18th March. Saguaro NP
After coffee & donuts at the morning meeting we set off
with sandwiches for Saguaro NP East. The
national park is split in two, either side of the city of Tucson. The East side does not have quite so many Saguaros
as the West. Although both sides became
a NP at the same time it was not until 1979 that the East side bought out the
cattle grazing rights. Up until then
cattle grazing had the effect that new Saguaro were There had been a
couple of hard winters in ’37 and ’62 and temperatures below freezing for more
than 24 hours can kill the old Saguaro.
not replacing the old ones
which were dying off.
19th Mar Mt Lemon
Charlie and D drove us up Mt Lemon, after having lunch with their
friends. At 9188ft there was still some snow on the ski slopes.
There were many
cyclists (including a tandem) going up the 22 mile climb and one of them told
us it took him 2½ hours - which was half an hour longer than last time!
There were some great views from the mountain top all across
Tucson and the San Pedro Basin on the other side of the mountain range.
We had some excellent Hill Billy/Bluegrass musical
entertainment that evening.
20th March. Casino Del Sol
We did some domestic chores in the morning and then went for
lunch with Tami and Duane at the Casino Del Sol. This was a huge Casino on the Indian
Reservation land, near our camp site, with an excellent all-you-can-eat
Buffet. We understand that a lot of
these Indian Casinos share the profits with all their local Tribe even if they
are not involved with the running of casino.
This was to be our last trail with the Hiking Group. We went up Wasson Peak in the West Saguaro NP not far from our camp site. A lovely loop trail of around 8 miles with
lots of flowers blooming – even the ‘sticks-with-nasty-spikes’, Ocotillo, is
now in flower. Lunch was at the top of the Peak overlooking
the whole of Tucson. Unfortunately for Alison
she managed to sit on the only rock from
which a large scorpion spider emerged!To the West we could see water ‘ponds’ in the distance. These are filtering water from the Colorado River down into the Water Table. Towns and cities have allotted quantities they can draw from the Colorado river and Tucson is using the excess water that cities further up the river have not drawn on to replenish their water table. Very little water from the Colorado gets to the sea these days.
To the north we could see “half” of Twin Peaks – the other
half of the two hills had been flattened from mining for copper in this region.
Alison had her first ride on a motor bike! Sat on the back of Charlie’s Yamaha they set
off down the road and met Paul and D for lunch at the local Airfield. Then a ride back over the undulating country
roads. Tucson has a Monsoon season and
is prone to flash floods, so the country roads are not flattened out but
undulate up-and-down so that the water can flow away. This was great fun on the motor bike.
We went shopping in the afternoon and then listened to the Jazz
Band playing in the Rec-hall that evening.
23rd March 4th Ave Street Fair
We spent several hours wandering the 4th Ave
Street Fair in Tucson with Charlie and D.
Many homes were putting their back-yards to good use by charging a fee
for parking – which we availed ourselves of.
There were plenty of stalls selling all sorts of Arts and Crafts. Paul bargained for a Mexican Silver necklace
for Alison. (down from $85 to $25) There was some really nice
stuff, original and of good quality.
This is our last weekend here at this site. Alison went for a last swim in the pool and
then we had BBQ Kebabs with Charlie and D.
Neighbours Graeme & Wanda and Randy joined us for drinks into the
wee-small hours……..
24th March Last Farewells
Not a lot happened in the morning due to the previous
night’s frivolities! (Paul, Charlie and
Graeme had hangovers)
We said farewell to friends in the park and played Bocce
ball for an hour in the afternoon. We
were invited to Susan and Reve for a delicious dinner in the evening along with
Bob and Nancy from the Hiking group.
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