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Fiesta de Saguaro is TODAY at Saguaro National Park East. It's a celebration of Hispanic culture complete with food, music and dance. Looks like a great day to get out and enjoy the park. Another beauty of living in Tucson is our access to the University for many different opportunities. The UA operates telescopes on Mt Lemmon and this month you can take part in one of their Sky Nights. Bundle up though, cause it will be chilly up there. In Tucson with have the Sweetwater Wetlands, in Sierra Vista there's the EOP which also attracts wildlife. The Sierra Vista Environmental Operations Park (EOP), also known as the
waste water treatment plant, is open for bird walks each Sunday morning.
The walks take about 2 hours and are led by docents from Southeastern
Arizona Bird Observatory (SABO), Huachuca Audubon Society (HAS) and the
Friends of the San Pedro River (FSPR).
Info here.
Spring training has begun. If your year starts with the sounds of "Play Ball!" this is the place for you. Cactus League information can be found here.But you could just spend the next week to 10 days driving around the desert and enjoying the wildflowers. Wildflowers bloom is such a big deal here that there are wildflower watches and day to day reports. Arizona State Parks provides Ranger Cam, but I think the best reports come from DesertUSA.
Now, I'm off for a walk.
We attended our first camping rally! We have a 1987 23' Airstream Sovereign and belong to the WBCCI, (Wally Byam yadda-yadda). The rally was organized by the 4 Corners Unit. The event was fun and we met great people, but the real star was the campground at Picacho Peak State Park.
We've lived in Tucson over 20 years and have visited the park on day trips several times. We even drove through the campground one time and thought we'd be back, we just didn't know it would take so long. The Park has been undergoing improvements and currently a new visitor center is being built. The camper restrooms are large and very clean. The showers are huge with plenty of room for all the shower necessities and to keep your clothes dry. There was also plenty of hot water. Sites are large with both back-in and pull-through sites. Electric sites are $20/night, no h/u, $12. There is a pull-through dump station with water.
The beautiful views are the best thing about the park but there are also hiking trails and plenty of opportunity to just sit in your chair and watch the changing light on the volcanic rock that is Picacho.
The most unfortunate thing about the Park: I-10 is just a couple of miles away so there is freeway noise but not so much that it marred our stay. The railroad also runs along I-10 so occasionally the you can hear the train horns but I kinda like that.
Picacho Peak was the site of the most significant Civil War battle to take place in Arizona. This is re-enacted annually in March. Picacho is also one of the best places to see our beautiful wildflowers in the spring.
Our 2 weeks of winter is here and there should be a white Christmas on Mt Lemmon! I read the forecast on azstarnet this morning and there were 3 comments: "Still beats Chicago!" "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" and "Ahhhhh - when are we gonna hit 80 again?" That pretty much sums it up. If you plan to be in Tucson during the spring, this rain will help to provide you a fantastic desert wildflower display.
On Monday, Howard from RV-Dreams posted about his hike along the San Pedro. His group visited Charleston, another ghost town a bit south of Fairbank and he has pictures posted. I also found an interesting site related to the Clantons (of OK Corral fame) that has maps and a short history of Charleston. As I look at the map and try to imagine a whole town that once existed but is no longer there, it causes me to wonder how the residents of Charleston or Fairbank celebrated Christmas.Hope yours is Merry!
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