Arizona - Saguaro National Park

Two of my kids and I were getting stir crazy and decided to go to Arizona for a few days. We picked Tucson because of the Saguaro National Park. It is near the city; therefore, it did not involve much driving, and we could relax and not worry about excessive driving.

We got to Tucson and to our AirBNB. It was great! The property was a bit outside the city, on a large lot, with chickens, goats, and a ton of other birds. It was fun to feed the chickens our leftovers. The goats were vegan, so we fed them our banana peels and some carrots. It was nice.

We probably should have thought about the weather a bit more before booking the trip – since June is one of the hottest months in Arizona, but we didn’t, and we have learned a lesson from it. Regardless, we visited the Saguaro National Park that is just outside of Tucson.

There are two sections of the park – one section is on the east side of the city; the other is on the west. We went to the west side and stopped at the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is in a beautiful building that fits nicely with the surroundings. We watched the movie, hoping to learn a bit about the area.

The week we were in the area, the temperature averaged about 110 degrees. It was HOT!!! Therefore, hiking a long distance was not something we were going to do. We talked to the rangers about it, and they directed us to the Bajada Scenic Loop – an unpaved route for vehicles. It was perfect – we drove along, getting out occasionally to explore a bit and take photos, then moved along. It was beautiful

On one of the days of our stay, we ventured out at sunset for a sunset hike in Saguaro. The sun was already behind the mountain by the time we got to the trailhead, and the temperature was below 100, so we went for a short hike – maybe about a mile out and back. The sky during the sunset was INCREDIBLE!