These are scenes from along the trail to Romero Pools at Catalina State Park in Oro Valley. The hike took us about four hours round trip, with some challenging spots where we had to navigate some uneven jagged rocks but overall it was fairly easy. And lots of classic dessert scenery. Dinner was at vivace, a reliably good Italian restaurant in st. Philips plaza. Good Veal Piccatta, seafood soup, yellow snapper with crabmeat special.
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We have tried many Mexican restaurants in Tucson over the years and rarely remember them. Rosa’s (on East Fort Lowell at Campbell) we will remember. There’s a reason it’s been around since 1970 and why it was packed during lunch on a Monday. The food is really good and although I’m no expert, I’m told its quite authentic too. I rarely find carne seca – which I associate with the famous El Charro restaurant here – but Rosa’s made a darned good carne seca. It’s different than El Charro’s – with grilled onions and peppers that gives it a slightly different flavor and makes it a little less dry beef. The refried beans were different than others I’ve had too – starting with the color, a rose-colored red. Creamier. Good flavor. And the guacamole was also creamier, paler, more seasoning. The salsa was runny but packed a punch. Good limeade too. And tacos that have deep-fried shells. We’ll be back.
For years, we have hiked at Catalina State Park (the photo above with my son Noah and sister-in-law Heather is from around 2008, the one below with my husband is from around 2009) which has a very easy, very scenic loop through classic dessert terrain (I can still hear my mom’s voice telling us which plant is saguaro, agave, ocotillo, pale verde or cactus paddles). Sadly, a young guy from Minnesota was missing when we arrived – he hadn’t been seen since the previous morning when he set off on a solo hike. Television trucks were camped out in the parking lot and an occasional police van drove past us on the trail. A helicopter flew low above us. Last year, I hiked at the park on my own for the first time and remember being a bit nervous. I stuck to the main loop trail which has lots of hikers and ended up meeting a woman who I hiked half of the trail with. We woke up this morning to the welcome news that the hiker had surfaced north of the state park and was ok. Today returned to the park and took a four hour hike to Romano pools. Classic dessert scenery. 
We arrived late Saturday in Phoenix by plane and then drove 1.5 hours south to Tucson where we awoke the next morning to bright blue sky, mountains, warm sun – a nice change from cold snowy Iowa. Eager to be outdoors, we rode along “the Wash” in north Tucson for about 14 miles, stopping at St. Philip’s Plaza on Campbell ave. to browse at the weekend farmers market (most interesting item: worm compost, a strange grey-colored bag of dirt) then lunch at what was first called “Chopped” but is now known as “Choice Greens” – a design-your-own salad place that remains good, whatever its name. On today to hike at Catalina State Park up the road in Oro Valley.
Little did I know when I booked cheap plane tickets to fly to Phoenix (rather than to Tucson, our ultimate destination) that we’d have to spend an arm and a leg on a car rental but it’s starting to look that way. In Nashville, we rented a car for $22 a day – our bill for three days came to just under $70. In Phoenix, the mainstay companies like Thrifty were charging $290 for a week (we need the car for only 5 days) which wasn’t great but that turned out to be the “base rate” – with various fees the total comes to a whooping $430. (Which we didn’t find out until we actually reserved the car.) So we are looking at smaller rental companies like Fox, Payless and Sixt. I reserved a car from Fox and was assured that the final rate is $262. Of course I’m a little suspicious – since I’ve never heard of this company. I’ve looked them up on various travel websites and they get mixed reviews but generally okay ones in Phoenix. The other issue is our flight gets in very late – close to midnight so some companies aren’t open at that hour (sadly that includes Enterprise, which gave us the good deal in Nashville.) We also get in too late (11:51 p.m.) to probably make the last shuttle van to Tucson at 12:15 a.m. NEWS FLASH: just heard from my dad and his wife – they’ve decided to pick us up at the airport, which is very kind, especially given the late hour. So no car rental!
All this reminds me of a trip many years ago – 25 or so – when we rented a car from “Sisters Rental Car” in Morocco. It turned out okay although we were a bit nervous, especially driving the car – which was a flimsy number that looked like an over-sized sardine can with a wire coat hanger in the dashboard, that served as the gear shift – way up into the Atlas Mountains south of Fez.
Toubkal Mountain in Toubkal National Park in the High Atlas
Filed under Arizona, car rental
It was cold last Wednesday so we braved a bike ride along the wash near St. Phillips Plaza at Campbell and River, riding west. Nice level ride but it was cold riding into the wind. For lunch we ate at the former Chopped, now Choice Greens, or some such. As good as ever. That night we ate at Zin Burger – big juicy rare burger but pricey. Tuesday night, we had a good meal – pizza and salad at Vivace Pizza (in st. Phillips Plaza) Best part of Tucson: Being with my dad!
Filed under Arizona, Tucson, Uncategorized
It was such a gorgeous morning – flawless blue sky, light breeze (that later became fierce wind), and bright sunshine (temps rising past 80) – that I just had to go hiking, which meant hiking solo since my dad wasn’t up for it. I’ve never hiked on my own but I’ve hiked many many times at Catalina State Park, about a mile north of my father’s house in Oro Valley. It turned out to be just fine – more than fine, actually fun. I walked on the very easy Canyon Loop Trail for about 2.5 miles on a mostly level dirt trail through a valley surrounded by jagged mountains and fields of cactus, saguaro, barrel, agave, scrub bushes and purple and yellow wildflowers. There were plenty of other hikers around, several of them solo, so I felt not at all out there all alone. I ended up backtracking to do short section of the Romero Canyon Trail – the first flat mile to the lovely Montrose Pools and back. Sitting on a bench overlooking the pools – a small puddle of water at the bottom of a shallow ravine bordered by saguaros – I met a fellow hiker who I ended up walking back to the trailhead with. Nice woman, retired, used to live in Decatur, Illinois now lives in Mesa with her husband, who – it turns out, is a retired ag journalist. (My husband is a not-retired ag journalist – how small a world is that?) Anyway, my rule of thumb when hiking alone – beyond the obvious of bringing water and trail mix – is to not do anything too challenging (I like to have someone near by when I fall….) and to have my cellphone handy in case of emergency. I also made sure to text my dad to A few other hiking suggestions from my brother who was here recently: At Catalina, the Sutherland trail is pretty nice and not very difficult. Romero is nice too – more difficult. the 50 year trail has some nice views but a little one note. Beyond Catalina, he also did the Magee trail – and if you go a bit further than he usually goes – about 45minutes out then back – it gets really beautiful.
We ate lunch at the new (or new since I was last here three years ago) Beyond Bread on Ina and Oracle which is as fantastic as the original one on Campbell (and much closer to my dad’s house.) Sadly, it’s in the shadow of the Safeway where Gabrielle Giffords and many others were shot a year ago.
We usually drag my dad to have Mexican food while we’re in Tucson – and that may happen yet – but last night we went to Flavors of India, a restaurant in one of the anonymous strip malls up here in Oro Valley that an Indian friend of my dad’s recommended. And it was excellent – started with complimentary papadums and chutneys (most Indian restaurants I’ve been to, especially in London, charge you for this kind of thing), then followed my dad’s friend’s recommendations and had Mulligatawny soup and crayfish malbar (which I’ve never heard of). Both were fab!
Today I met an old friend on the U of Arizona campus who is a professor there and we had a nice lunch at a middle eastern restaurant nearby. We met at Centennial Hall, which was festooned with a banner advertising the great dance performance series with several of my favorite companies including Bill T. Jones and Alvin Ailey. Unfortunately they’re not happening when I’m here. Dinner tonight at a Mexican restaurant in Oro Valley – good fajitas. I was hoping to have a dried beef that I love at El Charro, the famous mexican restaurant downtown but realized that I got the names of that dish mixed up. It’s carne seca …not the carne asada served at the Oro Valley restaurant. Must remember this next time.
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Had an action-packed first day in Tucson, riding bikes with my dad along a bike trail along the Rillito wash which now connects to another trail that ends at Trailways Road (or some such). We started in Oro Valley, just northwest of Tucson, in a trailhead at La Cholla and River Roads and rode north and then back – about 15 miles total. Midway, we stopped at the In-and-Out burger in Marana. Don’t eat that kind of fast food often but heard so much about it (it’s the burger of choice for Hollywood celebs) that had to try. Not bad – liked the grilled onions on the cheese burger and the special sauce. The fries were so-so. The ride takes you through some less than scenic industrial type landscapes and some suburban sprawl but also along a pretty creekbed and a landscaped golf course and of course in the distance are the mountains and the desert foliage. And that brilliant blue Arizona sky. So no complaints. And did I mention the weather was a perfect 80 degrees, with a slight breeze?
Also read today about a new foodie walking tour of downtown Tucson that starts at the Hotel Congress and stops at The Hub, Empire Pizza, El Charro, Monkey Burger, Maynards Kitchen, Bumsted’s and the Chocolate Iguana. Other than El Charro (an old favorite ) and Bumsteads (which I just heard about last night on the plane from a kid who’s a Tucson native) I haven’t heard of any of these places. Find out more from foodtourstucson.com or call 477-7986. (don’t know the area code).
My stepdaughter E is going to Tucson for the first time with her siblings, who know the place well, but I’d like to throw in my two cents as well about what to do and see there: (I’m only mentioning things your sibs may not mention.)
– Sabino Canyon for classic gorgeous Sonoran scenery and easy hike/walk
– Desert Museum – part zoo, part desert gardens, in mountains west of the city by Saguaro National Park (which is good hiking spot). You’ll feel like you’re driving through the set of a old western. (and there’s a famous old film studio nearby.)
– Hiking: A favorite (and easy) hike is at Catalina State Park – right near my father’s house. There’s another one we’ve had trouble finding again ibut M&H report the trail head is just north of AJs fancy food market on Campbell and East Skyline Drive.
– downtown Tucson – Hotel Congress, great old rock n’ roll hotel with storied history, cool music venue (Club Congress where Thaddeus and his band have played) and fun cafe with great homemade cakes; The historic district near El Charro (a favorite restaurant of the kids) downtown also worth a look – beautiful old homes.
– M&H also report finding a new cheap Mexican restaurant – BK’s – downtown – which specializes on Sonora Hot Dogs and Carne Asada
– Tohona Chul for lunch and stroll….
Filed under Tucson
Fierce waves behind me in Laupahoehoe on the Hamakkua Coast. We learned about this tiny fishing village from a fellow guest at a B&B we stayed at earlier in the week in South Kona. With the strong winds and the crashing waves, it's not hard to imagine the deadly 1946 tsunami that struck at this very spot, killing many people including 23 children and four teachers. A memorial now stands where the school once was.
Filed under Hawaii
TakeBetsywithyou
TakeBetsywithyou 
