Southwest Road Trip to Tuscon

On Presidents Day Monday, we all piled into the grandparents minivan and headed on a southwestern road trip, complete with all of the unique side stops.

Our first stop was, no joking, the Arizona Nut House

Here they sell, you guessed it, different types of tree nuts but I just thought it was so funny that I literally went inside a nut house.

But not only do they sell nuts, they also have these unique jewelry boxes made out of a tree log. Here's one example of it- they also have a secret drawer in the back of the sliding drawer. Some of them are greatly disguised because they look like a stump.

But don't worry- the $40 for this placed it WAY out of my price range so I will just have to use the beautiful jewelry boxes that I have from Spain and Korea instead.

And what could be a better stop after the nut house . . . THE OSTRICH FARM. Yes, there is a farm that raises ostrich. They even sell their eggs to eat- or you can just buy a decorative one. You could feed the ostrich for $5 each- but William and I decided that it was more fun to watch other people feed- and jerk their hands away- from the eager ostriches. Here is the distant view of the ostrich area with the curious feeders

Its too bad that we weren't over 106 years old and then we could have fed the ostrich for FREE (see sign below). We will have to wait a few years before we come back.

The farm even had these GIANT tractors to take people around the farm to be able to feed the ostrich from different locations. But this tractor is out-of-commission for the moment probably due to the difficulty in changing the tire. Look at the size of that thing!

The scenery on our road trip was actually quite spectacular at times- like this mountain peak

But, my favorite scenery was from Saguaro National Park. I have never seen so many cacti in my life! Just thousands and thousands of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, the photos do not do justice to the great depth that exists and the sheer number of the items.

And here is the fruit of the saguaro cactus- I think that they look like little mini pineapples. It is actually illegal to sell any jams or products made from the flower of the saguaro since it is in a national park. Only Native Americans are allowed to use it. But, you can buy other kinds of cactus jelly if you like (we did not). I did eat cooked cactus when I was in Mexico and it was pretty good- especially since the spines were removed.

I was disappointed with the film that they showed at the visitors center in the National Park. It is definitely one of the WORST NPS films I have ever seen, right up there with the one in Acadia. This video spent 15 minutes showing beautiful photos of the cacti and telling what significance they have to the Native Americans (each cactus is like a person- many actually look like people and have their own unique traits and arms). They said nothing about how long the cacti live, how big they get, how much water they store, how many are in the National Park, nor nothing informative about the park itself. And to make matters worse, the screen was supposed to come up to reveal the sea of cacti and it was stuck. It was very disappointing to say the least- but don't worry, I bought a book that answered most of the questions that I had. The Acadia film was horrible because it was so uninspiring- it literally said "There's nothing really spectacular here at Acadia- no giant waterfalls, mountains, or geysers, but you can just find solitude." The truth is that this park is up in Maine and it is STUNNING- so lush and green and it has mountains, streams, and the BEST popovers in the whole world at Jordan Pond. We went twice in our 2 day stay that's how good they are. Anyways, it is just so TRAGIC to see such awful films because these truly are some of the most amazing places on earth and they deserve to have a film that tells and shows just how great they are.

Our next stop was a small detour to find out about the Desert Museum. It actually cost about $15 a person and we decided that it would be better worth our money to see the Pima Air and Space Museum. But, we did get a free glimpse into some of the neat features- like this bird (I think it is a hawk but she has great coloration)

Or this colorful rock- now I see where beautiful pigments naturally come from.

A few interesting tidbits for a short stop. Then, we traveled through Tuscon to make it to the Pima Air and Space Museum. I kind of like to call it an airplane graveyard- but a very nice one- since this is where all of the old planes retire. There were 2 parts to the museum- indoors and outdoors. Here's a few of a few of the planes from indoors.

The sign said that this "Bumble Bee" plane is the smallest flying plane in the world- I wonder why they gave it that name . . .

William and I had a lot of fun exploring these sample planes. Notice who is ALWAYS in the drivers seat . . . And William is holding on for dear life, just trying to keep up.

This is a BIG engine- William looks really small besides it.

My favorite part of the museum was being able to explore AIR FORCE ONE. We were actually able to go inside the cabins and check out the 1960s luxury. This particular plane was in use from 1961 to 1965 by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Oh No! William's going to poke out his eye . . . but look who is helping him!

And William is strong enough to shake the wing of this B52 Bomber. Good thing none of the museum staff saw him . . .

Besides Air Force One, this was my second favorite plane called "Super Guppy". I actually think that it looks more like Bulgy the whale (Does anyone else remember riding that ride at Lagoon???). And this is a BIG air craft carrier.

I have seen several helicopters, but none quite like this one. Look at how small the cab is! It just really looks off balance- I'm surprised that it is able to stay upright.

As you can see, we had a great road trip to Tuscon and had even better company. Thanks for being such great hosts Grandma and Grandpa and showing us the Southwestern highlights!