San Xavier Mission, near Tucson

On our way out of Tucson, heading south we stopped at the San Xavier Mission.    The mission was one of many opened by Father Kino in his travels through what is now Arizona, establishing missions to convert the natives to Christianity.
We joined a tour group but I had trouble hearing what was being said but the church is a fine example of early mission architecture.  It makes a nice stop.  

View from the roadway

The church in the middle with the mortuary chapel on the left and the  convent on the right

the front of the church

The choir loft 

Statue on the exterior of the central structure

Lovely cupola painted by native hands

It was very serene in the church.  I could have sat there for some time in meditation.  The church is located on Indian land and there is a small community right there with a school that is supported in part by donations from the public.  Donations also help with the upkeep and maintenance of the church.

Hello from Lo de Marcos

I promised I would put some more pictures of our trip to Tucson.  These photos are from the Reid Park Zoo.  It isn't a large zoo but it was fun to see the animals and birds and watch the reactions of others visiting.

Giraffe eating pumpkin; she's a beautiful animal

This is her companion.  She is also filling up on pumpkin

This is the third female at the zoo.  She's enjoying some fresh grass

 This is Herbie the tortoise.  He's not very old because he was quite small

This mysterious creature is actually a slumbering rhino.  We went back  before we left to see if it had moved.  No.

These two didn't see eye to eye about something because they were ready to go at each other's throats.

Something was making him/her mad.  Look at the hair on it's back.  I was happy to be behind  the glass.

No zoo would be complete without a flock of snoozing flamingos

Mama lion watching the crowd watching two of her three babies nursing

Looks like he's still napping

Show's over for today

Just when we wanted to shoot them they moved, but the colours are still wonderful

There were three anteaters here, all in separate compounds.  Wouldn't like to run into them in the dark

These were two sisters.  They are black panthers.  Seen up close and not through glass, their spots  are visible

Hope you enjoyed our trip to the zoo.

Some photos of Tucson attractions before going into Mexico

We've been here in Lo de Marcos since last Thursday, November 17.  We spent some time in Tucson exploring the area and some of the great places to visit.  We went to Biosphere 2, Kitt Peak Observatory,  the Reid Park Zoo and San Xavier Mission.


You can find information on Kitt Peak Observatory and Biosphere 2 on the net so I am just going to give you a camera's view of all of these attractions.

It was a windy day

Path down to the facility

The different climate zones are housed in this huge framework

This area represents the oceans and has a viewing station underneath

This is one of two 'lungs' that are used as life support for the  scientists who lived here in the '90's

Inside the Lung

Outside in the fresh air again

The area is outstanding; high desert and cannot be seen from the highway.  Worth a trip for a guided tour.


Now, some photos of Kitt Peak Observatory which is west of Tucson off of the Old Ajo Highway.  It is on native reservation land and is 12,000 feet above sea level.  The view from up here is truly outstanding and Tucson can be seen on a good, clear day.  Our son and his partner had come up here the winter before and warned us to wear warm clothes.  Good thing we did; as we rounded the last corner to the entrance there was icy snow on the road.  We had a docent (guide) give us a talk about the origin of the Observatory before we went to see some of the telescopes.  We came back from viewing the solar telescope and had another docent give a small talk before taking us to one of the over 20 telescopes in operation at Kitt Peak.  If you want to experience the night sky be prepared to pay big bucks for this experience.  

Kitt Peak 4m telescope seen from as far away as Tucson

Yes, there was snow and it was very cool

A nice view from the solar telescope site
  

The Solar telescope (yes it is)

Inside the viewing room of the 2m telescope

The large white turret is the 4m telescope

Yes folks they have a solar telescope and it is a very interesting huge piece of machinery and mirrors.  After viewing the inside of the solar scope we walked out and around to a small round building that housed the camera that received the images from the sun.  I saw spots, and for a moment thought it was just the floaters in my eyes but I was assured that yes those were sunspots and there was a solar flare happening as I watched through the camera.  The sun is right now at the top of the solar activity cycle, which may or may not account for strange blips on your TV and interference with other communication devices. 


 I would like to point out that Kitt Peak is a teaching observatory and that it is open for the public to use.  If you have something you want to study, you have to submit an abstract with your intentions, etc. and hopefully they will find a telescope that you can use.  One famous amateur actually discovered a comet up here at the Observatory.  His last name was Levy.


I'm going to sign out now, but I'll be back tomorrow with the trip to the zoo photos in another blog.

Hello from San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

 We arrived in San Carlos, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico on November 11, 2011 after crossing the border at Nogales, Mexico.  We spent some time at the border getting our papers in order and paid for.  Included are our visitor visas, and our vehicle registration stickers.  I won't go into details because it can be complicated to explain, but we finally got on the road about noon and arrived four and a half hours later in the seaside town of San Carlos.  San Carlos is located on the Sea of California, across from the Baja on the mainland of Mexico.  It is a popular stop for touristos/as on their way south to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and beyond.
There was a detour that was clearly marked with orange signs pointing the way around construction in  Hermisillo for those travellers going to Guaymas.  San Carlos is next door, so to speak.  The detour only took about half an hour and was very easy to follow.

We are staying at Totanaka RV park again.  We were here in March 2010 and 2011.  We had supper at a restaurant across the road from the park where I tasted my very first margarita.  Yes, my first!   I am not normally an imbiber of alcoholic spirits but tonight there were three grande margaritas on the table for four poeple and I shared one with hubby.  Tequila itself not so nice but I can see why folks can get really drunk on margaritas.  Tastes like sody pop.  lol.  

Saturday morning we did the usual; breakfast, then hubby and I took a drive around San Carlos; which didn't take very long.  We came back to the rig and had some lunch then went out again.

Hubby and I and our 'winter friends, Bev and Vic', wanted to visit the Delfinario so off we went.  First up was the sea lion show.  I was chosen to be the 'girlfriend' to the elder sea lion.  I am up for some fun today so into the (sea) lions' den I walked. 

Mavey entering the Lions den

Thank goodness the trainers both spoke English so I could understand what they wanted of me.  I got to touch this big guy and I even got a kiss.  I was told I could kiss him on the lips but declined (and not very politely either), lol.  It was a real treat to do this and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice he felt.  He's not slimy at all.  This show was great.  Just don't stand too close to the pool.  You might just get wet!! (Like I did).

Mavey getting a smooch 

After this half hour show we were escorted over to the dolphin pool.  There were six dolphins in this pool and they put on a great show.  Below are some photos.

Waiting for a treat before the trick

walking backwards

 balancing act 

Taking their trainer for a ride.

Relaxing after the show; what a beauty

All in all this was a delightful show and I'd go back in the blink of an eye.

Tomorrow we are on our way again.  We will likely get to Los Mochis and stop for the night.  Later...

From Quartzsite to Tucson - a week has gone by so fast

On Saturday, Oct 29 we packed up Dos and Dolly and headed east to the Phoenix, Mesa area with an overnight stop at Saddle Mountain RV resort in the dusty little hamlet of Tonopah, AZ.  It was a very nice park with very friendly folks.  A large park with lots of open spaces but I'm sure they'll fill up pretty quick now that November is here.  I wondered why the buildings on the property looked a little derelict and empty and met a lady cleaning up the laundry room and asked her about them.  Apparently the motel like structures were built there after the RV park.  The rooms were like dorms and housed workers building the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station that is not too far away from Tonopah.  After the station was built the buildings were kept there for the maintenance crews who come in to do maintenance work on the power station.

lots of room at the inn

this saguaro is very old and needs a little support just like we do sometimes.

I have only one concern about the RV parks we've been staying at; no shade or very little shade for our rigs.  Otherwise most of the parks have been very clean and full of friendly folk.  I just don't know why northerners want to plant themselves out in the middle of nowhere in the desert with the dust and wind blowing.  Give me the ocean anytime. 

The next day we moved on to Mesa and found the Palm Gardens RV resort at 2929 E. Main Street in Mesa. 

The entrance is very small and easy to miss.

This is a well established resort with lots of park models and mobile homes that are kept in very nice condition.  There are quite a few owners who live there all year round.  Between the permanent homes spaces are left for the snowbird travellers who have not yet found their winter homes and we were one such family.  I had a laundry room and bathrooms right across the street from our site.  It was so nice not to have to travel a hundred yards or more to find the washroom facilities.   We stayed here two night, Oct 30 and 31st. 

We were invited to the Hallowe'en party on Oct. 31 in the community hall so we decided to get a free meal.  The hall was just one row behind us but we had to go around to get to it but when we got there we just laughed.  The room had tables set up all around the perimeter and most of the seats were taken by folk who obviously knew each other or they wouldn't have been all dressed up in the costumes they wore.  Wouldn't you know I didn't bring the camera.    We sat down and at once folks around us were asking where we were from and if we were staying the winter.  The dinner was chili, cornbread and cream puffs for dessert.  The chili was really good and spicy and although I'm not a cornbread fan, this cornbread was spicy and sweet at the same time.  Yummy.  The cream puffs are superstore variety.  After dinner they started to play games.  I felt a little silly watching them, so we left not long after dinner.

This was another very friendly park.  The managers went out of  their way to make us feel comfortable and even moved us to the site next to the one assigned to us so that our rig wouldn't be scratched up by the nice shady trees along the edge of the next lot.

While we were in Mesa we did a lot of running around.  We found a fuel filter (after much running around) for Dos and would have bought two of them, but they were $60.  a piece for a filter that is not very big.  We'll buy one when we come back through on our way home. 

I found a Joann Fabric and crafts store almost right behind a great Chinese buffet.  I picked up about three yards of very nice material to make little heart shaped pillows for breast cancer patients to put under their arms to keep the weight off their incisions.  More on that when I start making them.  I'll get the pillow batting in Mexico.

We started to use our water filter we picked up at Camping World in Henderson.  The water in Arizona is awwwwful; the filter takes a lot of the taste out. 

On November 1, 2011  11-1-11  we packed up and got outta town.  Our next stop was the Sunscape RV Resort east of Casa Grande, AZ.  It took about an hour to get there from Mesa.   It is another one of those stops in the desert.  Across the highway is a golf (?) course.  We drove over there to see it.  It is more a green tee box and green on each hole with desert in between the two.  We set up Dos and hopped into the car and drove into Casa Grande (about 16 miles west).  We passed lots of fields of cotton.  Now that is a dirty dusty job working in the cotton fields; and they have modern machinery making all  the dust.  Doesn't help that it is so dry out there.   It seems to me that they are planting their crops so that they are growing some, harvesting some, planting some, and having the land lay fallow.  I can understand the dust storms being created out here. 

We looked for Food City supermarket and found one on Florence Blvd.  It was full of all kinds of interesting foods.  There were a lot of Mexican/American shoppers and the produce and foodstuffs indicated that they were the main customers.  If you are south this way and looking for good prices on produce shop Food City markets.  They are much cheaper than the Fry's or Albertsons, etc.

I'll be back soon with some photos and more info on the trip from Casa Grande area to Tucson.  Later my friends.