Tucson, AZ

We are currently in Tucson, AZ.  Yeah, yeah, we know, we were supposed to be heading for the Gila National Forest for a week of bird photography and fly fishing.  But the wind blew in some serious cold up in the forest.  The temperatures were predicted to be in the low 50's for the high and low 20's at night.  Not our idea of a fun time for boondocking.  So instead we headed further west and ended up in Tucson.
We still got to do some boondocking as the RV park on Davis Monthan AFB was full and we were in the overflow lot awaiting a full hook-up space for about 3 days.  Now we've moved into a spot with hookups and are sitting pretty.  The weather is gorgeous, high 70's to low 80's in the afternoon and high 40's at night, lots of sunshine, and not much wind.  This base RV park was voted Best Military Camp for the past 4 years and we can see why.  The camp hosts meet and greet you with a full packet of information about the base, Tucson, and the surrounding area.  The camp hosts movie nights, bbq's, and golf tournaments monthly, along with other entertainment.  Great place!

We took the first few days here to relax, do a little maintenance on the truck and trailer and visit with relatives and friends.  We went to visit a cousin of mine and spent a couple of hours on family chat and talk of the Tucson area.  We hooked up again on Sunday with her and some of her kids and grandkids for a tasty breakfast at a long time Tucson restaurant called the Blue Willow.  We also met up with an old friend of Teresa's that lives here and got the list of reasons we should settle down in Tucson.  We do have to admit, this town could make the short list of retirement destinations.

After chilling out for several days, we got busy seeing the sights.  We spent a day wandering around Tucson walking the Presidio Trail.  The trail is officially a 2.5 mile route around downtown and the surrounding area and has stops along the way at various historic districts and sites.  With all the wandering into the adjoining streets, not sure just how many miles we did do.  We loved the area and the colors of the buildings and homes.  There is a lot of public art in town and almost all of the bridges and overpasses are decorated in some manner or other.  Check out the pictures of the Rattlesnake Bridge on this hyperlink as my camera just isn't able to do it justice.  This is just an overpass of I-10 over a surface street and is fairly typical of the bridges in town.

Roof of Courthouse

Wall art on side of store

Lawyer's office

In the afternoon we drove out to the edge of town and visited the Ted DeGrazia Studio and home.  His style of art has never been my favorite and Heinz had never heard of him, but we both thought the studio was pretty cool.  

Crucifix by DeGrazia

Entrance to Gallery and Studio

Chapel built by DeGrazia on the grounds

Painting inside chapel

Painting inside chapel

A couple of days ago we hiked the Sabino Canyon trail in the morning (3.8 miles) and in the afternoon drove up Mt. Lemmon to 7000 feet and hiked the 2.5 miles into Rose Canyon Lake.  Grand total for the day...8.8 miles.

Sabino  Canyon Trail was recommended by relatives, friend, and strangers in local shops and restaurants not to mention all the literature around.  The Civilian Conservation Corps built bridges and cut hiking trails throughout Sabino Canyon and neighboring Bear Canyon back in the '30's (sound familiar Daddy?)  There's a motorized tram that we took up to the top, then hiked back down.

Sabino Canyon: Ocotillo, Prickly Pear and Saguaro Cactus

Sabino Canyon and creek

Saguaro Cactus don't get branches until they are at least 50 years old and live to up to 200 years!

On the way back down the trail we ran across some volunteer rangers panning for garnets.  Heinz gave it a try and managed to come out with a couple of "nice sized ones for around here".  

Panning for garnets

Alright!  Let's go get this nugget set in a necklace!

The views around here are breathtaking when you're up in the hills surrounding Tucson.

After all that hiking in Sabino Canyon we drove up Mt. Lemmon (8000 feet elevation).  This is quite a place and is located in the Coronado National Forest.  (By the way, thanks so much to Liz and crew for giving us the Annual Parks Pass.  It is really paying it's way!)  We were already amazed at all of the bicyclists we saw all over Tucson.  There are people on bikes everywhere, biking to work, school, and just to have fun and there are bike trails all over town.  However, we felt like utter wimps when we were running into people on bikes at 7000 feet and above!  We asked one woman how long it took her and she said that it would take her about 4-5 hours to make it to the top, the ride down was worth it.

6500 feet and still climbing!

As I mentioned earlier, we stopped at 7000 ft and hiked down to Rose Canyon Lake. The lake is small and tucked in a stand of ponderosa pines on the slopes of Mt. Lemmon.  The lake is open year-round for fishing, but the road down to it is closed from October through April, hence the hiking in.  It was pretty amazing, the temperature down in the valley in Tucson was a high of 80 and we found snow still under the trees by the lake.

Snow at 7000 feet

Rose Canyon Lake

We hung around the lake for a bit while Heinz studied the layout and decided to come back for a try at the fishing.  Following that he treated me to a gourmet picnic meal...my first MRE!

Tuna casserole and Chocolate Nut Cake

Not too bad with extra salt and the Tabasco Sauce...

We went back to the lake yesterday to give Heinz a chance to fish for the first time.  He's been picking up fly fishing gear from Kansas City to Tucson.  In addition he had a grand time at breakfast with the family when he found out that my cousin's son is a fly fisherman and they spent the meal talking fishing and fishing spots in Arizona and New Mexico.  (Of course, I had my own grand time as Micheal's wife is a professional photographer and Ruth quilts a little, so I got to talk photography and needlework.)  

Heinz fished for a few hours while I wandered around with the camera for a bit and then settled down with a good book.  This hobby of his could work out well for me.  He got a few nibbles and claims to have had at least two on the hook, but gave them too much slack and they got away.

Today we spent the morning hanging around the trailer doing laundry and straightening up.  Now it's afternoon and Heinz has headed back up to the lake to try his luck again while I begged off to nurse the dregs of a cold and be lazy.  He promises to bring me dinner of some sort...fish hopefully, if not, take-out.

White Sands, Petroglyphs, and Mountains

Gosh, February is over, where did it go?  We celebrated the last day of the month in fine style with a trip up to the White Sands National Monument.  If you’ve never been there, make sure you plan a trip to visit.  It is located at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert between the White Sands Missile Range and Holloman AFB in the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico.  275 square miles of gypsum sand in dunes that look like a snow covered landscape.  It is the largest gypsum dune field in the world and according to the ranger, is visible from outer space.

Gypsum sand

We hiked the 4½ mile Alkali Flats Trail, taking about 2 ½ hours to complete it.  Probably could have done it in less time, but kept taking time out to stare open-mouthed at the scenery.  According to the brochures there are four types of dunes at White Sands: dome, barchan, transverse and parabolic, and believe me, we hiked them all!

Dome dunes form downwind and can move 30 feet a year.  They’re formed when the wind blows across picking up gypsum particles and carries them downwind.  As sand grains accumulate, they bounce up the gentle windward slope and ripple the surface.  At the dune’s steep leading edge, sand builds up until gravity pulls it down the slip face, moving the dune forward. 

Dome dune with wind ripples

Teresa standing on the edge of a dome dune (for size reference she's 5 ft 10 inches)

Dome dune

Barchan dunes are crescent shaped dunes that form where winds are strong but the sand supply is limited.

Barchan dune

Transverse dunes are formed where sand supples are ample and barchan dunes join together as long ridges of sand.

Transverse Dunes

The last type are parabolic  dunes.  These are where plants on the dune field edges anchor the arms of barchan dunes and invert their shape.  

Parabolic dune

Ok, enough geology, this is a REALLY cool place and a must see!  If it's not already on your 1,000 places to see before you die list, add it!!  But be sure to walk the trails and not just drive the road as there is so much to see.  And if you're lucky, you too can look like this at the end of the trail.

Heinz has been checking out all the RV's along the trip.  We found this rig at the White Sands Park - it appears the Germans have a slightly different take on what constitutes and adequate RV.

After leaving White Sands it was quite obvious that we would never make it to Guadalupe National Park on the same day (200 miles away), so we decided on a short detour to just above Tularosa instead and dropped in on the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site on the edge of the Mescalero Indian Reservation.  There we hiked another mile or so up into the rocks to view the petroglyphs.  Once again, quoting from the trail guide, there are estimated to be 21,000+ petroglyphs in the area by the Jornada Mogollon Indians.  The trail past the petroglyphs is around 1.2 miles, making it a total of 5.7 miles that we hiked today - and we feel it!

We decided to extend our stay in El Paso another day and check out the Guadalupe National Park today since there was no time on Monday. 

This park is designated as a wilderness park, so 47,000 of the 94,000 acres is not open to anything but back country camping.  The park has over 80 miles of trails, but we only took advantage of 6.8 miles of that (round trip).  We hiked the McKittrick Canyon trail.  The trail starts down in the desert and moves up through canyon woodland and up into the highland forest.  It is also the only part of the park that has water year-round.  The trail was rocky, but moving through 3 different zones in 3 miles was pretty neat.

Desert zone

Desert zone

Woodland Zone

Highland Zone

Along the way up we found a small pool that had some trout in it, so of course Heinz had to stop and look, study the layout, plan how he would fish the area if a) fishing was allowed, and b) if he had his fly fishing gear with him.  

Finally the hike was over and after almost 6 miles yesterday and almost 7 miles today it was my turn for the victory sign!

AND, the friend we made for today is:

Las Cruces and Hatch NM

Yesterday was a busy one.  We woke up early to clear skies, a light wind, temperatures in the 40’s and a cold trailer.  Oops, helps if you remember to close the ceiling vent before you go to bed.  No problem, we’ll just turn up the thermostat on the propane heater to take the chill off and give the small electric space heater a helping hand.  Oops, no propane heat.  Heinz worked on it for about an hour and being the Renaissance man that he is, got the problem diagnosed and fixed.  Turned out to be a bare thermostat wire causing havoc.

After completing repairs and eating a quick breakfast we were off to Las Cruces, New Mexico, home of New Mexico State University, to look around.  While there we ran across an artist’s street fair and stopped to look it over and learned that February is Art Month in New Mexico.  Strolled the fair looking at all the wares, bought a jar of mesquite/wildflower honey and a necklace and earrings of turquoise, looked over the dogs up for adoption at the Humane Society’s booth (no, Suzi, we didn’t come home with one), and listened to the Mariachi band.

Street Fair

Street artist at work

 

Street Fair

The obvious

Drove around the town for a bit, then took the scenic back road up to Hatch, NM, home of the world’s best green chile peppers.

Hatch is a small town; village is probably a better word.  There is not much there except pepper fields and pecan orchards.  We did stop at a couple of chile stands, but as it will not be pepper season until the fall, we were not having any luck finding anything but ristras of dried peppers.  Then I noticed a sign outside of Chili Willie’s advertising frozen green peppers.  Heinz stopped (probably so he wouldn’t have to listen to me whine anymore) and we went in.  It was my lucky day.  We bought their very last bag of whole, frozen green chile peppers, a two-pound bag.  The woman in the shop told us that the first cutting of the season is traditionally Labor Day weekend.  Guess we’ll have to go back then.   You can order peppers on line, but they are pricey since they are shipped overnight.  And shipping them would also mean no trip to New Mexico for the Chile Festival!

Leaving Chili Willie’s, Heinz noticed a RV sales place with some old Airstreams on the lot.  Needless to say, we pulled in immediately to check them out.  There were three in all, 2 trailers and one motorhome, all from the 60’s and needing VERY big hugs.  All three had all the original fixtures and cabinetry, but would need complete overhauls.  Not real sure we’d be up to doing this again, but you could see the potential in all of them. 

We drove over to Mesilla (south of Las Cruces) to find a restaurant we had been told about, La Posta de Misella.  The restaurant has been open since 1939 and is in an adobe building that was originally built in the 1840’s by Roy Bean and his brother, yes, that Roy Bean…the hanging judge.  The place was later a stagecoach stop for the Butterfield Stage Line.  The building was terrific, the decorations phenomenal, and the food… to die for!

La Posta, the building is painted throughout

After eating WAY too much good food and drinking a really fine margarita made with Dos Luna tequila, we waddled out to the plaza and wandered around.  The area has quite a few old adobes and the oldest brick building in New Mexico, built in 1860.  The original owner opened a mercantile in the building and was killed in the building by bandits in 1866.  His heir came over from France to claim his inheritance and sold it to another man in 1886.  That owner was also killed in the building by bandits.  Over the years the building has been used for several different businesses and is now another shop.  We also got to hear the church bells and mass at the Basilica de San Albino on the plaza.

Basilica de San Albino

Shrine outside a home

Home doorway in Mesilla

And of course, we made some more friends along the way…

Today we are staying close to home as the temperature has dropped into the high 40's/low 50's and the wind is blowing 25-30 mph with gusts up to 40+.  There is dust in the air everywhere, so neither of us is feeling very ambitious about getting out and about.  Tomorrow we plan to head up to Alamogordo to see the White Sands National Monument and maybe do some hiking in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  Then on Tuesday we are planning to leave here and move our base of operations into the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico to try boondocking, fly fishing, and bird photography.  There are no services in the forest, so if I don't get a post out tomorrow night, we'll catch you up on our adventures when we get to Albuqurque in a week or so.