Love me some Tucson, AZ!

We have fallen in love with Tucson.  It is a town large enough to have three (count 'em, three) Costco stores, but it feels like a small town.  The weather has been perfect while we have been here, although we are told it will heat up soon.

We are staying at the Tucson Lazydays KOA RV park. I have long been skeptical of KOA parks, because they tend to be heavy on amenities we don't use (but are great for families) and priced accordingly.  This one, however, is very reasonably priced at $30/night, after they allowed me a 15% discount for being a veteran. The staff has been very helpful and cheerfully attended to our every request.  The park is very quiet: no traffic noise; no airport noise, even though we are close to Tucson International.  The garbage is picked up daily at the curb...no trekking off to find a dumpster.  All and all, it has been a wonderful place to stay.

We needed to do some shopping and quickly found a Costco and a Walmart Super Store, which covered all our shopping needs. That was in part thanks to the nice, cheerful lady who checked us in and then gave us maps and brochures and personal recommendations for places to go and things to see.

On top of all of that, we are here just at the time the desert is beginning to burst into bloom.  Today, we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It is a wonderful place that is a bit like a cross between a desert arboretum and a zoo. There are plants and animals on display that are indigenous to the Sonora desert of northern Mexico and southern Arizona. It was a wonderful display, and we were glad to see all these things that we might not have seen in years of exploring the desert on our own.

The museum is located within the Saguaro (pronounced Sa-WA-ro) National Monument, which celebrates the iconic Saguaro cactus that is virtually a symbol of Arizona. Here are some pictures that in no way do justice to what we saw:

A view of the desert from the museum gate area. that spire is a Saguaro, probably 80 or 90 years old.

The Prickly Pear cactus in bloom. All of the cacti are on the verge of blooming 

and probably will provide a riot of color next week, when we are gone.

The prickly pear flower up close. I once had a sample of the fruit 

of this plant, which is delicious and tastes a little like a peach.

A panorama of the desert. Click on the picture to expand it.

 Most of the animals were uncooperative today, except this little prairie dog, who posed like a model.

 

 A variety of plant life growing together. Textures and colors are beyond capturing in a snapshot.

 

This was the prettiest flower I saw all day!

No greenery in the desert? Really?

Another gorgeous flowering shrub.

Here is a close up of the flower clusters. 

Don't know who this guy is, but stunningly beautiful in person.

The desert aviary is home to lots of birds, including this quail (?). 

This dove was literally right above my head, but of course, 

when I tried to photograph him, he turned his head.

And this hummingbird was literally within my reach, when he landed on a twig.

A Saguaro cactus beginning to bloom.  The flowers are very tough and can be handled without damage. Each flower produces a fruit that contains about 1,000 seeds. 

 

 This fellow was hanging across the trail back to the museum building. 

I think it is the flower of a variety of agave.

 

After our visit to the museum, we returned to town and had lunch at In-n-Out Burgers, always a treat. The rest of the day was spent walking the dogs and relaxing. Tomorrow, we are off to Las Cruces, NM, so don't go away!