Our first impressions of Tucson were pretty fantastic. It’s a beautiful, clean city that sits in a valley between mountains. Our RV park (LazyDays KOA) was incredibly clean and nice. It was a little pricey, but it had loads of amenities: citrus trees between each RV to two swimming pools (necessary in the heat) to multiple dog runs and even a restaurant/bar on site. It was indeed a great place to be parked for a week.
The lemons growing in the RV park were huge compared to store bought ones. (Also they were delicious.)
Scott had to make a two day work trip back to Houston, so the kids and I set out to explore Tucson. Our first order of business was the desert museum on the way to Seguaro National Park.
This bird reminded me of the vulture that took out our passenger side mirror.
The museum was more like a zoo. The animals and plants however were all native to the area. They were all located in what appeared to be a native habitat that someone threw some fences up around. It reminded me of the San Diego Zoo on a small scale.
Goofballs at the desert museum. Amazing backdrop!
We saw a wolf, several havelinas, loads of reptiles, and even a bear. Sadly we were unable to spot the coyotes, but that’s good thing as it means the coyotes had loads of space to run around and hide in. The “museum” was a must-do for visitors in the area.
Another obligatory handstand.
On down the road about 15 minutes, we arrived the national park. Again, the kids were able to complete their junior ranger duties. We took the scenic loop drive and were stunned by how beautiful the seguaros are but also how captivating the scenery all around was.
The kids next to an ocotillo (my favorite of the cacti) and a Seguaro. Seguaros need to be about eight feet tall to bloom and are around 75 years old when they sprout their first “arm”.
We were fortunate to be arriving just as some of the seguaros were beginning to bloom and several of the other cacti were showing off their flowers.
Another first for us in this park was the opportunity to see petroglyphs for the first time. There was a large school group in the area that we happened to stop in, so we were unable to get very close to admire the history in front of us, but it was still exciting.
A little difficult to spot, but there are some petroglyphs on the rocks.
We finished off our field trip with some really good sushi in northeast Tucson. It was, by all measures, a very successful intro to Tucson.