Arizona

South Forty RV Ranch in Tucson was our home location from Feb. 11 to March 10. It was a nice spot within the city limits; close to a lot of shops, restaurants, hiking and miles of paved bike paths. We went on several long bike rides, 2 were 24 miles, the longest we had ridden to date. The rides tended to begin with a gentle incline uphill which made for a slow but beautiful ride as we passed a lot of flowering cacti and got closer to the mountain foothills. The return back was much faster as we went downhill! On one ride we came across a brewery, Dove Mountain, at an intersection and decided to stop in for a quick break.
We went on 5 hikes in national and state parks. The first hike was 6 miles in Saguaro National Park where we saw a lot of cacti, several areas with petroglyphs and passed by an abandoned gold mine. Debra and her friend Bert came into town for a few nights and we all went to Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson, Az. We did a short hike in the morning then toured the cavern in the afternoon. It’s immense and the story behind it is interesting as the 2 men that found it went to great lengths to keep it a secret until they could get it approved as a state park. The stalagmites and stalactites were large and beautiful; the most interesting ones were long, multicolored horizontal stalactites known as “bacon”. Unfortunately no photos were allowed. That night we went to dinner at “Grumpy’s”, known for its hamburgers and happy hour. Kevin and I liked it enough to go back another night.
The third hike was an attempt to to see the falls in Sabino Canyon, part of Coronado National Forest. The “Seven Falls” hike starts at the visitor parking lot with about 2 miles of easy flat path. After that you switchback over a stream 6-7 times; the depth depending on the amount of rainfall and snowmelt. The water level was low enough that we could easily cross on rocks. After about 3.5 miles the climb becomes steeper and the switchbacks more pronounced. During this trip Kevin taped up the toe on his hiking boot as the sole was pulling apart. A short while later he was behind me and noticed my right sole was halfway pulled off and flapping like a flipflop. He taped that up with medical tape and it did not hold well. At 4 miles, with a half mile to go to see the falls we decided to turn back; that proved to be a good decision as my left sole started to pull off and before we got to the bottom it had completely fallen off . After hiking a total of 7.5 miles we caught the shuttle back to the parking lot for the last 1.5 miles. It was a good hike but very hot and more strenuous than I thought it would be.
We traveled to Sedona via car with a one night stay in a small independently owned motel; the only one we could find that allowed dogs. It was ok, close enough to walk to town and with a nice view. Sedona is about 3 hours from Tucson and worth the side trip. The mountains are as pretty as the pictures depict and the town, while crowded, is a nice small town with a lot of restaurants and shops. We hiked about 3 miles both days enjoying the views. On the drive there we stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument; ancient cliff dwellings 90 feet up from the base of the cliff dating back to 1125-1395 AD. There is one section that is amazingly still intact given the age.
We visited Pima Air and Space Museum with an exhibit of 400 historic aircraft. We saw a lot from WWII, Vietnam, all military branches, NASA, Russian, Japanese and several exhibits about people, various war time missions and heroic efforts.
The RV park was in a good location being close to a lot, including an REI where we both bought new hiking shoes! We played pickleball several times and met another couple that live in Michigan, Dave and Bev, whom we hope to visit when we travel there.Read more