Tucson – Page 2 – RDZ Photography

Tucson – March 2023 – Views from Above South and West Tucson

A beautiful Saturday morning provided the perfect setting for a helicopter tour of the Tucson area.

We chose to fly with Volare Helicopter, with the owner Ryan as our pilot. Having flown in airplanes hundreds of times this was my first ride in a helicopter, but Ryan made us feel at ease from the first moment.

After a few minutes explaining the sounds and feels of the 4 seat Robinson 44 helicopter, we were off.

The first noteworthy view was of the Casino del Sol, backed by the smaller hills in the middle of the shot, with the Santa Catalina’s filling the background.

Just a bit further east revealed this expansive view of the entire valley, with downtown Tucson looking quite small compared to the towering Catalina’s in the background.

The Asarco mine filled the view south. An early visit to this mine is detailed here. https://rdzphotographyblog.com/2023/01/25/sahuarita-arizona-january-2023-a-necessary-evil/

Black Mountain is a lava capped mesa on the San Xavier Reservation. While not visible here, the mountain top is home to ruins of an ancient Hohokam fortification.

The mountain is off limits to the public, so this view from above is the only way to see the saguaros growing out of the lava covered hillside.

The Tohono O’odham Nation owns the somewhat symmetrical Desert Diamond Casino. Clearly a light gambling crowd on this Saturday morning.

The Green Valley Pecan orchards extend as far as you can see to the south. The ponds in the foreground are at a concrete plant.

This simple view of the interstate running through the desert provides a great contrast of nature and development.

This is I 19, which runs 60 miles from Tucson to Nogales. It has for it’s entire existence, been the only interstate in the United States to use kilometers instead of miles for the exit numbers and mileage markers.

The Marriott Starr Pass Resort takes up a huge space at the base of the Tucson Mountains.

A couple of close ups of the mountains as we made our way back west.

The view from 1500′ above the ground shows the varied topography of the area – large expanses of flat desert areas, with some smaller mountains backed by the towering ‘sky islands’.

While this is the first in a series of aerial views of Tucson, our tour ended where it started, at Ryan Field on the far west end of town.

Tucson – February 2023 – Conflicted Visit to a Zoo

Nature

Anytime I visit a zoo I have conflicted feelings. On one hand the animals are beautiful, but on the other it is sad to see them caged up in less than natural settings. I understand it can be educational to children and others, but at what cost to the animals.

Setting aside these conflicts for a couple of hours I stopped by the Reid Park Zoo.

The zoo is fairly small by most standards, but is very popular. The walkways were crowded on this sunny Sunday afternoon.

One of the first stops was an enclosed aviary that you walked through.

Another building had some terrariums that housed reptiles.

The flamingo’s had a bit more space.

The peacock as well seemed to have room to roam.

The squirrel monkey with a solemn look.

A similar look from the ring tailed lemurs.

The larger mammals were the ones that seemed most out of place in their enclosures that were far too small.

Summed up best by this rhino. It is disappointing with all the open desert space (outside the city) that a new approach couldn’t be taken to provide wide open spaces for the animals, while still serving the educational and entertainment purposes of the zoo. Of course who has the money to make that happen?

Tucson – February 2023 – Botanical Gardens Close Up

Nature

The morning at the Tucson Botanical Gardens provided some great close up of plants and other items.

Aloe blooms ready to pop.

Early cholla blooms.

Despite the colder than usual Tucson winter, the flowers in pots are still doing well.

The oranges are about ready to be picked.

According to Google Image search this is a Firethorn plant.

The gardens has a nice mix of everyday items mixed in either as planters, or just decorations.

Strategically placed planters are scattered about the gardens.

More Google Image searches say this is a Red Hot Poker.

This is known as the Old Man Cactus for obvious reasons.

Our last view are the serious spikes on the top of this cactus.

Picacho Peak, Arizona – March 2023 – The Poppies Are Popping

Nature

With the abundant rain and snow that has occurred throughout the desert southwest in the 2022-2023 winter it is expected that the wildflower season will be spectacular.

The first show for the Tucson area is at Picacho Peak.

Picacho Peak is about 1/2 between Tucson and Phoenix. For more than 100 years the main forms of transportation have rolled past this uniquely shaped mountain.

The first road was a wagon trail, followed later by the railroad. On this day the railroad served as a backdrop for a great patch of poppies. In the far right center are the tops of the snow covered Catalina Mountains.

As the automobile came into existence Arizona Highway 84 was paved past Picacho Peak. In the 1960s it was replaced by the now 6 lane Interstate 10, yet the poppies continue to thrive.

Because it is directly along the major freeway between the two cities, and is the first in the area to bloom, the crowds were quite large. We opted not to sit in the huge line to get into the park, rather found a space outside the park and walked in.

It was well worth the short walk.

In addition to the poppies the ground cover has a verdant green look.

But it is the poppies that everyone comes for.

The beautiful colors, along with the impressive geological features of Picacho Peak, make the visit a must. Just plan ahead, be patient and enjoy.

Tucson – March 2023 – The People of the Tucson Book Festival

Art, Festival

The Tucson Book Festival occurred the weekend of March 4th and 5th. This festival brings hundreds of authors and over 100,000 attendees to the University of Arizona campus.

While there were a number of ‘big name’ people presenting (Bernie Sanders and Linda Ronstadt were the headliners), many are less well known authors and publishers trying to get their work noticed.

In addition it takes lots of volunteers who help out and participants who entertain the crowd.

Many of the authors had their own tents, but the good folks from New Mexico had a tent to promote a number of their authors.

The French Language publisher representative had a flair about her.

There were numerous stages that presented entertainment, as well as author talks. This segment was featuring Swedish traditional dancers.

A number of tents were set up for recording interviews.

One of the many volunteers who keep the festival running.

Every author had times set aside for meet and greet, complete with personalized autographs of their books.

This character had an old VW bus as the Comic Bookmobile.

Boston based Lovern Gordon is a prominent author focusing on domestic abuse, and how it impacts the lives of the victims.

A few more of the people of the festival.

The Tucson Audubon Society was one of many public service organizations who had representation at the Festival.

Most of the stages featured authors giving talks. The Tucson Book Festival is a great event, well worth an annual visit.

Tucson – February 2023 – Lego Sculptures in the Botanical Gardens

Art, Festival, Nature

The Tucson Botanical Gardens has an exhibit with nearly full size sculptures of animals made out of Legos.

Sean Kenney is the artist, with the exhibit titled Nature POP!

The exhibit includes some flat pieces that resemble a painting.

Most of the full size sculptures are made up of over 50,000 Lego’s.

One section had an entire collection of rabbits.

There were a couple non animal sculptures.

The sculptures were well done, and added much color to the gardens.

Tucson – March 2023 – It Snowed….Again

Nature

It was amusing for the first couple of snowfalls this winter, with an inch or two of snow, enough to add a topping of white to the cacti of Tucson. This time the weather got serious and dropped up to 7 inches in the foothills where we live! The good news is by late afternoon it had all melted.

Amusingly the official measurements at the Tucson Airport for this winter shows more snowfall there than in Washington DC or Philadelphia, each of which has had essentially no snow so far.

The local weather people called it ‘generational’, something not seen in a couple of decades.

It was however beautiful while it lasted, and didn’t stick to the roads. All those snowbirds in town are probably asking for a refund.

I headed out at first light. While you could get into part of Saguaro National Park, the 8 mile loop road remained closed greatly restricting the initial views with the heaviest snow.

It had snowed heavily overnight, and by daylight the clouds were beginning to break up and the morning sun was illuminating a mountain visible from ~25 miles away.

At nearby Agua Caliente Park the palm trees also had snow toppings, as well as some fog rising off of the pond.

The drive back past Saguaro National Park showed more of the heavy snow on the vegetation, as well as the snow free roads.

A quick visit back to Colossal Cave Park, where we had played in the snow last Sunday.

The cave has enough elevation where you had great views across the valleys to the nearby mountains, with the valleys even having snow.

A brief stop in the neighborhood.

It was late enough in the morning that Saguaro National Park had finally opened the loop road. While some of the snow had already melted by mid day, there was still plenty for some amazing scenes.

While it is beautiful, enough is enough – time to get back to Arizona March – sunny days in the 70s.

Tucson – February 2023 – Pima Pet Parade

Festival, Nature

Historic 4th Avenue in Tucson was once again a site for a parade, this time to celebrate the pets of Pima County.

The parade is popular enough to be streamed live by some local TV personalities. It attracted plenty of participants and a wide collection of dog breeds.

Some people had the appearance of coming further away than others.

We were fortunate enough of getting a seat on a temporarily closed streetcar platform in the middle of the street, as the dogs made their way down the street and tracks.

Some have overcome great obstacles just to be able to participate.

Some caught rides.

Tucson really went to the dogs this day! A big shout out to the Pima Animal Care Center and the other shelters in town who watch out for these wonderful animals.

Tucson – February 2023 – Sabino Canyon’s Rattlesnake Canyon

Nature

A 75 degree Sunday in early February was perfect for going for a hike in Tucson’s best natural area, Sabino Canyon.

Southern Arizona is one of those places where you can have a saguaro cactus and snow topped mountains in the same shot.

While at first glance they may all look like, many seem to take on personalities with the variation in the arms.

The hike on this day took us through Rattlesnake Canyon. Good news – it was a canyon. Better news – no rattlesnakes were seen on this day.

Eventually we made our way into a wash that had water running through it from the snow melt thousands of feet above us up in the Catalina Mountains.

While the Saguaro National Park is located just a few miles away from here, Sabino Canyon has a much denser cacti collection due mainly to the fact that back in the 1930s they allowed cows to graze in the National Park area, and many of the saguaros were destroyed.

Most cholla’s are brownish/green but sometimes you find purple ones.

The canyon got deeper as we made our way towards the end.

Sabino Canyon is one of Tucson’s most popular spot, and it is well deserved.

Vail, Arizona – February 2023 – Colossal Cave Snow Fun

Nature

Colossal Cave has been a tourist destination for 100 years, but most people come to go into the earth for touring the caves. Today everyone came to enjoy the highly unusual snowy landscape.

Not too often do you see Agave plants with snow on them.

The historic building had a ski lodge feel with the snow.

There is a short nature trail that normally cautions people to make sure they take plenty of water to deal with the heat. Today’s biggest challenge was the slick footing, but well worth the brief hike.