Monday, March 10, 2014

Day 40–Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona

 

After our day of cleaning it is on to another place to tour. On our way to the Sonora Desert Museum we stopped at the Justin’s Diamond J RV Park about 10 miles from our current location. To our surprise it was quite a nice park that backs up to both the national and state parks. The sites are wide and level with full hook-ups and great views of the mountains. We went in to speak to the owner and were pleased to hear that they not only accepted Passport America but would increase the number of days from  2 to more depending upon our length of stay. The park is not a “resort” so does not offer a fancy pool or a special activity center but the location is perfect and of course the views and price are great as well. We will be staying there for  five days. I can’t believe we will have  been in Tucson for a total of twelve days by the time we leave on Sunday. There has been so much to see and do here.

We arrived at the Desert Museum around 10:30 am. The day started out with Ron experiencing pain in his right knee, significant enough that he was limping. The old age/arthritis thing is rearing its ugly head for both of us.

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We stopped at the reptile demonstration and got to pet a very pretty snake.

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The outdoor Museum is very large covering 21 acres so we had to sit down and map out our approach.

 

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Our first stop was at the Cat Canyon where we watched as a Bobcat was trying to figure a way to get at the squirrel tormenting her on another ledge.

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The exhibits were spread out though the park so there was a lot of walking up and down hills. By the end of the first hour Ron was doing better  and I was not doing well at all. The pain and tightening in my right knee and calve was making it very difficult to walk. UGGG!!! Not again!!!. I feel like a broken record and a decrepit  old person.

We kept plugging along because there was so much to see.

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We stopped in the aviary to check out the birds. We could hear them but not see too many of them. Later at the Hummingbird  Aviary we enjoyed seeing the little, speedy birds flying around.

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It is still early but there were a few of the cacti beginning to bloom their Spring flowers.

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Then there was Life Underground:

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We stopped at the bees nest to observe the non-stinging bees.

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The place is huge and there were a lot of hikes available that we decided to skip because it would involve more walking up and down hills. We did want to see the Raptor demonstration so made our way back to that area.

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The demonstration was pretty cool with the birds flying over our heads on command  then perching themselves on the cacti looking  for food.

On our way out we stopped at the aquarium  to see if they had any unusual sea life on display. Yes they did!!

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  After finishing our tour we decided to take a ride to the adjacent Saguaro National Park. We opted not to hike but just stop to look around. We went inside and watched the intro video that was quite good.

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The view from the back of the visitor is quite spectacular. The number of cacti is amazing. Other then difficulty walking it was still a good day.

Back at the MH  I elevated  my leg and took 1/2 of a pain pill. Haven’t  had to take one of those in months.  Fortunately within an hour  the pain in my leg was relieved. Yeah!!! Ron’s knee was once again feeling fine.

Tomorrow we will be moving to Justin’s Diamond J RV Park. Not sure what else, if anything we will be doing, but are looking forward to another beautiful day.

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