Terrific Tucson!

Daily temperatures for two weeks (February): Highs: 82, 76, 51, 60, 70, 76, 73, 66, 58, 53, 63, 71, 73, 74. They are all over the place!

Lows: 43, 35, 36, 41, 43, 45, 40, 32, 30, 35, 40, 44

Site: 3-150, pull through, Voyager RV and Golf Resort, Tucson, AZ, visit #2.

Good T-Mobile mifi, good AT &T hotspots on our iPhones

What a difference between southern Arizona (Yuma) and more north-(Tucson)! Yuma was actually very hot during the daytime the last couple of days we were there--high 80's. Sparky loves the cool nights, Eldo, not so much. As long as the day time temperatures don't get as cold as the nights, he can live with that.

We are glad to be back at the beautiful Voyager RV and Golf park in Tucson that has lots of amenities--beautiful lounging area outside, several pools, terrific workout room, many classes offered, many interest groups offered, crafting rooms and shops--Sparky would use some of them if we were staying a longer time, but we are only staying for two weeks. With our Thousand Trails membership, it's 20.00 a night. Can't beat that!

Tucson is a beautiful city with lots of culture, sculpture, art installations and great restaurants.

The Visitors Center is beautiful, too!

Visitors Center Complex downtown Tucson

There are murals around town....

It just seems like a vibrant city on first inspection. We can't wait to explore it more when we come back next year for a longer stay.

downtown near visitors center

Sparky is back on the Loop Trail...Explored some new sections with different artwork. Sparky went on a different side of town to pick up the Loop Trail and the trail went very close to the town center. More street crossings this time and a more urban feel to the trail.

Much of the art installations this time were centered in a children's park.

Beautiful purple prickly pear cactus along the way....

A glimpse of the beautiful concrete bridge work all over Tucson and nearby surrounding areas....But it's different designs everywhere, this is just one floral theme in a particular area.

Eighteen mile ride today...Saw a lot of wonderful art, got lots of fresh

air, great exercise and experienced cloudless skies. The Chuck Huckleberry Loop, (131 miles total) has a lot of different "looks" to it. There are very urban sections, country sections, remote sections, memory garden sections, (see previous blog post about the memory gardens in the Loop) wash sections, and it gives you a wonderful glimpse into the culture of Tucson. There are three different types of maps you can get about the bike trail, The Loop. They tell you all the details about where the art is, and the important park trailhead, connecting spurs and how to access different portions of the Loop Trail. This is one of the best bike trails Sparky has experienced. Here is a glimpse of one of the more remote sections of the trail, where you have desert on both sides of you, yet a roadway is not that far off to one side, in case you need assistance. The Loop is a two lane, paved, dedicated bike trail, no motorized vehicles allowed.

We drove to Mount Lemmon for a second time to see if there was snow. There was! But not as much as last visit. Mount Lemmon is about 9,000 feet in elevation at the very top, with a ski resort there, too. We love the Windy Point Vista pull out area. So fun to climb across LEVEL boulders and get wonderful views of the valley below. It looks scarier than it is, not scary at all.

We are to get a cold front and a half day of rain here in the valley, bet Mount Lemmon will get a BUNCH of snow!  Forecast for Mount Lemmon is 6-8 inches! (Note: After the cold front passed through and it rained here at the park, Mt. Lemmon was closed to all vehicles the next day except for all wheel drive  and four wheel drive vehicles.) Time for a drive up the mountain again! It's a 25 mile scenic drive and awesome!

And that is our second Tucson visit for now....Sparky's brother Charlie, is coming for a quick visit and we are going to do some awesome hiking and biking, all in a day and a half! And then we leave early this week, heading for Texas. Come back and see us for our last great trail hike in Tucson! Bye for now.......