Today was a grand adventure!

We attempted to wake up early and get on our way since we had about a 2 hour drive to Tuscon. We’d bought snacks from the store yesterday so we had oatmeal for breakfast, packed some goodies, filled up our water bottles and headed out the door.

First stop was Saguaro National Park near Tuscon.

Not too much to report about our drive there except the many billboards with either injury lawyers and clever catch phrases, or ads for senior living resorts.

We decided to explore the west side of this national park because it has shorter maintained trails. The park wasn’t too full and we explored the visitor center, which had a display of dead insects. I really didn’t need to see how large the wolf spiders and killer bees are, but now I know!

We paid our park fee and then headed to the Bajada Loop Drive. This loop is mainly dirt roads with several spots to stop and either picnic or hike. We did the short Valley View Trail and also stopped to view the Signal Hill Petroglyphs. The park is full of many varieties of cactus and local wildlife such as the roadrunner bird.

You can see some of the faded petroglyphs in the image below. Most are swirling designs or animals. They believe these are nearly 600 years old and they aren’t sure what they depict or why they are here. They could be for religious reasons, or for the solstice, or they could simply be graffiti from hooligans from hundreds of years ago.

The trails were easy walks and the views stretched for miles. The cactus were huge and eventually I made Jacob stand next to one so you could really get an idea of the size!

It was hot, probably mid-80s to low 90s, but felt nice with the breeze.

After we explored the park we drove into Tuscon to have lunch. I’d found a place called Corbett’s in the Historic Downtown to check out. It wasn’t far from University of Arizona. We were able to sit outside in a shaded spot and enjoy our food.

We then drove through Tuscon to make our way to Mount Lemmon. We both keep commenting on how large and sprawling the cities are here. In Washington we are so constrained by the geography, that our cities are often dense.

I didn’t quite know what to expect with Mount Lemmon. Jacob had picked this location and I knew we’d be driving up a mountain. I didn’t know that the top was at 8,000 feet.

There were many scenic stops along the way.

Jacob enjoyed cruising up the winding mountain roads and observing how the scenery was constantly changing. One sign stated that every thousand feet we climbed it was like we were traveling 300 miles north. For example, we hit 4000 feet and suddenly there were no more cacti. As we got higher, we started to see pine trees and more brush. The temperature kept going down until we were in the low 60s.

At the very top is Summerhaven, a small town with a general store, community center, lodging and more. The most exciting stop in Summerhaven is The Cookie Cabin.

I spotted this on the maps and suggested we stop there and it did not disappoint. We both got a cookie, which we didn’t know would be the size of a paper plate. I’m not kidding.

Jacob said he didn’t need to go anywhere else ever, the other item on the menu there – pizza!

Don’t worry we didn’t eat our entire cookies, we figured we can snack on these the next few days.

After our exciting stop at The Cookie Cabin it was time to head back to Phoenix.

We had a mostly uneventful nearly 3 hour drive. The only thing of note is the endless road construction everywhere which delayed us getting back.

We are now sitting outside, it is 8:54 p.m. and 84 degrees outside. We are being kept company by flying cockroaches and whatever mystery bug is crawling across the ground.

Tomorrow we will visit Papago Park and the Desert Botanical Gardens.

Until then!