More Tales of Tucson (and some last bridge art)

I thought I had captured most of the bridge art but here are a few more nuggets from my long bike ride on Saturday.

Bisbee – We visited Bisbee, an old mining town, about an hour and a half from Tucson. It seems like an old hippie town now, filled with restaurants, bars, art galleries, and mining history. The town is nestled into the mountains where you would think it should not fit. The streets are connected by hundreds of stairs, and of course, we did the walking tour. For my running/triathlete friends, there is a running event every year called the Bisbee 1000 (The Great Stair Climb). By wandering up and down these stairs (and mostly we went up), you get to see this eccentric, decorated town. We also had some good food and great drinks. We did not get tickets for the copper mine tour soon enough and it was sold out, so clearly another visit is necessary!

     

Tohuno Chul – This is a garden, galleries and bistro. Kind of an enchanted place with a non-profit mission to connect people with the magic of nature and art in the Sonoran Desert region, as well as inspire them to care for the world. It is pretty unique. The gardens are stunning when you hike through them, the exhibitions were brilliant, and they have a wonderful gift shop with local art.

Hiking – We have hiked many trails and mountain ranges but the newest standout for fun and challenge is Picacha Peak. Although the first 2 miles of trail were normal desert trail, the last mile is full of sections where it is necessary to use cables inserted in rock either to haul yourself up or to hold onto to ensure you do not fall sideways down the cliff wall. We love this kind of “almost rock climbing” and really enjoyed scrambing to the top of this peak where there is a 360 degree view of the desert around you! And the saguaros, pencil cholla and prickly pear cacti were blooming in Picacha State Park. This past weekend, we hiked the very challenging Finger Rock Trail for 8 miles and 2000 plus feet of elevation gain on the way to Mount Kimball. It was a challenging hike where at about 4000 feet, the saguaro desert gave way to a totally different landscape where there were still some cacti and agave, but also oaks, pines and manzanitas.

Downtown – We haven’t spent much time here but visited on a Saturday night to see some local music at an outdoor venue within the Hotel Congress. The area was jam-packed and there seemed to be many events; huge lines at the Rialto Theater and at the Fox Theater; local vendors selling handcrafted items; a street blocked off with food trucks; a group protesting the U.S. attack on Syria. People walking everywhere! People watching everywhere! We watched a couple of local bands in the coolness of the dusk and neon signs at Hotel Congress, while Chris had coffee and a huge slice of chocolate mousse cake, and I had a cocktail. Everyone’s needs got met!!

Kartchner Caverns – About 30 minutes from Tucson, there is a state park that contains a cave system discovered in the early 70’s. We have been awed visiting caves before, but this place is different. Two local cavers found a narrow crack in the bottom of a sinkhole, and followed the source of warm, moist air toward what ended up being more than 2.5 miles of pristine cave passages. With the help of a local state biologist, they kept the location a secret for fourteen years, deciding that the best way to preserve the cavern — which was near a freeway — was to develop it as a tour cave through the Arizona State Park system. So this cave is “living” and continues to develop and change. You are able to take two different tours, and for this visit, we chose the Rotunda tour which has types of formations that I have never heard of before and is an active bat maternity ward. This part of the cave is actually closed to visitors from April 15 – October 15th while the bats mate and have babies. Arizonans value bats for their insect eating abilities! The original discoverers found a sloth skeleton from 80,000 years ago in the cave. The care taken to keep this cave “living” is extraordinary! Tour guides give you instructions at the beginning of the tour that if you touch anything besides the built railings, that if you tell them, a flag is placed there so that evening, the cleaning crew can come in, and get the oils that are on your hands cleaned off so the cave continues living!

Tucson Art Museum – We visited on a Thursday night, when it was open ‘til 8 pm, with children’s activities. Although we did not love the special exhibits, they were interesting, and there is some wonderful sculpture and native American art. They also have an incredible café with great coffee, food and art.

Mexican food -There are so many options for authentic Mexican food, it makes your head spin. Standouts have been El Charro and Café Poca Cosa. For breakfast, the Little One Café, owned by sisters of the Poca Cosa chef, excelled for amazing food, great prices, and an even better vibe. And the tamales everywhere! I know I have mentioned how much I love tamales, and we are staying pretty close to the #1 place In Tucson called Tucson Tamales.

Tucson Food Bank – Since we were going to be here for 2 months, a great opportunity to learn more about the community was doing community service at the local food bank. The Tucson Food Bank is huge and has many programs; an organic garden, community kitchen, food drives, community garden plots, gardening lessons, weekend backpack programs for children, produce rescue, and senior meals, to name just a few. I volunteered at the food bank directly, taking jobs that required little or no training. Most of the people volunteering for these jobs were court ordered in some way (mostly for parking violations or DUIs), although there were a few others like me who did it because they wanted to give back. There were two high school students from Italy who were in Tucson living with families and doing an internship at the food bank. We packed boxed food that came to the food bank into smaller quantities for people who then picked up at the food bank or other locations. I have never seen so many tomatoes and spaghetti squashes in one day before! Tucson, Pima County and the surrounding area has a lot of hunger, so this resource is a gem in the desert!

The people – We are so fortunate to have my friend from college here. She and her husband have been so welcoming and include us on all kinds of events with their Tucson “family”. After being here for so long, with no actual family here, they have created a community of friends that are their family, and that we have greatly enjoyed! Their daughter visited for 2 weeks and we got the opportunity to get to know her as an adult (along with her lovely boyfriend.) In general, people here are pretty nice; not just exceedingly polite the way folks are in the south, but genuinely interested in talking and helping.

We have also had visitors. We welcome anyone who will be in the areas we are visiting, or near these areas to stop in for a visit. Chris’ sister, Annette, was here for a week, and 2 friends from college have visited as well! Quite frankly, there are times when I am a little desperate to have that social interaction that you have with someone that is not your spouse. This has happened less in Tucson than other places because we have a little built in social network.

One more week here and then on to Sedona/Cottonwood and Albuquerque!