Arriving Tucson ~ Tubac & Tumacacori

December 10 ~ 11

We are so often disappointed in the quality of many RV resorts, it was a pleasure to drive into Beaudry RV Resort (beaudryrv.com).  This is not a luxurious place, but it's nice, very well-tended, full of nice facilities, including an onsite restaurant, a nice pool, library, gym, and, my personal favorite, a nice wrought iron table and chairs on our patio.  And in an area that's stark to begin with, they've managed to gentle it up a bit with fruit trees at every site.  We have a chock-full-of-fruit, there-for-the-picking, lemon tree on one side, an orange on the other and grapefruit across the way.  They smell wonderful and what a treat to pick fruit for breakfast and immediately eat it.

Since Tucson is only a couple of hours from Phoenix, we have most of the day to poke around.  Still need to do some more Christmas shopping so we go to the 4th Ave. area, billed as full of unique boutiques...turns out to be very funky, but pick up a couple of things.

Drive and walk around the downtown area....like many cities we've seen, they've been renovated, resurrected and gentrified, but, while attractive, are quiet, very, very quiet.  There doesn't seem to be any residential downtown, so the only activity seems to be in and out of restaurants. 

Read about Cafe Poca Cosa (cafepocacosatuscon.com) in several books and feel woefully undressed in jeans when we walk into this very stylish, chic restaurant....then we gratefully notice everyone else is in jeans also.  A blackboard menu of about a dozen things you've never heard of, are explained by a great waiter who runs through all the multitude of ingredients in every thing.  Then there is one dish that is a sampling of three of the entrees.  The only problem is the chef chooses them for you...not letting that happen.  The waiter makes a rather big deal about no substitutions and the chef doing the sampler choosing, I find it a bit off putting.  But Rick goes for the sampler, I order a chicken mole amarillo which had so many ingredients I couldn't begin to remember them.  A different chicken mole comes for Rick along with a pork something and a vegetarian banana thing.  He likes everything but the veggie thing, my  mole  is very good.  The plates, however, are decorated with a huge salad and non-edible garni with enough food for at least two.  It's next to impossible to even cut your food without all the other stuff landing on the table.  We have enough leftovers for a couple of meals.  Enjoyed it, but don't think I'd return.

Tubac

Tubac (tubacaz.com), a teeny town about 30 miles from the Mexican border, is one of Arizona's largest art communities sporting more than 100 studios and galleries.  It was established in 1752 as a Spanish stronghold to protect early European settlers and local tribes from the more aggressive Apaches. It is charming, the people are wonderful and the shops have wonderful things at wonderful prices and you feel like you're on a backlot movie studio...it's so perfect!  I particularly like The Country Shop, La Paloma de Tubac and Old Presidio Traders.   Find a few more Christmas gifts.

Shelby's Bistro (shelbysbistrotubac.com) is a great American-style restaurant for lunch with a pretty outside space.  Rick has the best southwestern fish and chips ever cooked!...my grilled salmon on a bed of lettuce with pineapple salsa is a close second.  It is not inexpensive for some place truly in the middle of nowhere, but it is good!

Tumacacori

As long as we are this far south of Tucson, we go a bit further to Tumacacori National Historic Park (nps.gov/tuma) where Father Eusebio Francisco Kino established a Spanish mission, San Jose, in 1691.  We have been able to see so  many missions, each extraordinary in its own way.  We found this one particularly striking because it is not renovated and not a working parish today....it seemed to give a deeper insight into how it must have been.

You first see this striking view after leaving the visitor's center. After an very enthusiastic prelude by a park volunter, we are free to roam on our own....and in the middle of December, we are truly alone out there.

This is a hike from Tucson, but I would not miss Tubac or Tumacacori.  Both magnificent in their own very different ways.  We had originally thought about continuing further into Mexico, but were warned by a shop keeper that all of the border towns are pretty dangerous right now.

A kind of weird thing happened on the way back to Tucson.  There was a full-force, large border patrol with canine help stopping every vehicle about 10 miles north of Tubac. Kind of eerie.

We are really beginning to like Tucson.  Decide to stay a full week.