The Saguaro National Park just out of Tucson is an incredible place to see.
During our visit, we learned that it can take a Saguaro Cactus up to 100 years to grow the “arms” that we’ve come to recognize from old western movies. Those arms are needed to store extra water for the cactus, which can reach heights of 50 feet and weigh 6 or more tons.
One truly has to experience it to get the full and awe-inspiring effect of a forest of these giant old fellas, extending as far as the eye can see.
The Cathedral Area in our province’s capital city is an artsy-fartsy district that a person could spend an entire day exploring.
From little clothing boutiques to sidewalk cafes, to a variety of bookstores, and to art installations on the walls of both businesses and homes, the Cathedral Area holds an “old meets new” sort of charm.
In a previous post, I featured a photo of a mural that I was disappointed in because I was too close, so cut off the end of it.
I returned last week and used the 0.5 lens on my camera and voila!
After a full day at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, we spent the next day touring Mission San Xavier del Bac, AKA “The White Dove of the Desert”, just 10 miles south of downtown Tucson.
On this visit, I was preoccupied with photographing doors, windows, gates, and arches … any and all openings at both the mission school and this historic church, completed in 1797.
After our day at Tombstone, AZ, our next stop was the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, AZ.
That’s hubs in my feature photo, anxious to get the visit started.
My father-in-law was a pilot overseas in WW2, so this place was high on the “must see” list for hubs.
We arrived around 0930 and stayed until after 1600 hours. The 24 hour clock (aka military time) was used all through my nursing career, and it seemed appropriate for this post.
In truth, I enjoyed this massive place too. While hubs read every single word on every single sign, I was in my glory snapping pics.
Here a few of the over 150 photos I took there:
I’d often heard about the excellent meat offerings at the Ukrainian Co-op in our capital city, Regina, Saskatchewan.
When I Googled the address, the images that came up were all the incentive I needed to convince hubs to take me there to get some photos.
All sides of this building are covered with colourful and historical murals.
My feature photo shows where we parked our truck on arrival. We soon discovered that this was an exit, so we had to walk around to the opposite side to locate the entrance.
The walk was worth it.
If you’ve ever seen a hand painted Ukrainian easter egg, you’ll know how I chose the title for this post.
Tombstone, AZ is steeped in history (and more than a bit of kitsch)
I’m sure we’d have enjoyed our stay a lot more if it hadn’t been so blasted cold outside!
Despite the weather, we made the best of it and finally found a place to warm up with some Irish Coffee.
As a part of our 2016 mission to explore Arizona more fully than on previous trips there, we visited Bisbee – once a thriving mining town, and now a tourist destination with a fascinating history.
Shortly after mid January 2016, we stopped in for a visit with friends from here at home in Canada, who own a winter home on an acreage in Maricopa County, AZ.
Our friends treated us to a day trip with them to the 26 Bar Ranch at Casa Grande. This was, at one time, 14,000 acres of John Wayne’s total 50,000 acre cattle ranching operation in Arizona. The Casa Grande location was the headquarters for 26 Bar, and was where the Duke operated his feedlot. His feedlot was, at one time (at 85,000 head), the largest privately owned feedlot in the USA.
When we visited, it was still an operational commercial feed lot with thousands of head of cattle, so between the sights, the sounds, and the smells, it wasn’t a stretch to imagine what it was like when the Duke owned it.
In early 2016, we were in Las Vegas twice within a few weeks – once in mid January on our way to Arizona, and again in mid February (on our way home from Arizona) to pick my cousin up at the airport and tour her around on her first visit there.
Hubs and I had visited “Sin City” several times before, so we enjoyed showing my cousin what we considered to be some of the highlights.
While searching my Amazon photos app (by year) to find when we visited Old Tucson, AZ … I arrived at 2016 and said “Wow!” right out loud.
That year was an absolutely crazy travel year for us!
It may have had a wee bit to do with the fact that this was our first full year of retirement together, so we were in “yahoooo” mode.
For the next unknown number of Wednesdays I’ll recap some of the many hilights of that year, through a feature photo and a brief description.
This feature photo was taken in Old Tucson, AZ … in … you guessed it … 2016!
Radically Retired 