The Long Arm of a Cactus

Hello from the land of Saguaro's (sah-wah-rohs). I have to say, every single time I'm in Tucson, I feel like I'm home. Maybe I was a Saguaro in a previous life. I'm prickly enough at times.

HikerGirl and I took off on a grand adventure around Tucson. The MomUnit mapped out our path so we wouldn't get lost. Map in hand, HikerGirl as the navigator (which I found out way into the trip she hated) and we were off. Our first stop was Gate's Pass to look out over this valley that looked as if it went on forever. HikerGirl got the hiking bug and up she went to an outlook, then she came down and drug me up. I'm glad she made me. It was beautiful.

The drive up to this vista was beautiful as well. Saguaro's line the hill side and look to be little fingers sticking out of the ground. These cactuseseses (cacti's? cacti? whatever the plural of cactus is) absolutely fascinate me. I learned something this trip too about these lovelies. A saguaro may grow an arm every 50-75 years. So when you see one in the area that has 5 arms it's average age is 160 years old. Oy-vei that's old. They grow on average just an inch a year, but that depends entirely on the moisture they were able to store. Some saguaro's are 30 feet tall here. There's been a few I've stood next too and they appear to be almost two stories high, I swear. These trees (and yes they are trees) line the slopes of the mountains here like pine trees do in Washington. They're everywhere. And of course, I've named everyone of them Ned.

After wandering through the desert and hiking a wee bit we were famished. I mean since we've done nothing but eat the entire time we've been here, it had been about 2 hours since we last ate. So off we went. First we had to stop and see the San Xavier de Bac. This mission was established in 1699 and is still in use today. In fact, we got there in time for mass. Which was unfortunate in that we couldn't go inside to see how beautiful it was. The front of the mission was also being renovated so I couldn't get the money shot I had planned.

Finishing there, we headed north again to historic Tucson and hopefully a place to eat. When I read about historic Tucson I was so excited to walk through all the old buildings and see history everywhere. I figured since it was a tour trap it would be packed and so braced myself for all the people milling about. Getting a little lost, or "misguided" at first, we eventually what we found. We drove right through it the first time not realizing it...that's how small it was. Oh and have I mentioned it was a ghost town? Not a soul in sight. No one. We just shrugged our shoulders,looked to the left and there was El Charro's Mexican restaurant. Home of the chimichanga...so they say. Apparently the chimichanga was an accident, and the word chimichanga means thingymajig. Either way, we had the BEST food I've had in a Mexican restaurant in a long time. Delicious!

From there we headed to Catalina State Park for some hiking. The sun was starting to set and we were due home for, you got it, dinner. So HikerGirl and I walked through a trail and ended up at a river - no lie - water was running through it. We walked have the way out and couldn't go any further. So we turned around and took another path. Walked about 15 minutes marveling at the nature around there. Turned and saw an entire ridge of saugaros. Loads of them.

Today is Christmas Eve so The DadUnit and I are headed out for our traditional shopping and lunch. He's been very cranky this year so far so this should be interesting.