We arrived in Tucson today after a short drive from Mesa and spent the afternoon visiting the Sonoran Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park. Our campground, Desert Trails is mostly deserted, which is a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of campgrounds from previous nights. The Desert Museum is actually a combination of botanical garden and zoo, although the garden is not as well maintained as the one we went to yesterday in Phoenix. It is a more "natural" setting and the specimens exhibited are just those that have grown up in the park. The zoo portion has animals native to the area. There were some unique animals that we haven't seen before, like a coati, that is related to the racoon. It had a long tale and a much longer nose than a racoon. I could not get a picture as it stayed back in some brush.
The hummingbird aviary was pretty neat. We were surprised to see so many varieties of hummingbirds. We were a bit disappointed that more animals were not visible, but that is typical for a zoo. Nearing dusk we headed into Saguaro NP. Saguaro cactus are quite unusual. The arms you see form after the plant is 50-75 years old. Many Saguaros in the Park are 125 to 150 years old. Every spring when they reach an age of about 25 they bear a fruit that is harvested by the Tohyonr O'odham Indians for making jams, syrups and wine. Birds peck holes in the outer skin to build nests. As we learned yesterday, the inner wooden core is often used by Indians for building materials.
Saguaro National Park needs some love from the NPS. Trails are a bit rough and unimproved, There is a 5 mile dirt and bumpy loop road that takes you though stands of Saguaro, To us, the park is a forest, except instead of trees it's Saguaro cacti.
October 10, 2011
Today we visited the Desert Botanical Garden near Phoenix This place is awesome. We had no idea there were so many different species of cactus. The cactus is an amazing plant. They all have a wood-like inner structure for support, and a large, shallow root system for collecting minute volumes of water. A falicy is that in the desert, one can slice a cactus and get water. The water is stored in a pulpy material that holds the moisture, but it really is not edible. The pleat pattern you see is to allow for expansion to store water and contract as the water is consumed. Most bloom then form a fruit often used in jams and syrups. The needles on a cactus are for protection, and I would say after closer examination, are effective.
We spent the day with our friend, by going to the Goldfield Ghost Town and Museum near Superstition Mountain. This area of Arizona experienced a gold rush in 1880s with this mine producing several thousand pounds of gold. The mine in this location was abandoned in the 1890s, and as typical they just left, leaving all their junk behind. There are original buildings and equipment, and also some buildings from Apache Land, a movie set used up until the 1990s for Hollywood and TV westerns. Overall, an interesting place.
Its Sunday, what better day to visit Las Vegas. Afterall no one should be in the City of Sin on the Sabboth, right? Wrong! This place was booming with people everwhere. We hit the Pawn Stars shop first thing before the Strip got too choked with cars. Its just like the show, but no Rick Chumlee, or the Old Man. History films there every weekday for 1/2 hour between 9 and 3PM.
We then parked in the MGM Grand garage and walked part of the Strip up to Bellagio. All we can say is wow. This is excess to the max! The shops, like those at Ceasar's, called the Shops at the Forum. Stores like Tiffanies, Gucci, Rolex, and Coach; and people were buying stuff. Maybe their gambling experience was profitable. Fountains and manmade lakes were everywhere, water shortage? These guys did not get the memo. This sure was not the Las Vegas we remembered from the 70s. We walked, about 4 miles up, then back to MGM before heading home. We decided we have now had our Las Vegas experience.
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