Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

It rained overnight and was overcast this morning.  We decided the cooler temperatures would make a visit to one of our favorite places in Tucson a great outing for today.  If ever you plan a visit to Tucson, this is a definite must stop.  It is part botanical garden, part living history museum, and zoo . . . everything desert related.  Our first stop was the Hummingbird enclosure.  What fun watching these beautiful little birds buzz by within inches of you - zoom, zoom.

We were also treated to seeing three occupied nests.

If you look closely in the picture below, you can see the remnant of an egg shell and the long beak of a newly hatched hummingbird.  Mom was already feeding the little darling nectar.  It was pretty amazing that the nests we noticed, were located rather low and within easy viewing of everyone.

Next up was the Raptor Free Flight.  We loved the show last year as raptors are some of our favorite birds.  This time around, the woman discussing the birds was not very articulate and was rather boring.  We did get a nice picture of a Harris' Hawk.

We left before the program was over and decided to walk some more of the grounds.  There are warnings to be on the lookout for snakes but we never saw any that weren't part of an exhibit.  We did, however, run across our first tarantula, alive and not part of any exhibit.

We didn't really see anything new from last year other than the tarantula.  Click here to go to our blog entry from last year if you are interested in seeing more pictures of our visit here.  We did have some occassional sprinkles but it was a lovely day to spend at the museum.

Once we were done, we headed into town to do some shopping.  By the time we headed home it really rained at times.  Thankfully, it waited until the groceries were unloaded from the truck and into the rig before it opened up.  Whew, dodged that bullet.

Downtown Tucson

We attended the weekly meeting here at the park this morning about the planned happenings for the week.  Things are beginning to wind down as the snowbirds are starting to leave for home.  We had a conversation with someone who recommended eating at the downtown location of El Charro as well as the neat walking tour of downtown.  Sounded good to us.  We had eaten at an El Charro location in Marana last year and enjoyed it.  We were wanting to go downtown anyway so this was as good a reason as any to go.  If you are into Gringo food, don't waste your time here.  The flavor and presentation of the food is wonderful.   Another good indication is their salsa - both their red and green salsa were very good..    Here is a shot of the outside of their downtown location. 

After lunch, we took a stroll around the downtown area and ultimately landed at the Visitor's Center where we picked up some information on the sights around town.  The building architecture is very 1950's along with some more modern designs.  I sure like the cloud formations in this shot.

The downtown area is loaded with history, has a lot of green lawn areas, pedestrian footbridges that go over the busy streets so getting around without having to stop at every corner is nice, and uniquely colored buildings.  A mixture of old and new and rather eclectic - we enjoyed the feel of downtown.  While at the Visitor's Center, one of the items we picked up was a brochure on The Presidio Trail.  The brochure details a historical walking tour of downtown.  We would like to take the trail but today it was just too warm and too late in the day to start. 

One building we thought was unique is the Pima County Courthouse.  It was built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.  The eye catching mosaic-tiled dome is impressive as you are looking at it from the back.  The front has a very nice courtyard.

Behind the courthouse is a large park with memorials listing all the citizens of Tucson who lost their lives while serving their country.  Always a very sobering reminder that freedom is not free.

We took this shot from one of the footbridges.  We think it is a nice view as you are looking towards the mountains towards the west and I-10.  Also, can you see the wooden boats on one of  the parked vehicles?  We built a tandem (double) kayak in 2001 so we have much appreciation for the amount of time and hard work that goes into building one.  What we want to know is where are they going to use the boats around here?

Census

The other day I emailed our mail service in South Dakota to inquire about the Census forms.  I was told that they hadn't received any and weren't sure if they would.  I had read somewhere that if you didn't have a "physical address" you would not be sent a Census form.  I then read an email from the Escapees RV Club where they informed everyone that they would NOT be receiving Census forms for their mail clients.  Escapees advised all who could to come to the headquarters in Livingston, TX to complete the Census form or wait until a Census employee came by your campsite to count you in person.  Yeah right, like that was going to happen.  John and I had resigned ourselves that we would be one of the many uncounted citizens of this country just because we don't have a permanent address.  Our address in Madison, SD is our permanent address in our book but I guess the bureaucrats in Washington have other ideas.  I digress.  Anyway, we were sitting outside our rig today enjoying a lovely afternoon, when we were approached by two Census employees.  Go figure.  We were asked the important questions and therefore were counted.  Unfortunately, the way this Census is working is that Arizona will benefit from our count but not the state that we are residents of - South Dakota.  How screwy is that?