We wrapped up our time at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and it was time to head to Tucson. Well, with a slight detour. We wanted to have a look at Lukeville, the border town with Mexico. It was only five miles down the road, so we went. Except there was no town. Just a border crossing and an “Entering Mexico” sign. What a letdown! We turned around, and headed for Tucson for real. 

We were hungry by the time we got to Why, and there was a little Mexican place called Granny’s Kitchen. Good thing we stopped for food, because there was nowhere else to eat and we were starving! And the food was GOOD!

The rest of the drive was meh, up and over more mountains than I expected. The mountains here are interesting, layer upon layer of ranges. I haven’t seen mountains layered like this since I saw the Smokies years ago. 

We found our Airbnb when we got to Tucson with no problems, grabbed our stuff from the car, and settled in. The place is adorable. A little one bedroom, but with a full kitchen (with a tiny oven and dishwasher), a full bathroom with tub, and a washer/dryer!!!! I showered first, then did a load of laundry. Not sure which was better. 

When our clothes were clean, we found a grocery and got a few things, then went to bed.

Ahhh, a decent night of sleep! The bed was super comfortable.

I got up at a reasonable hour and made the coffee. Checked the socials, read a book. Eventually, Matt got up. Had some breakfast. Got our shit together. Went to the car… and one of the back tires was flat. Much swearing ensued. Ugh. We got lucky, though. A guy was out in the parking lot talking to another guy, said he had a little pump and totally helped us out. Thankfully, there was also a Discount Tire less than a mile away. 

After dropping off the car, we took a walk around the area, found a Crumbl and had a cookie, and about an hour later, we were on our way to Saguaro National Park. 

We found the trailhead and started hiking. The trail was cool, for the most part. The amount of saguaros is mind boggling. The trail dipped into a wash or two every so often, which is not my favorite, but it wasn’t too bad. I was quite glad it wasn’t any hotter, at least. 

When we finished hiking, we decided to hit the visitors center and looked around there for a bit. Then, I got the bright idea to go to a brewery, and we found one close by. 

Button Brewery was good! Super cute, hidden at the back of an industrial park. The beer was pretty good too – I had a pint of one of their IPAs and then a 10 oz of the other. 

We hit the grocery on our way back to the apartment, and made some dinner – steak nachos with onions, red bell peppers, corn, and black beans. Oh, and avocado! YUM. 

Bed was pretty early, and sleep came quickly. 

At least our tire wasn’t flat the next morning when we got to the car after coffee and bagels. That’s always a plus. 

We had decided to go to Sabino Canyon today to do a hike, which is only 25 minutes from where we’re staying, and then do a closer hike on the way back. 

When we got to Sabino Canyon, holy crap. It was a huge, paved parking lot, and it was crowded! I guess that’s what you get so close to the city.  

The hike I’d picked out was completely anti-climactic. It was basically a little trail about three feet over from a paved road. Thankfully when we turned it got a little better, but honestly it was the same old saguaro and prickly pear landscape we’ve been looking at for days now. Before we finished the hike, we decided to do the drive we didn’t initially want to do and go up Mt. Lemmon. 

WOW. THAT was a great idea. My friend, who lives in Tucson, suggested it, I guess we should listen to locals. The road was 25 miles mostly straight uphill. There were a bunch of bikes climbing it, which I get the feeling would suck… 

The landscape changed dramatically as we climbed higher. We started under 4,000 ft and got up to over 9,000, so I guess that makes sense. We started in the cactus dotted landscape, then moved on to yuccas, and eventually ended up in pine trees that were very similar to home. 

We got out of the car up top and froze our asses off wandering around for a little while. I had intended to find a picnic table to eat the sandwiches we made for lunch this morning, but it was so damned cold we ate them in the car. 

We stopped at another pull off on the way back down the hill where there were some cool rock formations we played around on for a few minutes. Then we decided to head down and drive through town. I mean, we’re here. Might as well see downtown. 

Aaaaaaand not much to see. There’s a tiny strip with a few bars and restaurants and like two tall buildings. Nothing to write home about. 

We hit the grocery, hopefully for the last time this trip, and went back to the apartment. 

We showered and chilled for a bit, did another load of laundry, then got to hang out with our friends for dinner! We went to Poco & Mom’s, a little Mexican joint. SO GOOD. And so much fun to hang out with them! Then back to the apartment to bed. 

The next morning, I woke up early, dammit. Last night in a warm, comfortable bed, and I woke up early. Oh, well, whatever… 

I made coffee and settled in to the couch for the morning. 

Matt got up relatively soon and also had some coffee – then I showered and we grabbed some stuff and threw it in the car. Eventually, everything was packed and cleaned up and breakfast was eaten and we were on our way to White Sands National Park. It was almost exactly 8:00 am. Nice!

Here’s the video from our time in Tucson: