Cactus Country – Tucson, AZ July 12-16, 2021
The mountains in this part of Arizona are yet another kind
of terrain, brown and rocky but studded with brush and cacti. The brushes appear to be at almost
mathematical distances, creating a pattern of green dots across thousands of
acres of brown mountains. I suppose it
is related to the amount of land the root systems need. Just south of Tucson, a passing motorist
waved at us and told us the trailer door was open. This had happened a day or so ago but we
thought maybe we just forgot to lock it.
However, the door was locked; the lock is broken. We turned around and went to a Camping World
in Tucson, where they carried the lock but could not install it – their service
department was backed up a month! LCR
tackled the project in the parking lot but was not successful. It seems the new lock is just a tiny bit
different in size from the old one, causing complications. It’s a work in progress.
By this time we needed to find a campsite. The first place I called had available space
and a super-organized registration system, so shortly and smoothly we were
camped amidst fields of cactus, all kinds of the desert plants, large like
trees, small like bushes, leafy, prickly, some flowered and some with what
looked like purple fruits the size of small plums. This place lives up to its name, Cactus
Country. Since they have very strong
internet and we have been struggling in some areas to get a signal, we decided
to stay another day or so. Besides the
usual campground amenities, there is a well-equipped fitness center, which we
made use of a number of times for yoga and weight training.
In the evening clouds built up. I had asked a man at a gas station about
clouds and haze earlier in the day, and he said they sometimes get heavy storms
and sometimes the clouds turn around and go somewhere else, so I was not sure
whether these clouds meant business. We
had warnings on our cellphones on both blowing dust storms and thunderstorms
with heavy rain. The thunderstorm hit
around sunset, with spectacular lightning and heavy rains. The next day we could see evidence of the
flash flooding they talk about out here – creeks that normally flow under roads
had washed over them, leaving muddy reminders that nature can be very brutal on
the desert.
LCR had some legal work to do, including phone conferences,
so we passed a day quietly working, but decided to relax and stay a few more
days and see a bit of Tucson (we had planned just to drive through, as we did
with Phoenix, but our plans have changed again). The following day we had a leisurely morning
and then drove to Saguaro National Park.
It’s a wonderful place, part Dr. Seuss, part Star Trek, in the variety
and profusion of cacti both large and small.
Saguaro cactus plants grow slowly but long, often reaching 50 feet high
and living to 150 years or more. They
have no natural enemies and usually die of old age or natural factors such as
lightning, wind, freezing or fire. There
are many other cactus species in the park, but the stars are the fantastic, odd
saguaros. They may be tall and straight
or have few or many arms (which they sprout at about age 70), they may have
flowers or fruit on top and birds nesting in holes in their trunks.
There are also petroglyphs in the park. You have to hike a bit to see them; the best
are up fairly high on a hill with a good view of the park and the surrounding
area. They are mostly geometric shapes like
swirls and starbursts. The carvings are
over a thousand years old and no one knows what they mean; the people who made
them are long gone, though some current Native Americans in the area may be
their descendants.
After leaving the park we did a simple internet search for a
nearby restaurant, a Mexican café called La Olla, and were rewarded with huge
plates of shrimp and fish tacos with the usual trimmings and refreshing drinks.
Thursday, July 15, we went to the Tucson Museum of Art. The heat was up, so once again we were
grateful for the AC in the facility. The
museum comprises several historic houses as well as the museum proper, but they
were closed. The museum building is a
very contemporary building, lots of marble and angular walls.
The individual galleries of this museum are small, but that
is deceptive. There is actually quite a
lot to see. As you would expect, the
collection has a lot of Southwest and Native American art, going back in fact
to the pre-Columbian period in Central America.
There is also a lot of modern art, however, and a small gallery showing
European paintings and sculpture. One of
the best things about small local museums is that you get to see a lot of art
by artists you never heard of, but which rivals the more famous works by
bigger-name artists that hang in Chicago or L.A.
There was considerable art concerning Western life and cowboys. In the sculpture garden there was a bronze statue of a cowboy on a bucking bronco, full of energy and life. Inside the museum there was another, smaller work, more modern in style and angular in execution, almost as if the speed of the animal drew out his body and the cowboy’s limbs to greater lengths. Finally, there was a very contemporary work on the same subject, not with a recognizable face but full of lines and planes. It was fun to compare them. They were each good at evoking the speed and danger of the moment, in their own different ways.
My favorite was a photograph which was part of an exhibit of
works by a group of middle school students.
The Walgreen company donated digital cameras to allow them to experiment
with photography. This photo is an
oblique study of a chain-link fence, and the artist’s comment expresses his
hope that we should be kind to each other because we are all woven
together. I found the combination of the
sentiment and the photograph very moving.
After going through the entire museum, of course we needed to sit down. We got a recommendation of a restaurant from the desk person at the museum, and she was absolutely right. Café Charro is located in the original family home of the owner’s father, so it has a quaint feel, with Mexican art and music. We ordered drinks - jamaica (LCR) and horchata (for me), and I had seafood enchiladas, while LCR had a vegan burro. The burro’s filling was something called Hola Hemp, consisting of hemp, flax, and chia seeds, quinoa and nopal cactus. It was really good and rich. You can tell it is high in protein. Our cheery server seemed to be trying to get us to eat more, but we passed on dessert.
After eating I had the idea of doing a driving tour to see a
bit of Tucson. I pulled up just the
thing online from Fodor’s. The tour took
us to the top of Signal Peak, the highest point in Tucson, which has views of
the entire city spread out below. It is a
winding, steep road with no guardrails.
Fodor’s did warn us of that. We
have done much more difficult roads, however.
The lookout views were impressive; more sobering were the crosses and
memorials, six or eight of them, of young people who apparently had died at the
site. These were not along the roadway
where you would expect if there had been a crash, leading to the question of
how these kids died. Very odd and sad. After we descended from the mountain, we had
some trouble following the article with the self-guided tour. There were no mileages given between
directions, and we could not find some of the streets mentioned. Eventually we headed back to the campsite as
it was getting late. We did not succeed
in finishing the tour, but saw quite a bit of Tucson nevertheless. One feature we had not previously been aware
of is the Santa Cruz River. This river
runs right down through the downtown of Tucson, yet it is dry most of the year,
and has been since the late 1880s. Due
to droughts, overgrazing and other factors both natural and man-made, it is
mostly a muddy ditch, which is not so obvious when you drive over it, but is
evident from Sentinel Peak. It is oddly
juxtaposed with quaint old last-century buildings and sleek modern office
towers.
On the morning of our departure from Tucson, once again
there seemed to be a storm brewing.
Every day in our stay I had hoped to work in a swim. There is a small pool on the grounds. But every time I considered it, there was
stormy weather around. There is a sign
clearly posted at the pool, instructing guests to leave the pool area
immediately upon hearing thunder, as thunder and lightning storms can come up
at any time in the desert. I had seen
this for myself the previous day. In the
early morning, before rising, I was looking lazily out through the edge of the
curtain to the fluffy clouds, bright blue sky and sun which was already high,
and suddenly heard a clap of thunder that woke me up completely and caused me
to jump a foot. That could not be
thunder, I thought. Looking outside, sure
enough, I saw a storm on one side of the trailer and blue sky, clouds and
bright sun on the other. It is for good
reason that they call this the monsoon season in Arizona.
BTW, LCR did eventually fix the lock on the trailer. My hero!
Heading for New Mexico and Texas!
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