to the Ocotillo Trail to make one, nice long hike at Kartchner Caverns State Park. We also wandered through the visitors center with displays about the area and a video about two cavers who discovered the…
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Winter Destination = Arizona!
Part of I-10 near the New Mexico/Arizona border looks like it has some crazy driving conditions at times. There are several sets of signs that tell you what to do in a dust storm, how to pull aside and stay alive. We questioned turning off lights, but they might confuse drivers behind you into thinking…
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Merry Christmas Cholla
Birthday Hike For his birthday hike, Tony chose a trail behind the science museum to walk among the murder plants that grow on the slopes of the Sacramento Mountains east of town. This is a trail that is clearly marked for the first half mile, then not so much after that. We had a map…
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Christmas Eve in Alamogordo
Pecan Harvest/Cell Tower Tree We passed several pecan orchards on our way to Alamogordo, New Mexico. The harvesters have circulating brushes that sweep up the pecans on the ground and create small dust clouds that are visible from a distance. A quick Google search told us the NM is the number one state for growing…
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Enchantment Vineyards, Portales, NM
Harvest Hosts provided a wonderful spot for our first night in New Mexico. Enchantment Vineyards has several menu items to go with their wine and beer selections. We enjoyed a goat cheese with berries and honey glaze appetizer and a red pepper bisque in a bread bowl to go with our drinks. We would highly…