Monday 15 July – Sunny and 14 Celsius. Left about 6:30 in the morning and drove to Prince of Tucson RV park in Tucson, Arizona. We had site 123 and it was a nice gravel site. This is a big park and quite nice, lots of permanent settlers here.
Forgot on our way here, we had to go through another Border Patrol stop and show our identification. And they had dogs! I wanted to pet one but I was pretty sure the answer was going to be NO. I’m just joking about that, I know better. But as Canadians, we were not used to this.
We set up and headed out to Biosphere 2 which is about 22 miles away. And coincidentally cost $22 each to get in! So Biosphere 2 is an American Earth System Science Research Facility. The Biosphere 2 Science Program basically addresses responses to environmental change. They used models to simulate the biological, physical and chemical processes to predict responses to these changes. It’s very scientific and very interesting. And this is a huge place, covering approximately 3.1 acres. I don’t know who remembers, I vaguely remember this……..back in 1991 a crew of eight sealed themselves inside and lived there for two years. They were able to grow 80 per cent of their own food, among other things, and some say it was a success and some say it was a failure. But regardless, it’s extremely interesting and I think something that should be given greater research and thought.
We walked around quite a bit on our own until 1 o’clock and then our tour started. We had a fantastic tour guide whose name was Orville and he had a great voice. This is such an interesting place about self-sustaining modules. 2 ½ acres sustained by 3 1/2 acres underground.
After that we went to Saguaro National Park East. Interesting fact, it is Saguaro is pronounced Suh-waa-ro. It was $20 to enter but……. we have a parks pass so we didn’t pay anything! The US National Parks pass is worth the cost ! I may have mentioned that 15 other times………….
This is a beautiful drive, lots of Saguaro cactus. We drove around for probably an hour taking photos.
Afterwards we decided to go to Pueblo Vida brewery. This brewery was recommended by my Instagram friend Wizard_of_ Za. If you live in Arizona, follow him on Instagram for all the best pizza and beer places. He has a lot of information and photos.
Back to Pueblo Vida! This was a cute place with nice beer but they didn’t do flights. I like flights so we can try a variety of beer and not have too much. I ended up having a glass of IPA. So that is the only one I got to try.
Sidenote: So for those that are not aware of what a flight or taster tray is…. here’s the description. You get, usually, 4, 5 or 6 glasses of different beers to try. Each glass is only 4-6 ounces. Clint and I usually share a flight so we aren’t talking about chugging down a lot of beer! I know people think we visit a lot of breweries but 24 ounces, give or take, split between two people is really nothing. That’s my story…………….
Back to Pueblo Vida! Again………. We got talking to a couple and they recommended Riley’s pizza which was a couple of blocks away. We walked over there and shared a cauliflower appetizer and then a Roman pizza which was sausage, cheese, peppers etc. It was a really good pizza with a nice thin crust. Then we shared some kind of salty caramel pudding dessert. Great restaurant and the inside is really warm and welcoming. Thanks to the couple that recommended it.
Tuesday 16 July – sunny 43 Celsius. Up and left at seven for the Desert Museum which opens at 7:30. We were there until 11:30 and it was $22 each to get in but it was worth it. It’s mostly outdoors and we went very early in the morning because it gets so hot here. Imagine Arizona in July…………..HOT! They have terrific exhibits and I saw 2 javelinas and assorted other animals and birds. I had never even heard of Javelinas until this trip. This is a very cool place (not literally cool cause it was stinking hot) and we really enjoyed it. Lots of walking but it was quite pleasant and lots to see.
After that we went to Saguaro National Park West for another drive. More cactus were here but it’s not as nice as the east side. This side is a little more manicured and the East side is more rugged.
We stopped at Old Tucson Studios but they are closed until the weekend and we won’t be here. I got a picture of the water tower from the road. It’s an old movie set. I was disappointed as I like places like this.
On to San Xavier Mission and we walked the grounds there and went through the museum and the church. It’s very ornate and they are still doing restorations. It was so hot that day.
Crooked Tooth Brewery is next on our agenda; cute place but no flights so we had a glass each, I had the 18th hour IPA which I enjoyed. IPA’s being my favourite kind of beer.
Then to Taps and Bottle where they don’t make beer, but they have everyone else’s. I can’t remember but I think I had a Dragoons beer and it was good, Clint had a Belching Beaver. I think he chose it for the name…….
On to Borderlands Brewery. This is an old building by the railroad tracks. It used to be a horse and saddle/harness place. We sat at the bar and shared a flight, it was okay beer. We got talking to the young girl behind the bar, she has been to India and we were there November 2018. We had a really good chat with her about all the different sights we all saw in India.
Then we left for 1702 Brewery and had a pizza and a salad. The salad was good and the pizza was okay.
Off to Phoenix tomorrow !
