Today we decided to visit Tucson Studios which is no more than 7 miles from our casita where we are staying. This is the place where many western movies and TV shows were filmed. John Wayne, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Maureen Ohara, Clint Eastwood, Gene Wilder, Harrison Ford and Ricky Nelson are just a few of the actors and actresses who walked around the set of Old Tucson Studios. It really is a great place to visit and we highly recommend it. It takes a better part of a day because there is so much to see and shows are scheduled throughout the day. The train takes you around the 3 mile perimeter of the grounds and is included in the entry fee along with all the shows. The stage coach ride is $3.00 which lasts for about 20 minutes. Make sure you also take the 20 minute guided walking tour which is very informative. We watched the shoot out, the cancan show, and the comedy action show in front of the Alamo facade. That show is hilarious and I have a ton of action images if you want to see them. The pizza we had was also very good.
We left there about 3 pm and drove to the picnic area in the Saguaro National Park West where we joined a sunset hike at 3:30 pm with a ranger. We hiked 3 1/2 miles and enjoyed the sunset at the Valley View overlook. What a great place to get sunset photos. We learned quite a bit about the flora and fauna of the desert and walked up and down hills and through a dry wash area. There is so little surface water but if you dig down about 8 inches or so you do start hitting water so the animals wallow in the dirt until they reach a cool, moist area. This is in the dry washes where the water runs when it rains. There has been so little winter rain that a lot of the trees and bushes are still dead looking and they are concerned about the spring flowering plants and cactus. Last year this time the desert was just starting the bloom. The ranger said it looked like photos in the Arizona Highways magazine with all the beautiful blooms.
The blooms that we have seen on the barrel cactuses are remnants from last year. Next year we plan on visiting in mid April to catch the spring blooming season.
Our week's visit ends in two more days and we will be very sad to return to Alaska. This is a great place to live and we see why so many snowbirds come to this area. The ranger who led our hike is a retired ranger who works at different parks throughout the year. He has worked the last two winters in Saguaro National Park and in the summer he works at Glacier National Park. What a great life he has. He stays in his RV during the winter and has a house up in Montana for the summer months.
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