Tucson, AZ

KOA Lazydays RV Resort (26 Apr-01 May 23)

Welcome to Arizona!  We stopped off in Tucson to attend a “Grand Design RV” owners’ rally and to take in some local sights.  We had a great visit and ran out of time before we ran out of things to do!   

We made it to the rally on Wed – a day early, and checked in.  Dave and Stephanie were great Wagon Master hosts along with Enrique and Diane assisting.  It was nice meeting them and getting to see other early arrivals at the impromptu street happy hour that evening.  The Rally kicked off the next day with a great motorcycle entrance displaying the U.S. flag followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.  Games, lectures, vendors and other interesting events led up to another happy hour on Thursday night.  Friday was more presentations and then a “camp crawl” where we were introduced to several new combinations and flavors of drinks!  Saturday marked the last day of the rally and is highlighted by Tina’s award-winning salsa!  She entered the salsa making contest and placed third out of 21 entries.  Go Tina!!  And yes, it was (is) very, very good!  It is number one in my book!  

While the rally was the primary event for our Tucson visit, we did manage to see and do several other things.  One of our main activities to do when we can, is to take a bike ride.  Tucson has several connected trails – some better than others – that wind their way through town.  We ended up taking a leisurely hour-long ride through the Sonoran Desert landscape on the Diamond St trail portion of the “Chuck Huckleberry Loop” in and around Tucson.  The ‘Loop’ extends through unincorporated Pima County, Marana, Oro Valley, Tucson and South Tucson.  Good ride for sure, but we started later than we should have and had to expedite to beat the afternoon sun and heat! 

During a break in the Rally activities on Saturday, we took advantage of the time and visited the “Pima Air and Space Museum.”  We were both impressed with the quality and quantity of aircraft on display.  The grounds of the museum also serve as home to the “390^th Memorial Museum” and ‘Home of the B-17 Flying Fortress’.  A remarkable museum in its own right, it pays homage to the heroes of WWII and is a repository of information on this wonderful, historical aircraft.  Also sharing the grounds is the “Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame” that includes an incredible history of Arizonans that participated in or contributed to the history of flight.  Plan to spend half a day to do the tour justice! 

One of Tina’s favorite places to visit was “Roma’s Imports” Italian deli and grocery.  It is an experience of Old-World Italy right in the heart of the Old Pueblo section of Tucson.  Tina went in for some guanciale (pork) and came out with three bags of groceries!   

On occasion, we also like to check out Guy Fieri’s ‘Diners, Drive-ins and Dives’ restaurants and grade Guy on his reviews.  He is batting about .500 in our humble opinions, but “Rocco’s Little Chicago Pizzeria” goes in the win column!  We had the ‘Kitchen Sink’ deep dish pizza and wished we were staying longer so we could have more!  Delicious and worth the trip! 

After assuring we had the food absorption amply addressed, we proceeded to the “Dragoon Brewing Company” to sample the local craft beers.  Again, we were not disappointed and after going through a combined two flights of samples, decided our favorites were the ‘Santa Cruz’r Golden Ale’ and the ‘Dragoon Pils American Pilsner.’   Both were tasty and not too filling! 

Rounding out our exhausting day of eating and drinking was a trip to the highly recommended “Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum” northeast of the city.  It was not a terrible drive, and it was worth every minute and ounce of diesel to get there.  I will caution you that the operative word in the title is ‘desert.’  Indeed, it is a museum and has several air-conditioned buildings to visit, but the majority of the displays are on a nice, peaceful, HOT and SUNNY walk through the desert on clearly marked paths.  Head covering, sunscreen, water and appropriate footwear are highly recommended.  We did have hats!   Go early in the morning and enjoy quite the incredible venue full of incredible views and information on the desert eco-system!   Definitely worth it!  

Our last stop for our time in Tucson was at the “Saguaro National Park” not far from the Sonoran Museum.  The saguaro cactus is quite fascinating now that I have learned more about them than I had ever thought possible from Bob, the docent!  Check out the website or research the cactus itself and I am sure you will also be saying… ”Hmmmm” over and over again!  Just a snippet of a teaser to get you going… the saguaro cactus only grows in the Sonoran Desert and actually has a wooden ‘skeleton.’  A small 4-5 foot tall plant is about 35-40 years old and the cactus does not develop the ‘arm’ sprouts until it is at least 60 years old!  There is much, much more and this National Park is another must see if in the area!  

To wrap this article up, we stayed at the “Tucson KOA Lazydays RV Resort” just south of town.  It is a typical KOA resort, but relatively large.  There are a couple of pools, lots of doggie parks, and the Rush BBQ Restaurant.  The restaurant hosts live music and, in our case, “DJ Warren” to spin some tunes on Friday night.  The staff was great and always helpful if needed.  The campground is level gravel sites with concrete patios.   There are some ‘high end’ options for buddy camping that include large, flat screen TVs and outdoor kitchens and other sites with larger patios if you are in the mood!  There were also a significant portion of the sites under shade awnings if you can get them!  I would say the sites are roomy enough without being in your neighbor’s business.  Nice campground and one that I would not hesitate to stay at again if needed.