Checking out Tucson, Arizona…

After our short stay at Casa Grande we traveled a bit further east to the city of Tucson where we pulled into Justin’s Diamond J RV Park. Located southwest of the city this quirky park seemed like a great place to wait for the wet, windy and chilly weather to pass through so we are booked for 5 nights.

 

We arrived early enough on Saturday to explore some of the extensive trails adjacent to this RV Park. After walking a few miles I suddenly remembered that our blogging buddies were nearby and leaving on Sunday. So we immediately messaged Jane and John of Flamingo on a Stick to see if they wanted to meet up for a craft beer at one of the local breweries. They replied Yes and walked over to our site to discuss which brewery to visit. What a small world it is even for us RV’ers…

We drove over to the Thunder Canyon Brewery, their favorite one, and shared some stories since we last met in the Florida panhandle about a year ago. Sharon was so happy to see them she couldn’t open her eyes for the photo… We enjoyed a few craft beers along with some light snacks and before we knew it was time to head back. It was such a pleasure reconnecting even for a short visit as John and Jane left the next morning.  We know we will surely see them somewhere else down the road.

Sunday Sharon and I went into the city for a walking tour that we found on the web. The trail length is about 2.5 miles and goes by the name the Turquoise Trail or Presidio Trail. This was a nice way to get to know the city of Tucson. We usually explore cities on Sundays as the parking is usually always free and plentiful. However on this particular Sunday we had to look long and hard for a parking spot as two big events were happening in downtown. One event was a symphony and the other was a monster truck event. This made for some interesting people watching as these were two groups from somewhat opposite ends of the “culture spectrum.”

On the trail we enjoyed several neat sites around the city including the beautiful St Augustine Cathedral, some historic sites, the Hotel Congress (where John Dillinger and his gang once visited), the pink Pima County Courthouse, and the recently restored Fox Tucson Theatre. What a nice and enjoyable stroll we had through downtown Tucson. Since it was around four o’clock when we finished we decided to check out the Barrio Brewery which won the Reader’s Choice Award for the best brewery in 2014. They had a nice Porter but their IPA’s weren’t as tasty as the one I had at Thunder Canyon Brewery.

As we were leaving we decided we should take the drive up to the top of Sentinel Peak. This is the small mountain near downtown that sports the big white “A” .  We were so glad we decided to go as there were spectacular views of the city along the drive up and at the summit. Lots of families were, like us,  enjoying the great weather on that Sunday atop the peak taking in the 360 degree panoramic vistas below.

We have had a great first couple of days prior to the predicted rains expected Monday night.  We really like the scenery in this area and are really hoping we can squeeze in some more time amongst the beautiful saguaros in between storms......