Tucson

Our day in Tuson has been really good.  We decided that since the place is so spread out, and there were a few things we really wantd to see, that we would hire a car for a day.  That turned out to be a great decision.

Our first point of call was the Arizona Sonora Desert Musem.   It was highly recommended, and it is a bit of a misnomer.  It is not really a museum but a real live desert environment - a 1.6km walk on paved trails, and a 1km walk on a pathway through the desert.  This is a fascinating place, and despite the heat (90+ degrees), it does not feel as appressive as similar temperatures at home. We wandered the trails for hours, seeking out and finding a host of desert animals, including coyote, ocelot, bob cats, prarie dogs, hevelinas, rattle snakes, tarantuals, wolf spiders and pythons to name a few.  The closeup views of the various species of cactus, and the giant saguaros and the skeletons of dead saguaros were fascinating. There is so much life in the desert.  It was a fascinating few hours.  We enjoyed it immensely.

From there we moved on to Old Tuscon - a town built for the movies in the 1950's, including lots of John Wayne movies, sets for Little House on the Prairie and many more.  The movie momorabilia was good, but thats about where this place ended.  The rest was a tacky cash grab reminiscent of Old Sydney Town or similar.  We didn't spend long there.

Our next destination was the San Xavier Mission - a beautiful Catholic Church set in the middle of the San Xavier Indian Reservation.  The church has been really faithfully kept and is a credit to the priests and the local parishoners.

Having the hire car made things really easy to find a good restaurant for dinner - BJ's was a great venue, and we retired early after a vey busy and enjoyable day.

We are getting really confident now driving on the right hand (wrong) side of the road, and we have not had any close calls to date.  Lets hope that continues.

Tomorrrow we head towards El Paso.