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Southeast (Gulf Coast), Texas, United States

Friday, January 28, 2011

Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ

We got a late start on leaving the campground at Gila Bend.  It was after 10:00am when we finally hit the road after getting the Bus ready for 5 days on the road, and filling up with diesel.

We headed to Tucson, AZ, and parked the Bus at the local Camping World store at about 3:00PM, and noticed that they locked the gates to the parking lot at 7:00pm.  That gave us 4 hours to tour both the West and East Parks that make up The Saguaro National Park.  We also needed to make a stop at a Trander Joes store to pick up some cornbread for our daughter in law!!

We headed to the West park first, and since Patsy left her purse in the Bus, I had to sign up of the $10 Senior card for National Parks.  This is a one time fee for a lifetime card that allows us to enter any National Park for free.

The West park turned out to have the most dense population of Saguaro’s.  It is also, the most natural, with a “graded dirt” road on the six mile long tour loop.  On the way to the park, we passed the “Old Tucson Studios”, but it appeared to be closed.

The remainder of this post will be mostly pictures….. starting with sights on the road to the park:

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The following photos are on the paved roads to the visitor center….

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After spending some time at the visitor center, we drove the dirt loop road…..

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We left the West park, and drove to the other side of Tucson to the East Park……

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When we arrived at the East Park, it was getting late, and the sun set while we were driving the 8 mile paved loop road…..

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As we entered Tucson earlier in the day, I saw a billboard that seemed like an omen.  I wanted to take a picture of it, and late last night, I went back up I-10 to find it.  We did find it, but it was not a lighted billboard….. so I drove up on a curb and took the best shot that I could …..

Retirement Sign 01

More on this latter picture in a later post!

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