Day 13, 14, March 13-14th: Tucson visiting Friends

Friday, we woke to a beautiful sunrise, it was a very quiet night at our BLM campsite. 

Sunrise in Luna, NM

It was 46F but warmed quickly with the sun. 

We got on the road a bit after 09:00 and set out towards Tucson to visit our friends Brian and Jane. 

We detoured to Kartchner Caverns State Park for a lunch stop and hoped we would be able to get a tour of the caverns, but it was by reservation only and there were no spots left.  Maybe next time. 

The park is about 50 miles from Tucson. 

They also have a nice museum and learning center.

We arrived at our friends house around 14:00 and just hung out with Brian until Jane got home around 16:00. Brian let us park where we could plug in the Serenity since it was already about 90F. 

The coming week forecast for Tucson, is to get over 100F by the end of the week, this is March! We will move north before the real heat hits. 

Saturday, we tried to get a reservation at the Kartchner Caverns, but there were no openings, however we were able to get a 10:30AM reservation for a tour at the Colossal Cave, which is only 15 miles from Brian and Jane's. 

It was a great tour, we love caves and caverns. Our group was about 20-25 people and our guide, Adam, had a voice that boomed like a mega phone, great for those of us that are a bit hearing challenged.  

Colossal Cave

The tour is about an hour and takes a 1/2 mile route through the cave that was improved by the CCC during the depression.

I thought it was kind of neat that only one group at a time goes into the cave.  The cave was discovered in 1879 by  Solomon Lick, a rancher , and was pretty much looted. In 1884, four outlaws robbed a Wells Fargo train and hid out in the caves, they were eventually found (at a saloon), 3 died in the gun fight, one went to prison.  People are still looking for the gold they stole and presumed hid in the caves. We did not find it 😞.

In 1922 Frank Schmidt acquired the cave property and started preserving it until he turned it over to the CCC in 1934 contingent upon being able to live there and give tours until he could no longer. He gave tours until he was 84 years old and died at 85. 

The Witch

There are number of cool formations, like the Witch...there is a Magoo and Sponge Bob....These formations were used for navigation in the early days. 

The Falls

There were a lot of the classic things you see in limestone caves like stalagmites, stalactites and columns. 

Fred, June, Jane and Brian

The views from the cave entrance are spectacular. 

After our cave tour we stopped at the local Farmers Market, and got a few treats for later. We also stopped at a second market that was for young entrepreneurs, kids with booths that sell things. It is a cool way to motivate kids to be creative and understand how the business works...seems like a great program to me. Of course we had to buy something.

The same space where the Kids Farmers Market runs is where Brian and Jane got married, it will be one year on April 6th. We got a tour of the venue, Medella Vina Ranch, it was very nice. 

We returned home for lunch and just lounging around. 

Brian and Jane have lots of wildlife around the house, in addition to their dog, Nessa, chickens and honey bees. Brian had 8 rattle snakes last year, you really need to watch for them here. 

Gambel's Quail

They also have many birds. 

Jane works as an usher at their local church so we went early to the 17:00 mass. It was retreat weekend for about 200 teenagers from around Tucson, the church was packed but it was nice to see youth at the church. 

After church we went to dinner at Poco and Mom's Cantina, it was great. We went home fat and happy.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson.