Day 31 - Catalina State Park, Tucson

It is day 31 and we have now been five nights in Catalina State Park in the Coronado National Forest only about 30 miles to the North of Tucson. The contrast between staying in the Voyageur RV resort is striking. At the Voyageur which is about 10 miles south of Tucson we experienced a retirement community of RV’s and manufactured homes that many Americans come to for the winter. There were multiple organized activities and very friendly people.  As well as visiting the Gem show, I went to the Air and Space museum and then the separate “Boneyard” storage space for all US Military Aircraft.  There are more than 6000 mothballed aircraft – some in a state that can be put back into service or sold to foreign governments. The Museum had an amazing number of different aircraft from the second war onwards. One has a greater understanding of the military might of the US air, army and navy air forces and of the influence of the “Military Industrial Complex”. There was continuous jet plane noise, during the day, at the RV site as the “Warthog” (twin jet single seater aircraft whose principle purpose is to deliver the firepower of a powerful rapid firing cannon).

Here at the Catalina State Park we find we can do many of the things we do at home!

On the way here we took the tram up the Sabrina Canyon and did about a 2 ½ mile hike in the desert amongst the Saguaro’s - many of which are more than 200 years old. As the educational pamphlet says “The Saguaro has been called the monarch of the Sonoran Desert, supreme symbol of the American Southwest, and a plant with personality. It is renowned for the variety of odd all-too-human shapes it assumes – shapes that inspire wild and fanciful imaginings.”

Yesterday, which was a clear cloudless day I went on a 10 mile hike up the Romero Canon Trail. From chats with other hikers it seems many people come to this area for the hiking. Penny did a couple of short hikes with Lucy – a birding trail and a nature trail.

There are a remarkable number of small birds in the camping area - we have identified a Gila Woodpecker and a Mourning Dove but our birdbook is not comprehensive enough for the identification of several very colorful small birds.

It rained one day and so we found that we were ten minutes from a large shopping area with a movie theatre complex so we went to see “Quartet” with Maggie Smith and Tom Courtney. Greatly enjoyed!

We will be here for another two nights, then to hear Verdi’s Requiem in Tucson and then we plan to head into New Mexico!

Shaun, Penny and Lucy.