Hey Guys! We made it back to Arizona! The drive to Tucson was blessedly boring. Our toad obediently followed along behind our home-on-wheels the entire time.

The last time, back in 2015, when we were in the Tucson area we stayed at an RV park right downtown. We didn’t care for it much. In fact, in our opinion, the only thing Tucson had going for it was Saguaro National Park. This time we tried out a state park that’s just north of Tucson. Catalina State Park is totally the way to go if you’re going to visit the Tucson area! We loved it!

State Parks are some of our favorite places to stay while exploring an area. One of the best things about them is that you’ve got trails right outside your door. Unfortunately that means you’ve got wildlife right outside your door too. We met this guy (left picture) out on the trail early one morning. He never rattled at us but we gave him a wide berth on the trail. It was also the last time we walked the trails for this park because I was just coming off of the whole “chased by a rattlesnake down the trail” by someone at a previous park and…we’d been told they were getting more active. I like to walk trails, but I don’t like snakes. At all. Not even a little. No thank you. There were tons of these little ground squirrels! (right picture) I had a hard time getting a photo of one because they were in constant motion. This little guy’s home was in our yard for the week. Our cats thoroughly enjoyed stalking all of the little squirrels.

We spent an entire day driving the Sky Island Scenic Byway up Mt. Lemmon. We hadn’t planned on spending the entire day doing it, but there were tons of great pull-offs that had small hikes where we could get out and climb around on some rocks and scenic vista points with amazing views.

We started at around 2000 feet and drove all the way up to 9000 feet. The temps dropped 40 degrees on us. It was 90 in Tucson and 50 at the summit! At the summit is a little ski town called Summerhaven. There were a few shops and restaurants nestled in between all of the ski lodges. We didn’t stick around because it was pretty crowded and we were getting hungry since the drive up took a few more hours than we’d planned. I hadn’t packed a lunch and teenage boys need food…often.

Oh! And just in case I thought hiking wouldn’t be as dangerous up on the mountain vs. the desert trails at the state park…It’s bear country. Bears and snakes?

It was hard to be upset at anything with views like that though. Every corner we turned we were wowed. Even when we were going back down the mountain…we were still wowed.

We made it back to Saguaro National Park! Did you know that the saguaro cactus won’t start growing an arm until they’re at least 75 years old?

The boys had already done the Junior Ranger work at Saguaro NP so this time they did the Not So Junior Ranger work and got a new badge! I believe Nicholas (rvkid04) put up a picture of it on his Instagram if you’re interested in checking it out.

We ended up driving down a dirt road we’d somehow missed the first time (back in 2015) and had it pretty much to ourselves. We stopped at an old CCC picnic area right around sunset. This is the view from one of the picnic areas. (right picture) Not a bad view! We didn’t see any snakes here…but we were being super vigilant about watching for them. Did you know that there are six different species of rattlesnakes in Saguaro National Park? Six!! Because one isn’t enough?!

Let’s talk foodies! When we were in Tucson the first time we all tried the Sonoran Dog. What is a Sonoran Dog? (top middle picture) It’s a hot dog wrapped in bacon topped with mayo, mustard, tomatoes, jalapeno salsa, pinto beans and onions all on a bolillo style hot dog bun. None of us were really impressed last time, but I wanted to give it another try. It was better than last time. I would totally get it again! It was a little sweet though. The bun is a sweet style bun and makes the whole thing almost like a dessert rather than a lunch. We also gave In and Out Burger another chance. (bottom right picture) We first tried In and Out while we were in Carson City, NV and none of us liked it. Not even a little. We’ve spent the last three years wondering what everyone sees in this place. I’ll be totally honest here…I really wanted to give it another try just so I could have this shake. A Neapolitan shake? Yes please! And Guys…it wasn’t as bad as we remembered it to be. And it was cheap! We all ate…and got full…for less than $50! Oh, and the shake…it was worth it. Every week we take one of our boys to lunch. It’s a chance to spend some one-on-one time with each of our boys. While we were in Tucson it was Charles’ week and he wanted New Mexican food. We found a place and boy-howdy…they did not mess around with the spice!(bottom left picture) The restaurant is called Goyita’s and it’s in Oro Valley, AZ if any of you are interested. Everything we had was fantastic! I got the stacked enchiladas and they were as good as anything I’ve gotten in New Mexico. Maybe even a little better.

Ok…I’ve held off as long as I can to talk about the pretties. Everywhere we looked there were pretties just starting to bloom. The ocotillo is a favorite cactus of mine. (bottom left picture) Let’s take a closer look at the ocotillo blooms! (middle right picture) I just love them! They give a splash of bright orange color throughout the Sonoran desert! I also found these little yellow beauties. (top right picture) These were pretty prevalent as well. These guys were at the very beginning of their bloom cycle. (top left picture) I was lucky enough to find three different plants in bloom, but most of them were still tightly closed up.

I have no idea what this bush is, but I love the pink wispy puffs!

We had a great time in Tucson and just like last time, we left with more items on our “to-see” list than when we’d come. Ha!

Until next time, Tucson!

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018