Arizona, Tucson - Monday, April 20, 2015 - Old Tucson Studio and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

We walked around the resort last night, it is a very well kept pleasant place to spend the next few days.  It honors Passport America cards so our deluxe pull thru site (no pets) is only $29.50 per day.

 

 

Right now there are lots of empty spaces, the snowbirds have gone home.  However, there are enough sunbirds still here that I didn’t try to take a picture of the swimming pool, lots of them were hanging out there.

 

 

Some nice amenities are available.  One of the laundry rooms.

 

 

One of the fitness rooms

 

My favorite place is always the library and this is a very nice one.  The Zane Grey novels sent me reminiscing back to when I used to borrow them from my grandfather who lived next door to us when I was growing up, I think I read them all.

 

 

Looks like they have a quilt group that meets in the sewing room during the busy season.

 

The auditorium could hold a pretty big crowd.

 

There was also a coffee room and some classrooms where meetings could be held.  We noticed on the calendar that they have square dancing here – might be fun if I could remember any of the moves, it’s been a good while.

Outside there are still flowers in bloom, the heat will probably take them soon.

 

 

And some really big cacti.  This is in front of one of the park models here.  If you aren’t familiar with park models they are smaller permanent homes owned or rented by people who don’t have RVs.

 

This is something we haven’t seen at any other place we have stayed, a model railroad.  It is shut down for the season but there was a gentleman running his battery operated train when we went by.

 

 

 

Back in Indiana we always hated to have to deal with the little maple tree “spinners” that filled the gutters.  I’m thinking this could be worse.

 

 

All in all a very nice resort, if we are in the Tucson area again I’m sure we will be back.

Old Tucson Studios was our first stop today.  The parking lot is big enough to accommodate RVs if you would like.  Senior admission is $17.95 per person.  It is a movie set originally constructed in 1939 by Columbia Studios for the movie “Arizona”.  It has hosted over 300 film and television productions since then including Western film classics such as Rio Bravo, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Tombstone.  Some episodes of Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, The Big Valley and High Chaparral were also shot here.  Since we still enjoy watching the old westerns we really enjoyed walking around here.  If you want to get a guided tour, there is one at 10:15 and again at 1:00.  We opted for just walking on our own.

 

 

The Railroad Station was featured in 310 to Yuma and Red River, shot in 1988 starring James Arness.

 

Doesn’t look like the inside offered a lot of comfort for those waiting for the train.

 

 

If there was just mail, no passengers, to pick up someone from the train just hooked it on the way through and didn’t even have to slow down.

 

 

The Western Movie Memorabilia building held lots of interesting things.

 

 

Greg says that the movies should use uglier actresses if they want to give realistic interpretations of the old west, see this picture of Belle Star as an example.

 

 

This red dress is one worn by Barbara Stanwick in The Big Valley TV series.

 

 

We took the train ride around the facility, this was part of the admission and included a pretty informative narrative by the engineer.

 

 

We’ve probably seen some of these buildings in the movies.

 

 

 

 

 

Is it really a “bath” if you opt for the no soap version?

 

 

This hotel has changed over the years based on what was needed for the movie that was being filmed.  The inside was pretty dark so the pictures didn’t turn out too good.  I tried lifting one of the tables, they definitely aren’t the ones the cowboys pick up and bash each other with – these are heavy.

 

 

 

 

We ducked down Chinese Alley, looks like the Chinese laundry is in business.

 

 

We (I) decided not to go into the Iron Door Mine when they asked if we were claustrophobic.

 

 

Golden Gate Peak is featured in a lot of Western movies.  Here it serves as the backdrop to the setting of the High Chaparral television series set.

 

 

 

This is sad.  This is the passenger car that was featured in “The Gambler” starring Kenny Rogers.  The heat and the wind have taken its toll.  In the movie it was really pretty glamorous.

 

Greg couldn’t resist trying on the cowboy hats.  I think he is more of a baseball cap kind of guy.

 

 

The stagecoach is ready to go.

 

The journey used to be expensive and pretty unpleasant.

 

We ate lunch at Big Jake’s.  We both had pulled pork sandwiches which were very good.  I recommend the orange honey sauce in addition to the original.

 

 

Big Jake is a 4000 pound smoker that can smoke 1000 pounds of meat at a time, rotisserie-style.  The meat smokes up to 18 hours.

 

 

The famous Reno steam locomotive was built in 1872 and has been in more than 100 movies and TV shows including Tombstone, Joe Kidd and Little House on the Prairie.  It also appeared in the 1999 movie “Wild, Wild West” starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline.  Old #11 was a presidential train for Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt.  It is the most photographed locomotive in American history.

 

 

 

The longhorns weren’t impressed by the tourists.

 

 

From Old Tucson we went a few miles down the road to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  This museum is located adjacent to the Saguaro National Park West.  It is an outside museum so I would suggest going earlier in the day than we did.  It opens at either 7:30 or 8:30 depending on the time of year.  Midday in April was really hot.  Admission was $17.50 per senior pass.  Parking for RVs was indicated but we didn’t get a good look at it on our way in.  This is just like walking through the desert, but most of the plants are labeled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This cactus with a bird’s nest in it was alongside the parking lot.

 

 

 

This is a young Crested Saguaro cactus.  It will eventually produce a crest about 6 feet wide.  Then new stems will grow from the crest and become entwined to resemble a “brain”.

 

 

The “Reptiles, Invertebrates and Amphibians” exhibit was the first on our mile and a half journey through the museum grounds.

The Arizona Black Rattlesnake didn’t want its picture taken, but I thought the “rattle” was interesting.

 

 

This Long Nosed Snake looks like it is trying to escape.

 

The Cantel, a Mexican Pit Viper, has just shed its skin.

 

 

There are more kinds of snakes in Arizona than I like to think about.  Luckily, the ones in this exhibit are the only ones we have seen.

Can you find the snake in this picture?  Hint:  look for the eye in the center then go left.

 

 

The Canyon Tree Frog fades into the rocks

 

 

Tarantulas spin strands of silk at the entrance to their burrow.  They wait just inside and when an insect comes by and makes the silk vibrate the tarantula strikes.  There was a note that said the tarantulas you see on the Arizona roads during the summer rains (July thru September) are usually roaming males in their last months of life.  Note to self:  avoid Arizona roads in the summer on a motorcycle.

 

 

The Earth Sciences Center features an underground cave.  Although I was reluctant I did enjoy some of it.

 

 

 

This sign worried me a little - "Dry caverns like this one often indicates that the cave will soon collapse from old age."

 

 

Greg said this is the emergency exit.

 

I was thinking about the emergency exit when I saw this – bats.  From there we (I) made quick moves to the direction of the exit.

 

 

Most of the animals were tucked away somewhere in the shade today. We did get a look at a red fox, sea otter and a tortoise. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Joshua Tree.

 

 

One of the guides explained to us that these Olympic sized pools of water in the distance are being used to take water from the Colorado River and remove all the nasty stuff so the underground aquifers can be replenished to provide drinking water for Tucson.  If I understood her right the aquifers right under Tucson have collapsed from the weight of the city so their water has to come from the aquifers outside of the city.

 

 

After the heat of the day, these strawberry wine slushies at home were a welcome treat.