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Me, Bubbles and Gurl had a good trip to Arizona, including visits in Tucson at Homer and staying over in Bisbee with Cobban and Ray. I’ve decided to change Bubbles’ blog name to “Sweetwater” after the sewage treatment facility of the same name. He had apparently been drinking some kind of healthy algae-based health drink that made him poot algae-smelling farts the whole weekend of the trip.

Or maybe it was the good salsa at Rosa’s and El Charro. We ate a lot of good Mexican food along the way and it’s rich, fresh flavors make DC’s Mexican and El Salvadoran fare pale in comparison.

Various photos shown are mostly by Gurl, Sweetwater, Patrick and Homer. I didn’t take many myself as they all had great cameras and I had photos of most of the same taken over the various years I had visited the area. My full collection of photos from the trip is here.

When we arrived we were all a bit tired due to the early flight, but that gave us time to visit the Tucson Presidio (below), much of which was designed by Homer! Here’s me ordering ghosts around by cell phone:

Later that day we joined Homer for dinner at Rosa’s (top pic), the best Mexican restaurant in Tucson, with rich salsa that will keep you drooling for another visit.

With enough time to spare to catch the sunset, we drove over Gates Pass for Bubbles and Sweetwater’s first visit to the saguaro forest. This is me, Gurl and Sweetwater at the Gates Pass overlook:

The next day we returned to visit the saguaros in earnest by hiking up a bit of King’s Canyon trail amongst the cacti and did some birding:

While posing for one photo near the cholla cactus, there was apparently a troll hiding behind the ocotillo bush!

The views were spectacular:

After that I took the dehydrated crew for a snack and romp through the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I liked their cactus garden, where I took this picture of an agave plant in bloom:



As we left the museum I made a new javelina friend:




I wasn’t too crazy about stopping in Tombstone, as Homer had warned me it was a tourist trap, but the historic but not too accurate Boot Hill Cemetery was kind of fun.

Tombstone was a somewhat restored but mostly touristified attraction, but there was great attention to facial hair amongst the historical actors in the town, which made visiting it better. I always thought Kurt Russel’s ‘stache in the movie “Tombstone” was hot:

After that we stopped by the Ramsey Canyon Preserve hoping to see hummingbirds at the feeders they have set up there. The naturalists said there “weren’t many” but we saw plenty, including this new species drinking sugar water from the feeders:

After that we made it to Cobban and Ray’s place out in the middle of the desert. The desert there looks different, with fewer cacti but more grasses, with a great view of the mountains. Inside there were drinks and karaoke:

Cobban had Prince’s “Pussy Control” on his pimped-out karaoke garage, and I sang it and learned that it is hard to rap an entire song. Then I tried Stevie Nick’s “Edge of Seventeen,” which practically blew out my vocal cords. I had more respect of both artists when I was done, and less respect from my friends I would assume.

The next day we went to Bisbee. Apparently Cobban hadn’t been there in a while and everyone we met knew him and wanted to chat with him. I found a cute taco nook and took pictures during those times:

We headed back to Tucson for drinks at Patrick’s, then out on the town for a bit. Homer was a bit hungover from the night before in Bisbee, but I think he needed to cut loose, and as you can see, he had:

The next day we hiked up a hill near Homer’s house so we could see neolithic rock art. Homer’s spotting skills for this stuff is excellent, and I wasn’t able to show the others where it was without his guiding skills. I like this spiral, and the neolithic Celts drew the same stuff on rocks in Ireland. Was there a connection?

On the walk back I did see some art I understood: MADONNA!!! So I struck a pose in front of her shrine:

After that we stopped at Sweetwater Wetlands for some birdwatching. Over the whole trip Gurl and Sweetwater got a lot of birdwatching in, and several significant species were seen, so I think they can test out of Birding 101 and 202 by now:

After some lunch we headed out to the San Xavier Mission, where a lot of work had been completed since I’d been there before. An interesting site, and I liked their cactus garden too:

Then dinner at Homer’s with mummy, which was delightful.