Road Trip: Southwest

Day 3: Thursday, April 24, 2025 - Tucson, and Saguaro NP, AZ

Day's statistics:
Weather: low 90s, sunny, breezy
Steps: Steve 9,179; Linda 7,152
Travel: 337 miles

Breakfast was a continental buffet.

Linda had toast with peanut butter. I had a waffle.

After we packed up, we checked out and headed to our first stop; the first (of eleven) National Park of this trip: Saguaro, which is pronounce sa-wa-ro.
Saguaro is a type of catcus, and it grows very tall with the record being 78 (seventy-eight!) feet tall.
There are two units of the NP, the West and the East. We started with the west unit.
Like most of the other NPs we've been to, there was a miles-long drive to get to the area of the NP - they are hardly ever in well populated areas - at least the first dozen we've been to have been more remote.
On the way to the park, we saw a few interesting sights.



We drove down the miles-long road to drive before getting to the entry gate or Visitor's Center. Some parks are on the honor system and there is no entry gate and one pays upon arrival at the VC. With our lifetime Park Pass, we don't care how it is, we "pay" - register? - no matter what.
While we drove to the VC, we saw quite a few cacti on the way.
Though we saw cacti later in our trip, the abundance of cacti in the park and this area was astonishing.


We eventually made it to the VC.



Upon arrival at the VC, we acquired our first stamp of this trip.

There was a smallish cacti garden in front and to the right of the VC.
We took our selfie too (though we could have done a little better of a job with it, but it was really sunny and the screen was a little difficult to see) - and it is evident how tall the Saguaro is behind us.

Before we wandered through the garden, we saw this placard and also this picture (I didn't use the wide-angle lens so I didn't get the entire landscape in my picture that would match the placard, but I did get most of it).


We walked the short path amongst the different species of cacti, though not all of them had placards.










After the garden, we took the short couple of hundred yard trail behind the VC, and saw a few more cacti.



After seeing the cacti around the VC, we returned to the car and headed further into the park as a Park Ranger told us that Signal Hill had a number of petroglyphs. After a ten to fifteen minute dirt road drive, we came upon the the site. However, it did require us to do a little bit of a hike - but it was worth it.
"Snakes, very dangerous." We didn't actually see any, though.






From the perspective immediately above, we took a path to the right that hooked around and up the back.
We made it to the top, read a couple placards about the history, and saw some petroglyphs close up.




A family of three was on vacation and was at the summit with us. We talked to them a bit, took a picture for them, and then they departed.
Then we traversed back down the Hill.


After returning to the car, we headed out. Of this half of the park - the West Unit, aka Tuscon Mountain District (sometimes they call it a Unit, and other times a District).
Rather than head back to the entrance as most parks we've been to have one way in and one way out (Shenandoah and Badlands are two that didn't follow that montra), we went in the other direction. It was a little more remote, but it took us to our next destination. And on the way out, we saw more cacti and mountains (okay... hills).




At a stoplight, we spied this handyman's truck that actually had a business card holder mounted on the side of it.

The bridges and sound barrier walls were adorned with art / artistic styling.

Eventually we arrived at the next stop: San Xavier Mission.

We didn't know what to expect, but it was an interesting visit.



As we approached the main church, we saw what appeared to be a memorial of some sort on top of a hill to the right.


We entered the main church first.













After our visit to the main church, there was a Marian Chapel off to the left side that we briefly visited.
The gardens on either side of the sidewalk to the chapel had walls, and on the walls it looked like the stations of the cross.







As we crossed the front of the church, on the way to the museum on the other side, and I noticed a marking of some sort in the lot in front of the church. I couldn't tell what it was from this angle, though.


But Google® took care of that for us.

On the other side of the museum was a courtyard.

The museum - now housed in the rooms of the old school for Indian children - had some old artifacts from the Mission, including some texts that were 200 - 600 years old.




We returned to the car, and on the opposide side of the parking lot was a shop and restaurant.

As we were finishing up at the Mission, the noon church bells chimed. It was probably fifteen or so minutes before we returned to the car and headed back "into town".
We picked a restaurant for lunch, punched it into the GPS, and made our way back down the highway.

The GPS had us turn right at a spot. We did not see the restaurant.
It was sort of a strip mall, and at the right end was a BBQ place that we said "If we can't find this place, we're going to go there." We drove the length of the mall, turned around, and continued back, counting the numbers as they decreased "7014, 7012, 7006". Wait, it has to be here somewhere. Like right there, across the parking lot.
We parked, and approached. The diner "Little Anthony's Diner". It wound up having a 50s theme to it. Including the exterior decor.


We went inside, and the hostess retreived menus out of an old ice cream cart, showed us to a table, and gave us menus.






There was even a small room in the middle with some video games in it too.

Linda had the small chicken Cesar salad (that was still ginormous) and coffee - that we had to ask for three times, and I had the Bee Bop Bacon Burger special with onion rings (and a soda, though I hardly ever drink soda).


The table "cloths" were sheets of paper that get cleared when diners are done - it must make table clean-up real easy.
After lunch, on the way back to the car, Linda wanted to get a few more pictures of the VW Microbus parked out front.

It was early afternoon, and early enough to do another excursion.
We had already planned on visiting the East Unit, aka Ricon Mountain District, so... that's what we did.
We arrived at the visitor's center and - technically - got our second stamp.

The unit was a lot more of a drive-through than a hike. There was more cacti, and interesting landscapes.

After Saguaro, we had to start the trek to Pinetop as it was nearly four hours away.
Before leaving town, we stopped by Albertson's for some supplies as we weren't sure what would be available where and when.
We first stopped by the deli to get some cheese. I removed the case from my cell phone and told the clerk I wanted one slice of Swiss that was as thick as my phone (horizontally, of course). I told the (older looking) guy I normally ask for a yellow pencil think slice, but I didn't think the younger crowd would know what that even was.
Wine (they sell wine in the supermarkets in pretty much every state except Delaware), Sandies (a shortbread pecan cookie as they wouldn't be effected by the heat), a loaf of bread (to have with the cheese, over more than one day), and a Cobb salad.
We also bought some more water because we were drinking it so much - it was in the 90s, after all.
There was a speed limit sign that was unusual to us. We've seen the "Speed Limit XX" signs with the "Minimum Speed YY" signs. But this was the first "Speed Limit XX" with a "Night YY" sign-combo we ever saw.

Along the way, we stopped at a pull out in order to relax and eat our salad. We would have eaten at one of the picnic tables, but it was a little too breezy for that.
Our journey to Pinetop took us through some mountains. We had altitude changes of thousands of feet. We drove up some mountains, and down the other side. Repeat.
I took fewer pictures during most of this segment as it was far more important to keep both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road without looking around like it is easier to do when the roads are straight and flat.









At the bottom of the downside of one particular mountain, we took a technical break. The rest stop happened to be adjacent to a river. This facility, as with the NPs, uses "composting toilets" which negates the need for water - and removal septic - but does create a little bit of an unpleasant odor (but it actually wasn't that bad).
Not only were there picnic tables here, but there was a hiking trail - or at least part of one.

We arrived at the hotel, GreenTree Inn & Suites, about 8:00 PM.
After checking in, we made our way to the room.

After doing the luggage thing, washing up, and brushing, we went to bed.

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