Every year we're going to aim for three big trips -- one during Spring Break, one mid-summer, and one during Fall Break. So, for our big Spring Break trip this year, we went to sunny Tucson, Arizona, to (1) see the sights, (2) get some sun, and (3) GET MARRIED. Number 3 was kind of a bust, but we did do numbers 1 and 2, which made it a great trip! Here's the details.
The casita
We stayed in a cozy, adorable airbnb, which was on a big plot of land and had beautiful front and back outdoor spaces. The casita was probably my favorite part of the trip! Here are some pictures:
Staying at an airbnb with a kitchen was perfect for us because it allows Jac to do his magic! We ate out a few times on this trip, and every time it was an expensive disappointment compared to what this man can do!
My favorite part of the casita was the outdoor areas. We tried to spend as much time as possible out there, playing games:
eating Jac's yummy dinners:
relaxing with chai tea on the swing chair:
Here's the sunset we enjoyed that night:
Mesa Verde National Park
En route to Arizona, we swung through southwest Colorado to visit Mesa Verde National Park and see the astonishing cliff dwellings of the ancestral Puebloans.
In total, there are over 4,000 ruins, including 600 large cliff dwellings, all dating back to around 550AD.
It was fun to notice all the little details and smaller structures together, and to imagine what life was like for the people who built them and lived there!
Here's a far away shot, showing how the little communities were tucked into alcoves in the mountain -- protected from nature and invasion, but surely a challenge to get into and out of each day!
And just a few more shots -- with us in them to prove that we really did go there. :)
On the way down from the mesa, we stopped so Jac could get a picture in front of this sign and send it to his lifelong best friend Skip Chapin. :)
Four Corners Monument
This next stop was a quickie, but a must-do-just-once sorta thing. We stopped at the Four Corners Monument to set our feet in the exact spot where four states come together -- I'm in Arizona and New Mexico, Jac is in Utah and Colorado. :)
Salt River Canyon
After a snowy night in Show Low, we continued on to Tucson. Our route took us through the Salt River Canyon--dubbed Arizona's second Grand Canyon on the internet. Huh, yeah, that's kinda overstating it, but it was pretty. Here's a shot:
Biosphere
Finally on the outskirts of Tucson, we stopped to check out Biosphere 2-- the largest closed ecological system ever created. Constructed in the late 80s, it was originally built to test whether a structure like this could support life in outer space.
In fact, once it was completed, a group of people moved in and lived there for TWO YEARS, never leaving and never getting more supplies from the outside. Unfortunately, they ran into a lot of problems including low amounts of food and oxygen, die-offs of animals and plants, and tensions among the resident crew.
After the two years were up, a lot was learned but the experiment certainly did not demonstrate that humans can rush off and build structures like this to sustain life in space!
With this little bit of backstory, we wandered around the Biosphere, skipping the overly-detailed audio guide. It would have been nice to learn more, but each stop was far more detailed than our tiny attention spans could handle :) so we just sorta wandered and looked. Here's some shots:
It was an interesting stop, but we were eager to get to our next stop -- our airbnb! So we hopped back in the car and drove our last half hour to our new home-away-from-home....only to discover that I GOT THE DATES WRONG and we weren't scheduled to stay there for another night. What? Oh no! We laughed it off and then quickly scrambled to find another place to stay. We lucked out with a moderately cheap but nicely remodeled 50s era motel called The University Inn. Silly me!
Downtown Bike Ride
On our first full day in Tucson, we went on a guided bike tour of the downtown area. I thought I had booked e-bikes...nope! (Not doing too stellar on my trip planning at this point, haha). It ended up being just fine, as the area we rode was almost completely flat. Here's us with our bikes:
And here's a bit of what we saw. The downtown area is full of charming, historic buildings that retain the old Spanish character -- like these 150-year-old Sonoran Row houses:
We were the only ones who booked the 9am tour, so we got to move at our own pace, stop when we wanted, ask all the questions my brain could conjure... Here's Jac and our guide chatting it up in front of a beautiful old mansion.
And here's some additional shots:
All of downtown Tucson is full of interesting street art and murals. Here's one I particularly liked:
Love this old 1950s era sign (like Route 66 signs!)
Getting Our Marriage License
After the bike tour, we swung by the Pima County courthouse (which we rode right by earlier on our bikes!) and got our marriage license! Here's Jac filling in his details at the self-serve kiosk:
Then we waited for our turn in line:
Finally our turn! We raised our right hands, swore that the information we entered was 100% truthful, paid our $80...
and walked out with our marriage license, which at that point just needed some signatures (ours, the officiant, and the two witnesses) to be legit. It was happening!!!
Saguaro National Park
Just 10 minutes from our casita, Saguaro National Park is the best place to see not only its namesake plant, the saguaro cactus, but also other species of cacti, grasses, shrubs, flowers, trees, and critters.
There isn't much to do there other than drive an eight mile loop, which we did. It's interesting and pretty, but unfortunately we were there before the major spring bloom. That's when Saguaro NP is truly amazing.
We did catch some early signs of blooms, like those below.
Regardless, it was still an interesting, unique nature experience.
Titan Missile Museum
One morning we headed out early to tour the United States' only remaining Cold War era Titan nuclear missile site. From 1963 to 1987, the United States had 54 top secret Titan missile sites spread all across the US, each manned and ready to launch a retaliatory nuclear attack on the Soviet Union at a moments notice.
After the Cold War ended, all of the sites except this one were decommissioned and dismantled. This site just south of Tucson was kept intact and turned into a museum to give visitors a rare look at the technology used by the United States to deter nuclear war.
and finally reached in the control room. It was like stepping back in time! What was surely the pinnacle of state-of-the-art tech in its day is now kinda funny in how simple and low tech it all looks.
In the command center, the guide explained the stations and the different jobs, and then picked me and another guest to demonstrate a simulated missile launch. I was the assistant commander and sat in the chair on the left. My performance was riviting. :)
So basically, I've turned the key and launched a nuclear missile. Add that one to my resume!
Next we headed to the missile bay to see the real nuclear missile up close (minus the nuclear payload, of course.) That was eerie and awe-inspiring and cool!
And once outside we had another chance to see it, this time from above.
It was a really interesting tour. It's probably an odd thing to do on a honeymoon, but as someone who grew up with the threat of nuclear war always looming in the background, this was a really interesting experience. Jac seemed to agree too. He even bought a souvenir baseball cap, which he looked so cute in!
San Xavier del Bac
We also visited the oldest church in Arizona -- Mission San Xavier del Bac. Built in 1692 (wow!), this mission is really actually quite charming. The exterior of this adobe (yea!) building is beautiful white stucco, making it really stand out in the flat, desert countryside.
But it was the interior that I really liked -- the tiny main cathedral was just PACKED with intricately painted and carved folk art religious images.
It's probably hard to see in these photographs, but each piece of art was really sweet and charming. This place was clearly created with love by unskilled locals, not by great, impressive masters of painting and sculpture (as in the great, 'impressive' European cathedrals).
Despite not being at all religious, I loved the vibe here. Jac, not so much. In fact, he even couldn't be bothered to walk across the parking lot on this one. He just stayed in the car, lol. Guess he was done sightseeing for the day!
Tumacacori
And, that same day we visited another mission that dates to the Spanish colonial era, but this one was just a ruin, not an active church like San Xavier del Bac. Here's some quick shots. We didn't spend much time here.
Inside the museum, they had a diorama depicting what the church looked like back in it's heyday, complete with a congregation of worshippers. I loved this diorama, and stared at it for quite a while. The devotion of the local Native American community back then...was it out of fear or out of genuine faith? I wonder. I hope it was faith!
We did it. We went to Tombstone. Super touristy....but actually really cool! Tombstone is a famous Wild West town, best known for one of the most notorious gunfights in history (at the famous OK Corral), as well as being home to the legendary Bird Cage Theatre (brothel) and numerous famous Wild West Saloons.
where you can still see random bullet holes throughout the building, chipped paint and creaky floor boards, and the balcony where women-of-the-night would stand and try to catch the attention of men down below...
and the worn stairs that the men would ascend to 'conduct their business.'
We did do one SUPER touristy thing. We paid to see a reenactment of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral, between Wyatt Earp and his brothers against a group of outlaws called 'the cowboys'. It was hokey but fun. Sometimes you gotta do the hokey stuff. :)
We also visited Tombstone's Rose Tree Museum to see the world's largest rose tree!!! It was actually pretty amazing. Planted in 1885, the tree is massive, covering nearly 5000 square feet! Here's some pictures showing how massive it is:
We were lucky enough to be there when it was in bloom (March-April each year). I think we need to replicate this in our backyard. :)
On the way back from Tombstone, we stopped in Sonoita -- Arizona's Wine Country -- and visited one of their more popular wineries. We bought a small sampling of their wine (via a wine and snacks pairing platter), sat down to try them out, and wow.... they were bad. So bad. We were kind of shocked to be honest. Needless to say, we did not buy any bottles before we left!
Unfortunately, the rest wasn't quite as interesting. I did like this little piece:
But for the most part, it was a museum of doll houses. Just one doll house after another after another. It was not very interesting actually. Oh well, the pencil led exhibit alone made the visit worthwhile. That was crazy amazing!
After the miniatures museum, we had a nice, relaxing picnic at a park just around the corner from our airbnb. Jac made us some yummy sandwiches:
And then we checked out the park's interesting animals and plants:
The food
As always, a highlight of the trip was Jac's cooking. Here's a few shots of our AMAZING breakfasts and dinners on the trip:
And then in Tucson, we went to the most famous, can't-be-missed, uniquely-Tucsonian El Guerro Canelo to treat ourselves to a "Tucson Dog." With all the hype, we were expecting something AMAZING.
We got our order. It looked amazing. The anticipation was building. It was finally time to sink our teeth into a DELICIOUS Tucson Dog:
Uhhhh, what? $30 for a dry bun, forgettable condiments, and a storebrand quality hot dog. We were NOT impressed.
And here are some last random pictures. We drove by the house Warren and I lived in together just before he died. It's in Anthem, just outside Phoenix. It was sad. I had a good cry. But then I hugged my sweet Jac, and we went on with our trip.
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And Jac's favorite find at Pickle Barrell was this jar of Whoop Ass hot sauce:
