TUCSON and MEDFORD March 29-April 6, 2012

With only  5 days in Tucson the days went quickly. We camped at Catalina State Park about 15 mi north of Tucson. Far enough away from city lights and traffic with plenty of room to ride bikes and just relax.

The days were warm with cooler nights. We took off on Saturday to visit the  beautiful Mission at San Xavier, though too hot for Foster to stay in the car...so Paul sat under a tree with him while I did the tour. The Mission was founded in 1692, church built in 1797 and is the oldest European structure in Arizona. Evidence of an earthquake in 1887 still shows on the damaged right tower which has never been repaired. 

From there we went into town to visit the stunning Tucson Art Museum. We saw an amazing exhibit,
 Frida Kahlo, Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray; so many photographs of her along with clothing and handcrafts from the region. We spent 3 hours there and even watched a PBS speical of her life. Fantastic afternoon!







Sunday we trip took us to Saguaro National Park in western Tucson.

 It's a 9 mile loop drive with viewpoints and stops for short walks. Beautiful to see a forest of cactus! 

Monday morning I was up early to do a solo tour of the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Paul stayed home with Foster and just enjoyed our pretty campsite and fiddled on the motorhome.  I was so surprised to find the gardens in the middle of the busy city. It is a densely packed 5 acres of a variety of gardens. The gardens were once the private property of the Porter family dating back to the 1930s. In 1970 the gardens and home became the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  I loved the iris garden

and the variety of cactus displayed.

But the most interesting part of my visit was the Chrysalis House.  I have always been fascinated by the transformation of butterflies and the exhibit was amazing...must have been about 100 different varieties displayed. As the butterflies emerged they were moved into the Butterfly Garden near by. 

The rest of the day we spent at the campground getting ready to head back to Phoenix. 

We were on the road about 10:30 Tuesday morning but instead of returning to Mesa, AZ on the interstate we took a great route on highway 79. Beautiful drive with wildflowers along the roadside and prickly pear cactus blooming off in the desert. 

We planned to stay at Palm Gardens RV Park in Mesa, AZ since I had an early flight out the next morning to Medford and a visit to see my Mom. The RV park was closer to the airport and Paul and Foster would have a friendly park with a jacuzzi to enjoy for the 3 days I was gone. 

The northwest was quite a change after being in the desert for a couple weeks. I had this beautiful photo of Mt. Rainier out my window as we came into Seattle, enroute to Medford.

I stayed with my brother, Harry and his wife Mary and spent time with Mom. She's in a new residence since I saw her in Nov. and it was so good to see where she now lives.


Medford was so pretty with flowering trees everywhere and daffodils in gardens. The weather s perfect for me...crisp and cool but some sun peeking out and only a few rain showers but enough to cover the hills with snow.

I returned to Phoenix/Mesa Friday evening and enjoyed a great dinner with PK In the little town of Gilbert. We met up with Mandy and Logan Saturday morning for a yummy breakfast at Vincent's Market Bistro and said good bye to them back at their house.

then went back to do the basic clean up and laundry at out site.

We left early Sunday morning and moved to Sedona for the next 4 days. We stayed 4 nights at Page Springs RV Park right on Oak Creek...such a gorgeous place to spend time. 

I feel soooooo good now....I've caught up on all our recent travels and can be in current time again. The blessings of an iPad: I wrote all these blogs while Paul drove our 2 hours north to Sedona. Plus it kept my mind off the steep and scary downhill mountain pass, 6 miles of 6% Grade. Now, hopefully I can get internet often enough to download more frequently.