Baby It’s Cold Outside

Hands up if you detest winter in Canada! This is how both B-Rod and I feel. So, with a cold spell in Kelowna, my freed up time and some unexpected extra days off for B, we made the snap decision to get outta dodge! The problem is . . . everyone else seemed to want to get out too as flights south were fairly full up. Nevertheless, we came up with a vague plan to get somewhere warmer expecting that we may need to change course/destinations at the airport (or maybe even head back home) and took a chance. Our gamble paid off and we found ourselves on a flight to Phoenix.

B-Rod had read about mountain biking in the Tucson area, neither of us had ever been to southern Arizona, and most importantly we knew that there would be no snow or Canadian winter temperatures there, so off to the desert we went! We arrived at night, grabbed a car and hotel room and planned to head to Tucson the next day. It’s about a two hour drive to Tucson from Phoenix and though it wasn’t cold, that first day wasn’t particularly warm, and it ended up raining for most of the afternoon. Trading snow for one of the few days of rain in the desert, however, is still worth it!

Rain in the desert was not what we were expecting!

Because of the weather, we decided on a mostly indoor activity. We had heard about an air museum that sounded interesting and began to make our way. From the highway we saw the tails of 100s of airplanes stacked in the desert, assumed that’s where we were going and headed in that direction. Turns out it was an airplane boneyard where planes that are no longer used are left and rummaged for parts. It was definitely a weird sight, but became weirder still when we came across a pack of Air Canada planes. Turns out these weren’t planes left behind for parts, but are part of Air Canada’s Boeing 737 Max fleet. We counted 16 tails and know that Air Canada has 24 total. So strange to come across them out there! We did eventually made our way to the Pima Air and Space Museum and though it was interesting, it wasn’t quite as exciting as randomly coming across that fleet of Air Canada planes out in the middle of nowhere in the desert!

Now . . . imagine a whole field full of these!

Guess someone needed that piece for their plane!

Strange to see these here, but even stranger to know we have a friend waiting to fly one of them!

Showing me how it’s done (minus the running over the people part)

The type of plane B-Rod’s mother’s family flew on when they first came to Canada..

The rest of the days were perfect . . . . no rain, sunny, bright blue skies and warm temps. Shorts were worn, a bike was ridden, a bit of the city was explored, a movie/tv set and old historic church were visited, really good hikes happened, a love for saguaro cactuses was cultivated, plenty of Mexican food was consumed and an escape from Canadian winter was welcomed!

Renting a bike and being shuttled up by van and riding down Mt Lemmon for the day was a highlight for B-Rod.

We didn’t explore a lot of the city or of downtown, but I dug the vibe of the areas we did go to.

Sometimes I felt like I was back in Mexico!

Found ourselves at Old Tucson which is a former movie studio that’s been turned into a theme park.

“Little House on the Prairie” was filmed here as well as the movie “Three Amigos” Other productions listed that were filmed here were either before my time or not in my interest zone!

Practicing our acting skills!! And . . . . scene!

Just south of the city, on native land sits Mission San Xavier del Bac also known as the White Dove of the Desert. It was established in 1692 and many of the statues and murals are original. It’s still a working church and mission and considered a pilgrimage to some.

I absolutely fell in love with the saguaro cactus. They all seemed to have their own, unique, individual personalities and B-Rod and I found ourselves naming them, describing what they were doing or attaching sound effects to them. Have fun playing along!

It was also really interesting to see the cactus “skeletons” . . . . not what we expected their internal structure to look like.

When in Arizona eat Mexican food! I felt like I was introducing B-Rod to many of the foods I had just eaten in Mexico with DawnO such as tacos and a Michelada . . . .

B-Rod sampled a Sonoran hot dog which is popular in Tucson and southern Arizona. Since I’m not interested in hot dogs, I didn’t have one but looked it up to discover it’s wrapped in bacon, topped with pinto beans, onions and tomatoes and topped with mayonnaise, mustard and jalapeño salsa. Not my type of thing, but B-Rod described it as . . . . THE . . . . BEST . . . . HOT DOG . . . . EVER!!!!!

It was definitely great to get out of winter for a bit, but I also really liked the area. I didn’t think of myself as a desert girl before, but I could definitely see myself coming back here to explore more and make some more new Cactus friends!! Thanks B-Rod for letting me tag along on your spontaneous biking excursion and thanks Arizona for the good times!

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