Options and trade-offs


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Posted by Ballpark Frank (24.237.94.196) on 22:01:06 04/07/14

In Reply to: Good post! posted by Funkiller

Donna,

If you follow Stick's sage advice, and get out to the Desert Museum early, you will have plenty of time to pay Saguaro West a visit. It's been a while since I've been in the Visitor Center there, so I was unaware of there being petroglyphs. (Or maybe when I learned of it years ago, I was jaded from all the time I spent checking out rock art in Utah.)

It's been quite a few years since I hiked Bear Canyon. I remember it being somewhere between 2 and 4 miles to where we could see the waterfall area on the opposite side of the canyon. Lots of locals were over there, soaking up sun and playing in the water. It was in spring or fall, and there wasn't much water flowing, but there were pools to play in. It was a pretty easy hike, nice and gradual.

If you are into hummingbirds, you will love the exhibit at the Desert Museum. There is one key to maximizing your opportunity to see lots of them. You need to park yourself in one place for a while, and just observe. Gradually, you will start seeing more and more of the little nippers. The last time I was in there, I noticed that certain individuals stayed put in one place for a while, so I started shadowing a few of them, while other people were whizzing around the exhibit, complaining about hardly seeing any hummers. I came to the realization that you have to give your senses a chance to adapt to the environment. After a while, you might be surprised at how close some of those birds come to you.

Now, if you fall in love with hummingbirds (or are already in love with birds in general), there is a famous birding area south of Tucson, just off the interstate that takes you to Nogales. It's supposedly the third most famous birding spot in the U.S., Madera Canyon. We checked the place out back 15 or 20 years ago. Our focus was primarily on finding trogons, and we got skunked on that. Check out the link.

Here's a suggestion for a good place for couples that consist of one Mexican food freak and one not so enthusiastic: La Parilla Suiza. There are 3 of them in Tucson, one way up north on Ina Road, one up kinda north on Oracle, and one on East Speedway. They make fresh tortillas in a centrally located tortilla "factory" in the middle of the restaurant. Their menu has lots of alternative grilled items for those not heavy into Mexican cuisine. They also serve good margaritas. When we used to travel to Tucson on business, we got in the habit of ordering pitchers of margaritas.

Here is a quick editorial on life in the Sonoran Desert. Before I started visiting Tucson with some regularity, I had the preconceived notion that the desert was relatively devoid of life. Back in the 1980s, I had two sisters living down there. One had a house out in the northeast side of Tucson, not far from the Mt. Lemmon Highway. She had an arroyo running behind her house. We would sit out there in the early morning or late in the day, and watch all manner of wild critters come and go, including a plethora of bird species, coyotes, deer, and rabbits. We knew there were more exotic species around, like javelinas and vultures. There were black bears up on Mt. Lemmon. I was amazed at how many different wildlife sounds I would hear. Once I started walking around in the desert, I became even more aware of just how lively a place it can be. The best time of year is spring and fall, so you will be there at prime time for cactus blooms and critters. Enjoy!!

Ballpark




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