We’ve always been told that Finger Rock is one of Tucson’s top strenuous trails. We finally hiked it today… and we’re not really sure about what we were told. Reviews online said this trail takes 4-6 hours but we finished it in 3 with breaks & exploring another trail. This brings me to the conclusion that those Oreo cookies we had last night gave us super powers!
Just kidding. Just kidding (tummy ache is more like it)…
After a year of putting off exploring Madera Canyon, we finally made it out there and were pleasantly surprised. Not only did we get to see fall foliage, we also found a steep trail that led to an old, abandoned mine that operated in the 1900s.
Continue reading “Madera Canyon” »
Arizona is a unique state –from the varied landscape to its inhabitants. The conglomeration of the starkly contrasting people have produced a sometimes wild, oftentimes weird but always interesting result.
Some of these interesting results have produced accommodations that fit right into this weird state:
Holbrook, AZ – Wigwam Motel actually consists of various teepees however the village’s architect Frank Redford disliked the name “teepee” so instead used “wigwam”. At some point, there were 7 of these hotels in operation across the US. Today, only 3 are still in operation. This particular one in Arizona has been featured on Oprah & several movies.
Continue reading “Interesting Hotels of Arizona” »
Hotel Congress has several claims to fame, from wandering ghosts to being dubbed one of the best bars in America, but the event that wrote Hotel Congress into history books occurred on January 22, 1934. It was the day Tucson captured the notorious gangster & bank robber John Dillinger, America’s first Public Enemy #1.
Continue reading “Dillinger Days at Hotel Congress” »
Yesterday was sort of a christening to the start of the season’s outdoor activities for us. While still somewhat hot in the afternoon, the heat has been drastically reduced from unbearably hot to… bearable. Yesterday we were able to bear a hike to Seven Falls. It’s been over 3.5 years since we last did this hike in Sabino Canyon in the spring of 2009.
We’ve crossed another item off of our Arizona To Do list! This past Sunday, we toured the ecological research facility, Biosphere 2, in Oracle, AZ.
Biosphere 2 is a bit of a controversy amongst Arizonans. Many believe it was a financial failure & waste, while others praise it as a great scientific project. I won’t delve into either of those, though the introductory video to the tour does skim over it. I will say that despite my husband and I both being individuals who are very critical of finance/economics, we went in to the tour with open minds & found it to be very interesting from a scientific perspective & a financial perspective.
It’s about that time when all the “snow birds” start flocking out of southern Arizona because the fast rising temperature makes it unbearable to venture outdoors. To escape the 99° F (37°C) heat, we ventured up to Mount Lemmon where it is always 20° cooler. Plus, we thought it would be a nice to take our “nephew” Rocco on a mini-adventure since we were watching him for the weekend.
The Catalina Highway, which runs through Mount Lemmon, was recently designated as the Sky Island Parkway. Sky islands are “mountains that are isolated by surrounding lowlands of a dramatically different environment”. Basically if you get lost in the Santa Catalina’s, you will want to travel up because that’s where all the life is. At least, according to Bear Grylls. He did an episode in Arizona’s Sky Islands (Season 6, Episode 1 Arizona Sky Islands).
It’s been some time since we’ve been able to get out & have some fun due to time constraints, the flu & injuries but today we managed to make it out to the 150th Anniversary of the Engagement of Picacho Pass.
This post is IMAGE HEAVY.
Continue reading “Battle at Picacho Peak: Civil War Re-Enactment” »
Today called for our 1st hike up Picacho Peak for the year, making it our 5th time to the summit. I’m sure this won’t be our last trip over there… especially since there’s a Civil War re-enactment coming up! HECK YEAH!
Back in August, we did an evening tour of the only accessible Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile site at the Titan Missile Museum. It was impressive enough that we took our visiting parents & brother on Saturday to see it during the museum’s 25th anniversary.
