So great to be back in Tucson after seven years or so. Of course this place always brings back memories of my parents who spent many winters here and loved it. This time we are on the northeast side of town in the Catalina foothills, which is the other side of the mountain from Oro Valley in the west, where my parents place was.
We are off river road near Sabino canyon. We have a sweet little casita Airbnb in the back of a sprawling house. There’s a pool out our front door and our window has a lovely view of desert landscape with mountains in the distance and lots of birds at various feeders, including hummingbirds and little yellow warblers (we think).
We had an easy flight from Chicago to Phoenix that arrived a half hour early and the wait at the thrifty rental car wasn’t bad. (Budget had a huge crowd.) Pro tip: pre-register 24 hours in advance and you can go right to your rental car and skip the line.
On our drive in we stopped at Frost, for old times sake, and had some gelato. Then onto the Airbnb. We went to a nearby Whole Foods to get some basics. Then a stroke of luck. We found Summit Hut, a very nice local outdoor gear shop on Speedway that happened to rent hiking poles for a very reasonable $5 for 1-3 days then $2 every subsequent day. perfect! I ended up not bringing my collapsible pole because I’d have to check my luggage, at $40 per flight. No way. It’s not allowed on carryon because in theory it could be used as a weapon. The salesman at Summit Hut, we soon learned, once lived a block away from where we live in Chicago…and he and Dirck both grew up in Dodge City, Kansas. 😳
Tonight we had excellent Mexican food a 10 minute drive away at Amelia’s kitchen, a small place in a strip mall with a small patio and small dining rooms with exposed brick walls and a giant mural. And as it happens it’s a James Beard semi-finalist this year. We had the signature dish, quesabirria which was new to me and delicious. It’s sort of a quesadilla version of a French dip sandwich – a crispy quesadilla filled with stringy, deliciously flavorful shredded beef, (not goat, as is often the case elsewhere) served au jus (with a little dish of beef juice) to dip it in. so good. Their salsa is award- winning too, as the engraving on the wood serving board informed us. The flan was too rich for me but delicious.
TakeBetsywithyou 