As we drove across New Mexico on our way to Tucson, we saw an almost constant stream of billboards for "The Thing". None provided much information but they definitely hyped the 'mystery'. I checked out Wikipedia (mobile internet is our friend) and discovered that The Thing was a mummified woman and child in a glass topped coffin originally created for a '60s era sideshow. We were due for a stop and it was only going to be $1 so we exited the highway to be "amazed".

We paid our fee and were directed out back where we found a series of tin barn like buildings filled with random weird but interesting antiques and displays. Most items are protected by glass or fencing, but otherwise exposed to the elements and generally in pretty bad condition. Nevertheless, they had some cool stuff like a car Hitler used or the carriage Lincoln rode in to his inauguration. Of course they had a lot of cheesy stuff like a covered wagon, which was just ‘The Thing’ to use when crossing the old west or a life size diorama of a Middle Ages torture chamber, which was just ‘The Thing’ to get people to talk and lots of other stuff. Of course the main attraction was in the last building and almost lived up to our very low expectations but still, it was $2 well spent. To commemorate this wonderful side trip, Bill bought me a Day of the Dead bobble head for the dash of our truck.

A few hours later we arrived in Tucson, the second largest city in Arizona with a population of almost 1 million. It is a popular destination for Snowbirds, (people that come from the north to spend their winter in warmer climes) so they have lots of RV parks. We stayed at Far Horizons and it was really the first park we have stayed at that was actually in the city that we were visiting. This was great because it was a big enough city that it offered all the shops, dining and entertainment we like within a 10-minute drive. It was off-season at the park so all of the Snowbirds had gone home, but they still offered lots of stuff to do. Outdoor shuffleboard, pickle ball (mini tennis), card and game nights (we went to game night and were the only people that showed up), movie night... They also had the biggest hot tub I have ever seen. It was like a mini pool, 5 feet deep and the jets were so strong I could not sit on the bench without getting blown off. I can see why people like to spend time at these RV Resorts.

Other than some shopping and a couple of movies we spent most of our week in Tucson exploring the outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather and surroundings. First up was hiking Sabino Canyon, which meant hiking the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains that surround the canyon, as opposed to being down in the canyon. The canyon is full of Saguaro cacti, which are only found in parts of Arizona and in California. They are giant fork like cacti reaching up to 30 feet high. At this time of year they are in bloom and they all seemed to have Gila Woodpeckers nesting in them. We saw lizards, prairie dogs, roadrunners and lots of birds, but we couldn't find any snakes, and we did not see a mountain lion despite the warning at the trailhead. It was only a little over a five-mile hike but it was pretty hot and rugged. By the time we got to the end of the trail, we gladly bought a ticket for the tram ride back to the visitor center.

For a more restful day, we rode the motorcycles up the Mount Lemmon Scenic Byway to the top. It was my first mountain ride and the most fun I have ever had riding with 54 miles of twists, S curves and switchbacks. The only minor problem was the temperature drop as we reached the top at about 9,000 feet. Even though it was still 60, that's pretty cold at 40-50 mph. It was so awesome I told Bill I wanted to ride it again which we managed to do the morning we were checking out and moving on to Phoenix. We dressed a little more warmly the second time (too warmly for the bottom of the ride to be honest), which made it even better!

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is the #1 thing to do in Tucson according to Trip Advisor, so what choice did we have but to check it out. Turns out we agree with everyone else - this place is highly recommended. As museums go it was perfect for us. It was like a botanical garden, zoo, and nature museum all in one. It's 85% outdoors and there were very few places for Bill to stop and read and for me to get bored. They had a fabricated cave so you could see what it was like to experience exploring very narrow spaces in caves. We tried this because it is apparently one of Bill's phobias. The animals in the zoo sections were native to the desert and they had large enclosures making them sometimes hard to find. They had 2 bird aviaries, one dedicated to hummingbirds. This was probably our favorite area. I had never seen a hummingbird sitting still, but apparently they do. We took lots of pictures of these tiny birds and Bill even found one sitting on its nest.

On the drive back to the trailer we stopped for dinner at the Tucson Tamale Company. I have never been a huge fan of tamales, but this place makes a bunch of different kinds including vegetarian and desert tamales. They were fantastic, so much so that we bought 4 different kinds of frozen tamales to take home with us. They sell them online if anyone wants to try them.

On Saturday we drove to Tombstone to enjoy Wyatt Earp Days. Tombstone was founded by Ed Shieffelin. He was one of the first miners in the area and was repeatedly told all he would ever find was his tombstone. After he struck it rich finding silver, he named his town Tombstone. It became one of the last boomtowns in the old west and was the richest silver mine in Arizona producing $40 to $85 million in ore.

Wyatt Earp days was pretty hokey but it was fun. There were lots of folks in full costume, skits out in the streets and several mini theater venues. We fell victim to the first hawker selling these shows (in our defense he was dressed as the Marshall) and got tickets to see three short skits about various historical gunfights re-enacted by three locals (calling them actors would be an insult to actors). In addition to the re-enactments they treated us to lectures on the lack of accuracy in Hollywood portrayals of the old west (we were shocked to learn that Movies were not 100% accurate). Lesson learned, stay away from hawkers even when they are dressed like Cowboys. After the show, we wandered the main street, which was very well preserved. We visited The Bird Cage, the premier saloon/brothel/theatre in town. The current owners told some stories and showed off some of the 120 bullet holes in the barroom (lots of these guys were apparently really bad shots as there were holes in the walls about 15’ up, in the floor and even in the ceiling).

On the way out of town we stopped at Boot Hill, the first graveyard to bear that name. The graves were covered with rocks and marked with wooden markers...no tombstones. The markers often said "shot" and sometimes by who or "hanged" and a couple even said "killed by Indians". On the highway home we went through another border stop and a swarm of some kind of big bugs that were not identifiable from the giant blobs they left on our windshield. Bill was reading at the time we hit the swarm and looked up surprised as it sounded like a heavy rain storm but only last a few seconds.

The next day, I had the bright idea to get some exercise by riding our bicycles to explore 4th street, the Tucson version of Deep Ellum in Dallas. Tucson has been recognized as one of the most bike friendly cities in the US so even though 4th street was a little over 10 miles away on the far side of town we decided to go for it. We got a late start so we were riding during the heat of the day but we did manage to get a great late lunch at the Epic Café (worth a visit if you’re in town). I had been hoping for another motorcycle ride up to Mount Lemmon but by the time we got back to the trailer I was whipped. Our ride was primarily flat but I remember the bicyclists that had been pedaling up the mountain as we rode by on the motorcycles. I hate even minor inclines. Got to admire that kind of toughness.

Tucson was a great town and we really enjoyed our time here. Another place we will definitely need to come back to as there were several places we didn’t have time to visit: Pima aircraft graveyard; the Titan Missile Museum; and several arboretums. Actually it was probably a good thing we couldn’t visit these other sites as I took 805 pictures and Bill took another 300. Don’t worry; we aren't going to make you look at all of them.

Next stop - Phoenix

Higher resolution photos are available on Flikr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill_and_ dessa/sets/