We spent a full week in Tucson, Arizona. It was one of those places we both had a desire to see and not just pass through. We stayed at the only RV park downtown and set off to explore.
We spent our first afternoon walking down Historic 4th Avenue, a hipster-ish shopping and dining stretch near the University that’s pretty busy with all age groups. We liked seeing the variety of shops, tattoo parlors, and eateries. That evening was spent poolside in 90+ degrees.
The next day, we went to one of the neatest theme park experiences in the country – Old Tucson Studios. There have been over 100 movies shot there and TV shows, even still going on today. It’s a Western setting and amazing! We didn’t know many of the movies and stars the guides talked about, and our kids definitely didn’t, but it was a wonderful place to have a day of family fun. They have dancing shows, gun fight shows, and stunt shows. Truly a gem!
We spent the next few days slowly wandering around town. We visited campus for the University of Arizona, revisited Historic 4th Avenue, and just wandered. We had a Sonoran hot dog at El Guero Canelo, which was by far our favorite Tucson culinary experience, and had some more In-N-Out since we don’t have those up north.
To cap off the week, we drove up “A Mountain”, aka Sentinel Peak. Sometime in the 1910s, a group of Arizona students made a gigantic letter “A” up there. Since Adelaide starts with an “A”, we had to get a closer look. Probably because our RV park was about a mile away, it felt like the “A Mountain” was looming over us all week. We’re not sure how important it is to a regular Tucsonian.
All-in-all, Tucson was a fun place to be. It’s a city that seems like it’s getting better in terms of cleaning up and new businesses. I’d hazard to guess that the population is growing and will continue. The area we stayed, right next to Sentinel Peak, was definitely being redeveloped.
We’re now headed north for really the first time on this trip. We’ll be staying in Flagstaff with Karissa’s brother for about a week before beginning the journey east.