Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, Arizona

Our stay in Tucson was great. Got to see a lot of things in
a short time. We look forward to returning next year.
However, we plan on spending time in the campgrounds
instead of running around every day. The sunsets
here are gorgeous.


Our campsite A-34


The sunset turns the mountains behind us a beautiful red.

Pima Air Museum, 2008

So many planes to see and read about. We enjoyed our
visit to the Pima air museum. We were here two years ago,
but they keep adding planes which means that we still get
to see "new things".



The Bumble Bee only holds 3 gallons of fuel. Don't think
I'd want to fly in this plane.


The Black bird is one of my favorites. This plane leaks fuel
when it is on the ground, so they put just enough fuel in it for
it to take off and then it has to link up with a tanker to fuel up.


This Martin Mariner is one huge plane.


This plane served as Air Force 1 for presidents Kennedy
and Johnson. We were able to walk through this one.
Lots of planes to see.

Centipedes at Tucson Botanical Garden

This young guy really enjoyed sharing his knowledge of
centipedes.






This one is full of posion.

Tucson Botanical Gardens

Wow!!! There sure are a lot of different
cacti in this world. The Tucson Botanical
gardens had Cacti from Africa, South
American, and the USA. It's amazin how
large some of them grow.


Organ Pipe cactus



This one is called Old Man. Looks like it has
a beard.

Butterflies

Imagine walking along a path and seeing numerous butterflies
landing on leaves and flowers. If you stand still, they may
even land on you. Seeing the smiles of the children as a butterfly
landed on their shoulder or hands was priceless. The Tucson
Botanical garden was featuring butterflies from South
America.

Casa Grande Ruins National Park

What an amazing site to see. We could not help but wonder how
the Hohokam Indians were able to build a four story high and
60 feet long building in 1350. The walls of the great house face the 4
cardinal points of the compass. This village was surrounded
by 7 foot high walls. The Hohokams also had an irrigation
system which allowed them to produce two crops a year. They
planted beans, squash, tobacco, cotton, agave, and corn.



Casa Grande.


The hole in the upper left corner aligned with the solstice sunset.
There was another hole on the right that aligned with the moon



This is an Olla- a large pot used for water and food storage.
This one was found near the foundation of the great house.


This is a model of what the great house would have looked
like in 1350. There were lots of cacti to be seen in the area.
As always, you can view more pictures by clicking on the photos
link.