After our trip to Tombstone we stayed Sunday night in Tucson. We had a lot planned for the next day but ended up only doing one of our planned activities. I had a long week at work before our trip, had a long day in the sun the Sunday, and took an extended release Flexeril (muscle relaxant) at night that had left wiped out all day Monday. We were both so tired that after breakfast Monday morning we went back to our room for nap time. I think it was obvious from the start of our morning that we weren't going to do a lot of the things we had planned. On our list of things to do was Sabino Canyon, seeing an old mission and an old Cathedral, and taking Adri to the airplane museum. The only thing we did was Sabino Canyon followed by lunch at a Mexican restaurant I like in the area (the agent that did my polygraph told me about this place and they have the best Pico De Gallo). After lunch we decided to just go home. By 5:30 that night I was already in bed.
I think we got to Sabino Canyon around 11 that morning. It was suppose to be in the low 100s in Tucson but it didn't get nearly that hot in the Canyon. When we got to the canyon it was in the low-mid 80s and a weak storm was rolling in. A couple hours later it was only 69 degrees but muggy as hell, well for Arizona at least.
The canyon wasn't quite what I expected, it was way better. We paid $20 to take a tram up the canyon. I heard that the tram ride was about 45 minutes so I thought we would have a short ride and then find other things to do. However it didn't work out that way. The way it works is the tram has 9 stops. We could get off the tram at any of the stops and catch a later tram to go up or down the mountain. At different stops are trails going all over the canyon and swimming holes all over the place. So we took the tram up to the highest point, then took it down to stop 8. From there I think we walked down to stop 5 and then took another tram down to the bottom. So the whole trip took us a little over three hours.
Going up the canyon the road crosses over the creek several times. The water was running pretty good so in some parts the water was going over the road, as it was designed to do. There are some tubes in the damn for the water to come out and then for when the water is really flowing they have channels where the water can over over the road. I've seen pictures after a good rain where the water is flowing over the whole road. It wasn't quite that wet when we were there but over half of the roads did have at least some water flowing over them. At each crossing the water was backed up behind the road and there were hundreds of people swimming in these swimming holes.
After we finished our tram ride we thought about walking to the dam. It was a little over a mile roundtrip. Natalie was tired and I didn't feel like going alone so we saved that for next time. Next time we'll take a whole weekend just for the canyon. Between all the swimming and the trails there is enough to keep us busy for a while. The Hampton in Tuscon is a killer deal because it's only 70 bucks for the night, half of what we normally pay for a Hampton, and they have free breakfast which would cost us probably 30 bucks if we went out to eat. I think we'll definelty being going back within the next year if we're still living in the state. We had a lot we wanted to do last weekend but as you can see we bit off way more than we can chew.
Some pictures from Sabino Canyon.
Walking down the hill.
Pretty dramatic sign. When I took a picture of it Google Goggles knew exactly where it was taken.
After lunch at La Parrilla Suiza, Adri was walking through the parking lot saying that she is tired. This is common for her. It must be hard for her taking a nap when I drive her around. Riding on my shoulders as I carry her up mountains and through the streets in the heat. I told her "You're tired? Why don't you drive home and I'll sleep in the back seat." Apparently she liked my offer. She played around in the front seat for a good five minutes. When she got in she copied everything I do. First thing she did was put Purell on her hands before putting on her seat beat. Observant little kid.
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