Part 3 - Star-i-zona.

Part 3 - Star-i-zona.

Before we even reached the Eastern boundary of the Tucson city limits we began to see the Saguaro Cactus rising high above the desert floor with a backdrop of several mountain ranges that surround the city. After dodging impatient drivers all the way across town, we finally made it to our destination. Desert Trails RV Park on the West Side of Tucson. This place used to be a water park and here is a view from the top of what used to be a water slide.

Bugzy was happy to be out of the truck and back in his home on wheels.

Our new home bordered Tucson Mountain Park, and was accessible by several trails leaving our park.
We were brave enough to go explore the trails the first night, once it had cooled down. The stars were like nothing we had ever seen, and later on, we found out that Arizona had a pretty fitting nickname.
Star-i-zona!!!

There were some great things about this location. You can leave the park on your bike and ride through the Sonoran desert on miles of trails. The trails were marked by painted rocks that pointed you back to the RV parks and neighborhoods where the trails began.

Jenny was actually happy to have found a Tarantula out on the trails at Tucson Mountain Park. She didn't get too close to take this picture though.

We learned a lot about the local plants while we were here, thanks to several plaques marking the different species. Trees and shrubbery such as Paloverde, Creosote, Ironwood, and Mesquite had become familiar to us.

We also got to know the differences between Cholla, Staghorn, and Saguaro cacti as well as which parts were edible. Tucson mountain park was amazing, and we took lots of pictures.

I don't think this was a real grave, but who knows. 

Someone spent lots of time putting the rocks into this trippy spiral pattern. Was Jim Morrison here?

Here is a Scott imitating the many Saguaro that loomed over the desert trails.

One of our favorite places in Tucson Mountain park was the Ironwood Picnic area. You could reach it from the trails that left our RV park. It was named after the giant Ironwood tree that shaded the last of many picnic areas that edged up to the road through the park.

 Here is Luna enjoying some of that shade from her picnic table perch.

We took a drive through scenic Gates Pass the day before Scott's job started. Beautiful sunset views from up there.

The Sonoran Desert was an amazing place that we instantly fell in love with. The mountains surrounding the Tucson area were a beautiful backdrop, but we wanted to explore them further. Stay tuned for our review of Desert Trails RV Park and some of our mountain adventures.

If you just came across our blog, here is a link to our previous article.

Part 2 - Road Trip!!!

Here is a link to the next article, a review of Desert Trails RV Park:

Part 4 - Desert Trails RV Park