WA:K Pow Wow

Last weekend was the 30th Annual WA:K Pow Wow, lasting over two days it is Tucson’s largest gathering of American Indians.

There were craft stalls with some absolutely beautiful jewellery, and food stalls with burgers, tacos and frybread

Indian Frybread

Zillions of calories but totally delicious, reminds me a bit of Yorkshire pudding!

The dance arena was blessed and while photographs were allowed, the Master of Ceremonies advised when they weren’t.

Junior Dance

Inter Tribal Dance

Jingle Dance

Fancy Shawl Dance

We enjoyed our visit to the Pow Wow especially the tasty frybread!

Have fun, we are!

Sabino Canyon, again

On a much cooler day we took our second trip to Sabino Canyon, taking the tram to the top we walked about 4 miles along the road back to the visitor centre.  It’s a pretty road and follows the creek all the way.

Interesting bush.

Not sure what these berries were.

Further down we came to a pretty waterfall

We enjoyed a picnic lunch on a beach under the cottonwoods.

Not at all sure what this bird was but it was very cute, sadly it turned round as I  took the photograph. 

As they have more protection from the cold and frost during the winter months more saguaros grow on the sunny west side of the canyon than the cooler east side.

Have fun, we are!

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Have fun, we are!

Sabino Canyon – Phone Line Trail

Surrounded by the Pusch Ridge Wilderness, Sabino Canyon lies on the edge of Tucson.   We rode the tram to the top.

and then hiked up the short, steep switchbacks to join the Phoneline Trail.

The Phoneline Trail was built in the early 1900’s as part of a dam project that was never built, a few rusted poles are still visible on sections of the trail.

Once we reached the top of the switchbacks the trail sort of levelled out but was still sandy and rocky, the wildflowers are just starting to bloom.

 The views from the trail are absolutely spectacular.

Looking back into Tucson.

More spectacular views.

From tram stop 9 to the car park the trail is about 5 miles long and although classed as moderate felt pretty strenuous to me!   That's probably because the day we did the hike it turned out to be sunny and very, very hot, far too hot for me, although DB wasn't nearly as bothered by heat.   By the time we reached the car park I was shattered and headed straight to the pool for a refreshing cool down when we got back to Rincon.

Would we do it again?  Yes, probably, but I would start much earlier (I don’t like getting up early) and probably walk up from the car park rather than down from the tram.

Have fun, we are!

Return to San Xavier Del Bac

It’s a couple of years since we last visited San Xavier Del Bac and it’s the first time I think we’ve ever seen it without any scaffolding.

It is a truly beautiful place.

Each time we visit we find out different interesting facts, for instance during major repairs started by Bishop Granjon in 1905 what is now a plaza area (below) was actually designed by the forward looking Bishop to be a parking lot for up to 12 cars.

The plaza in front of the mission was meant to be in the centre of town, but the city of Tucson was built further north.

High up in the decorative stonework

on the left side of the entrance is a cat

On the right hand side is a mouse

The story goes that if the cat ever gets the mouse then the mission will fall.

We had another great visit to San Xavier and enjoyed some delicious Indian Frybread before we left.

Have fun, we are!

Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum

The Museum is right by the parade grounds and on the site of the original Tucson Airport.   The remains of the runways run underneath museum buildings, one of which is an old hanger.

There are many different types of carriages in the museum, almost all of which at some time or another have been used in the Tucson Rodeo Parade.

Many of the carriages are also movie stars in their own right the one below was, I believe, used by Maureen O’Hara.

This buckboard was used by John Wayne and was also in the TV series High Chaparral.

Santa left his sleigh behind

The tack room was stuffed full harnesses, bridles and whatever else you need to hitch up horses and wagons.

Somewhere in the museum there is also the ‘surrey with the fringe on top’ used in the film Oklahoma, but for some reason I didn’t take a photograph of it.

As the museum has no climate control it closes in early April because it is simply too hot.   It’s a very interesting place and we really enjoyed our visit.

Have fun, we are!

Cactus Forest Trail - Saguaro East National Park

Last Saturday, yes, once again I am a little behind with the blog, we hiked the Cactus Forest Trail through the centre of Saguaro East National Park.   The section we hiked runs from one end of the loop drive to the other and is about 2½ miles each way.

After about a mile we came across the remains of lime kilns built in around 1880, the lime produced was used for mortar and whitewash.   In 1920 local ranchers forced the kilns to close as they were causing the destruction of important cattle forage.

A sign warned that the kilns have been colonised by bees so watch out!

The trail continued through cholla, prickly pear, saguaro, leguchilla, mequite, creosote and palo verde, we eventually climbed up to the opposite end of the loop drive, where after a snack we turned around and headed back.

When we reached the lime kilns on the way back, we took the ¼ mile spur trail to lime falls.   Much to our surprise there was even a little water in them.

It was very pretty, but I wouldn’t want to be there during a monsoon!

I think this is some sort of penstemon, but whatever it was I managed to catch a lovely butterfly on it.

We had a great hike then came back and relaxed in the sun for a while.

Have fun, we are!