January 31, 2013

Desert Sky

(Tucson & Saguaro National Park)

When the alarm went off at 7am, and I threw off the bedspread, I was tempted to shut it off and go back to sleep because it was chilly.   But we have been planning a day trip to Tucson and today was the day.   It was forecasted to be in the 70’s and it was difficult to decide what to wear because it was cold as we were getting ready to go.  We dressed in layers so we would be able to adapt to whatever weather we encountered.

We packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along with some fruit and were out the door by our planned departure time of 8am.  I had printed MapQuest directions as a backup to the GPS.  The route we were directed to had us starting out on US 60E then AZ-79.

 

 

 

 While driving through Florence, I noticed a sign for the Historic District and we decided to check it out.

 

 

 

 Florence has the distinction of having the oldest functioning Arizona State Prison complex.  Murphy’s Romance, starring Sally Field and James Garner was filmed in and around the town of Florence in 1985.

 

 

 

 Florence in one of the oldest towns in Pinal County and is regarded as a National Historic District with over 25 buildings listed on the Register of Historic Places.  We took a slow ride down Main Street taking pictures and admiring some of the buildings. 

 

 

A little side note I found interesting:  During WWII there was a prisoner of war camp for German and Italian prisoners of war just north of Florence. 

While we were downtown we noticed a sign for McFarland State Historic Park.  We would have liked to explore it but didn’t have the time because we wanted to allow plenty of time in Tucson.

Back on AZ-79 we came across marker alerting us that the Tom Mix Monument was ahead.

 

 

 We pulled into the rest area to take pictures of the monument.

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Edwin Mix was an actor born in 1880 in Pennsylvania.

 

 

He appeared in 291 films between 1909 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent.

 The story goes that on October 12, 1940, while driving his car on AZ-79 near Florence, he swerved to avoid construction barriers and ended up in a gully.  A large suitcase he had in the back flew forward, striking Mix in the head, fracturing his skull and breaking his neck.  The inscription on the plaque of his monument reads, “In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men.”

While we were at the rest area I noticed a garbage can with several bullet holes.  I can only assume it was used as target practice. 

 

 

After traveling for almost 60 miles on AZ-79

 

 

 

 we turned right onto Oracle Road

 

 

 

 and stopped for gas in the town of Oro Valley.

 

 

 

 We thought paying $3.09 a gallon was a good price until after gassing up we came across another station charging $2.99 a gallon.

 

 

But $3.09 is still a lot better than the $3.39 we paid the last time we fueled up in Apache Junction. 

Finally two and a half hours after leaving home we arrived at our destination in Tucson.

 

 

 

 We found a self-pay parking lot with plenty of empty spaces available.  It only cost us $5.00 for the entire day which was a real bargain considering the alternative would have been metered street parking at 25 cents for 15 minutes with a 2 hour maximum.   The time limit would not have worked for us because we planned on doing the Presidio Trail Historical Walking Tour of Downtown Tucson and did not want to have to hurry back to the car because our meter time was expiring.  The brochure I downloaded indicated allowing 2 hours for the tour but I like to really take my time and read all the placards so I knew 2 hours would not be enough considering there were over 20 places listed on the tour.

The parking lot between Franklin and Council Streets was only one block from the beginning of the walking tour.   

 We started at #1 with the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson.

 

 

 On August 20^th, 1775, Lt. Col. Hugo O’Connor, an Irishman serving in the Spanish Army, founded a fort in what is now downtown Tucson.  With the exception of a small Spanish chapel across the Santa Cruz River at the front of “A” Mountain, this was the first European structure in Tucson.  By the 1780s, when the 11-acre fort was completed, it consisted of 10-foot-high adobe walls and two corner towers, each 20 feet high.  This fort marked the northwestern edge of the Spanish frontier in Arizona.  The northeast corner of the presidio has been reconstructed on its original site at Church and Washington and is open to the public.

 

 

The timing of our arrival was perfect as the docent had just arrived and offered to take us on a brief tour.  The first thing she showed us was a pit, proof that a Native American village had been present on the site over 2,000 years ago.  At that time people lived in small circular houses.  The holes around the edge on the floor of the pit had saplings that were bent over to create a domed roof.   A small fire hearth was located in the center of the floor.   We learned from the docent that a family of four may have taken shelter in the house during the winter months.

 

 

Next we moved on to the Casa De Soldado (Soldier’s House).  The soldiers, most enlisting for ten years, lived in barracks.  They were issued uniforms and weapons and in addition to guarding the fort may have been required to work the fields growing crops for them and their family. 

 

 

The docent went on to explain how bread was made in communal outdoor ovens. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the brief tour we wandered around taking pictures and learning more about the fort by reading the placards.

 

 

 The fort was created to protect the residents of the community from attacks by the Apaches. 

 

 

 

 The region became part of Mexico with independence from Spain and then was acquired by the United States. 

 

 

 

 

We spent a few minutes in the museum reading about some of the people who lived in the Tucson when it was an adobe-walled fortress.

 

 

 

 The information had been obtained from census records dating between 1797 and 1848.  I hadn’t realized that such detailed records existed from that time period. 

 

This platform spring buggy was built in the late 1880s.

 

As I stated earlier, the brochure had stated that 2 hours should be set aside for the entire tour.  We had already spent 45 minutes at just the fort.

 

 

Outside of the fort, we followed the blue line on the sidewalk to the next stop on the tour.   

#2 Pima County Court house

 

 

            Built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, this building features a beautiful mosaic-tiled dome and elegant courtyard.  The east wall of the presidio (Stop No. 1) is marked with a granite strip in the red tile walkway inside the courtyard.  An actual piece of the original presidio wall can be seen in the Assessor’s Office on the south side of the courtyard.

 

 

We walked through the courtyard and exited on the other side into a plaza bringing us to #3, the Mormon Battalion Sculpture.

 

 

            This bronze statue commemorates the day in 1846 when Mormon soldiers entered Tucson on their way to California to fight in the Mexican War.  The Spanish-speaking citizenry, in spite of being nervous about these armed outsiders, treated the soldiers to a fiesta.  One of the Mormon soldiers joined in the fun by playing his fiddle (note fiddle case on north side of statue).

 

 

The Mormon battalion consisted of about 500 men who had been dispatched to the Southwest for two purposes: to make a show of European-American force and to establish a wagon trail between Santa Fe and San Diego.  The 2,000 mile march, from Iowa to California, is considered the longest military march in U.S. History.

While in the plaza

 

we also took pictures of the fountain,

 a strange sculpture,

 a veteran’s memorial,

 

 

a monument to those who fought in The Battle of the Bulge,

 

 

and #4, the Soldado De Cuera (Leather Jacket Soldier) Sculpture. 

 

 

            This Spanish soldier, assigned to the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson, is dressed for battle.  The leather armor (cuera) made of 7 layers of deerskin, rawhide shield (adarga), and 9-foot-long lance (lanza) made him a formidable adversary.  His shield helped to deflect arrows while his long lance was the premier weapon of the day.

We went across # 5, the Allande Footbridge.

 

 

            This bridge, crossing Pennington St., is dedicated to Don Pedro de Allande y Saabedra who was appointed one of the first commanders of the presidio in 1777.  Allande personally financed the early construction efforts at the presidio, which was the largest in the Southeast.

Apparently neither Monte nor I can read a map or follow a blue line because we totally missed # 6, the Garces Footbridge.

            This bridge, across Broadway, commemorates Father Francisco Garces, the Franciscan priest who rode north from Tubac with Lt. Col. Hugo O’Conor in 1775 to found the presidio in Tucson.  He explored throughout the region and died in 1781 during an Indian uprising.

 

 

 

After crossing the bridge, we entered the Plaza De Mesilla

 

 where we stopped in the Tucson Visitor’s Center

 to pick up some literature

 

 and get the key to the restroom.  There are several shops in the plaza

 

 as well as our next stop on the tour, #7, the Gazebo in Plaza De Mesilla (La Placita).

 

 

            This is a replica of the original 1880s bandstand in the plaza and is the site where the stagecoach would gallop into town from Mesilla, New Mexico, or San Diego along the old Camino Real (the Royal Road).  Often, Apache arrows would be embedded in the stagecoach from encounters along the trail.  La Placita is a collection of shops, and offices built in the 1970s on the site of an old Tucson neighborhood as part of urban renewal.

 

 

Between numbers on the walking tour there are lettered stops.  We missed the A stop (don’t know how we did that). 

            Through the wrought iron fence a commanding statue of Pancho Villa is visible on a grassy area in the center of Broadway.  The statue was given to Tucson by Mexico in 1981, with a wry sense of irony considering Pancho Villa made outlaw incursions into southern Arizona.

 

 

On our way to the next stop on the walking tour we passed this huge rock

 

 that was a gift to the city and weighs over 8,000 pounds. 

 

 

 

 

#8, Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont House.

 

 

            This house museum was once owned by the Sosa-Carrillo families; the oldest part of the structure was built as early as the 1850s.  It was briefly used as the residence of members of the family of General John C. Fremont, who was appointed the Territorial Governor in 1878.  This Sonoran row house contains an excellent example of a zaguan, a central hall leading from the front to the rear yard.  The mission fig in the courtyard was probably planted in the 1700s.

 

 

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see inside the museum because it was closed.

We continued walking a couple of blocks until reaching the Tucson Convention Center and our next stop, #9, Jacome Art Panel.

 

 

            This panel, depicting the arrival of the Spanish, used to be displayed on the front of the Jacome Department Store in downtown Tucson.  When the store was demolished in the 1970s, the Jacome family donated the art to the new convention center.

Directly next to the panel is a placard that is letter B on the walking tour, Sentinel Peak/ “A” Mountain. 

 

 

            To the west you will see a basaltic peak adorned with the letter “A”.  This was once a lookout for Spanish and Native American sentinels, who watched for raiders approaching the presidio and mission.  The “A” was added in 1915, in a burst of University of Arizona student enthusiasm, as the result of a football victory over Pomona College.  The O’odham name for the mountain, pronounced Chuk Shon, means “at the black base.”  This is the source of the name Tucson.

Directly next to the Letter B placard is the letter C placard listing information for Tumamoc (Horned Lizard) Hill.

            This hill, located just north of “A” Mountain, means “horned lizard” in the Tohono O’odham language.  In an O’odham legend a giant horned lizard suddenly began eating people.  The O’odham prayed to their god I’itoi to help them.  I’itoi heard them and turned the lizard into a rocky hill.  Now Tumamoc is the home of the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory, founded in 1903.  This hill is the side of the longest continuous botanical monitoring plots in the Sonoran Desert.  In addition, the hill was used by indigenous people for farming and other purposes for several thousand years and is an important archaeological site.

After crossing Cushing Street, we arrived at #10, El Tiradito (The Castaway) also known as The Wishing Shrine.

 

 

            This shrine is typical of small shrines in many communities in Mexico, where people come to burn candles and pray, asking for help with their problems.  One legend associated with this shrine involves a tragic love triangle in the 1870s, with a husband killing his wife’s lover.  A priest would not let the man be buried in the consecrated cemetery so local people lit candles at this location to pray for his soul.

 

 

 

 After saying a prayer of our own, we walked next door to #11, La Pilita.

 

 

            This adobe structure is a small museum dedicated to preserving the history of the site that is now part of Barrio Viejo.  A permanent historic photo exhibit tells the story of Carrillo’s Gardens, Elysian Grove, El Tiradito and El Ojito.  Seasonal exhibits celebrate Dia de los Muertos and Las Posadas.  A small gift shop features regional and seasonal items.

 

 

 

 

Inside the museum is a beautifully arranged photo gallery of neighborhood residents detailing, in their own words, their experience living in the barrio. 

 

 

After leaving  La Pilita, we found a picnic table next door at Rosendo S. Perez Park

 

 

and had our lunch.

 

 

  My peanut butter and jelly sandwich got smooshed but it tasted pretty good especially since it was already 1:30.

 

 

The sun finally came out and was warm enough for us to take off our jackets.

 

 

After lunch we walked one block to Letter D, Carrillo’s Gardens/Elysian Grove.

 

 

 

           To the west along Simpson St. were artesian springs that were the source of drinking water for the community in the 1800’s.  An enterprising local citizen, Leopoldo Carrillo, built a dam to form a lake and planted gardens with shade trees and roses.  The place became an amusement park, a very popular site for a picnic or a Sunday stroll.  As a consequence of increased water pumping and possibly as a result of a massive earthquake in 1887, the water table dropped and the springs that supplied the water for Carrillo’s Gardens dried up.  When the water disappeared, it left behind a small fertile hollow.  Trees eventually grew in the area and homes were built in a neighborhood called Elysian Grove.  One of the adobe buildings became the popular Elysian Grove Market; today it is a private home with a beautiful garden in the rear.

Our next stop, only one block away, brought us to #12, Carrillo Elementary School.

 

 

            This red-tile roofed elementary school, built in 1930 in the Mission Revival style, was named for Mexican businessman Leopoldo Carrillo, the developer of Carrillo’s Gardens.  It is well known for its traditional presentation, Las Posadas.

 

Where the heck are we?

 

Traveling up Simpson and then down Meyer brought us to #13, Teatro Carmen.

 

            This adobe building named for the wife of its builder, Carmen Soto Vasquez, has an interesting and checkered history.  Opened in 1915, it began as a theater devoted to staging dramatic works in Spanish, then it became a movie theater, boxing arena, garage, and Elks Lodge.

Across the street we came upon #14, Ferrin House (now Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant)

 

 

            This old adobe home was built in the 1860s by tailor Joseph Ferrin and his wife Therese.  Therese and the Ferrin’s daughter Clara were instrumental in building the first synagogue in Arizona on south Stone Ave.  A store was added to the residence in the 1880s; the structure now operates as a family-owned restaurant and bar.

Back on Cushing Street, we arrived at #15, Barrio Viejo Streetscape.

 

 

            These adobe buildings along Cushing Street, built in the Sonoran row-house style in the late 1800s, are part of Barrio Viejo, Tucson’s oldest neighborhood.  On the front of No. 124, note the decorated canales, long metal spouts that direct rainwater away from the adobe walls.

 

We noticed an open gate between two houses and Monte went in to investigate. 

 

 

I stood on the sidewalk taking pictures.  A woman opened the door of the house I was in front of and invited me to go into the gate to take pictures of the fountain in the rear of the house.

 

 

Monte and I were wondering what these house looked like inside.  We were able to find out when a carpenter working in one of the house spotted us taking pictures of the outside and invited us in.

 

 

  (We opted not to post those pictures to protect the privacy of the owner.)

From Cushing, we turned up Scott Street and found our next stop, #16, Temple of Music & Art.

 

 

            This 1927 theater, constructed on behalf of The Saturday Morning Music Club, brought a flourishing musical scene to Tucson including world famous artists such as Jascha Heifetz.  Built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, this building features an inviting courtyard with a fountain.  The building was restored in 1990 and is a popular theater venue, renowned for its excellent acoustics.

 

 

Letter E, on Stone Street is the St. Augustine Cathedral.

 

 

            Begun in 1896, this Spanish Colonial Revival style church has a magnificent sandstone façade.  In an unusual tribute to local flora and fauna the façade features a saguaro, yucca, horned lizard and various cacti.  Housed within the vestibule is one of the bells from the Spanish-era presidio.

 

 

 

 

We tried the door to the church and were surprised to find it unlocked.

 

  There are beautiful murals in the vestibule

 

and upon entering the door to the church and anointing myself with holy water I was immediately transported back to my childhood. 

 

 I soaked in the nice feeling while sitting in one of the pews for a few minutes.

 

 

Our next stop, only one block away, was to Letter F, Tucson Children’s Museum (formerly the Carnegie Library).

            Built in 1900 this building has survived fire and the loss of much of its ornamentation.  The massive bench at the front was designed by California architect Bernard Maybeck and sculpted by world-famous sculptor Benjamin Bufano in honor of Arizona’s pioneer settlers.

We totally missed taking pictures of this site perhaps because we noticed what appeared to be prints in the cement of a large predator. 

 

 

On our way to the next stop on the tour we came across a statue of a phoenix whose name on the plague was list as Toby. 

 

 

Toby was at the corner of our next stop, Letter G, the Scottish Rite Cathedral.

 

 

            Designed by Henry Trost, this unusual building was built in 1915 in a variety of Neo-classical styles.  The building façade, of brick and terra cotta, is Roman Revival with Greek revival Ionic capitals.  The building houses Masonic organizations and is not open to the public. 

 

 

 

Moving up 12^th Street to our next stop at # 17 was Armory Park.

 

 

            During and immediately after the Civil War this was the camp where soldiers were bivouacked.  Because the civilian neighbors considered the soldiers’ behavior excessively rowdy, the camp was eventually moved out of town to its current location on Craycroft Road and renamed Fort Lowell.  Three monuments are located here honoring those who fought in the Spanish-American War, WWI, and with the Mormon Battalion in 1846.

 

 

We didn’t stay at this location long because (I hate to admit this but) there were too many homeless people gathered in the park and quite a few characters who appeared to be high and I just didn’t feel safe.

It was starting to get chilly at this point and we were getting tired but I was determined to complete the entire walking tour so we continued on to #18, the Independent Order Of Odd Fellows Hall.

 

 

            This early 20^th century commercial building once housed a spacious dance hall on the second floor.  The Odd Fellows have been an active social club since 1891 in Tucson as well as a charitable group whose goals included helping fellow community members in times of need.  The building now houses a restaurant as well as the Etherton art and photography gallery.

 

 

We only took a couple of pictures as this location before moving on passing a tattoo parlor,

 

 the Ronstadt bus station,

 

 and some other interesting looking shops

 

 

 before arriving at our next location, #20, Historic Railroad Depot.   (We actually went out of order at this point-again not sure how we did that)

 

 

            Built in 1907, the depot was restored in 2004 to its 1942 appearance.  In addition to a functioning passenger train lobby, it houses an Amtrak office, a rental car office, Maynards’ market and kitchen and an excellent small museum highlighting transportation.  Historic stream locomotive # 1673 is located at trackside.  A life-size sculpture of Wyatt Earp and “Doc” Holiday marks the 1882 incident ending with the death of Frank Stilwell near the first depot.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the museum was closed by the time we arrived but we did walk around back and get pictures of the Wyatt Earp statue.

 

  We also took a walk through the Obsidian Gallery.

 

  According to the Central Tucson Gallery Association, “The gallery exhibits both contemporary fine art and Craft in the Tucson Historic Depot.” 

 

 

Rather than critique the “art” in the gallery let me just say that art is in the eye of the beholder. 

While I took advantage of the restroom in the Amtrak office, Monte went around taking pictures of some of the memorabilia in the lobby.

 

  Outside, we took a few minutes to look over the shoulder s of some of the artists painting the depot. 

 

 

Realizing we skipped # 19, we tried finding it on the map to see where we went wrong only to realize that it was directly across the street from us.  Duh!  We really were getting tired. 

#19 is the Hotel Congress.

 

 

Built in 1919 across from the railroad depot, this hotel was popular with winter visitors.  It became famous in 1934 when members of John Dillinger’s gang rented rooms.  While they were there, the building caught fire and the gang paid some firemen to carry their bags outside.  The firemen didn’t open the bags but wondered why they were so heavy; the bags contained submachine guns and bulletproof vests.  The gang was recognized from a True Detective Mysteries magazine and soon arrested.  This hotel flourishes today and includes a popular restaurant and active night spot.

 

We crossed the street to take pictures and noticed there were artists painting the hotel. 

 

 

Moving up Congress Street, partially restricted due to construction, we arrived at #21, the Fox Theatre.

 

 

            After being closed for 30 years, this grand Art Deco movie theater has just been restored to its former greatness.  Originally designed for vaudeville and silent movies, this became Tucson’s preeminent movie theater.  It was the site of the world premier in 1940 of the film Arizona starring William Holden and Jean Arthur.  It now hosts both screen and stage events.

 

 

Letter H, Pioneer Hotel Building was next.

 

Opened in 1929 in the center of the downtown business district, this hotel catered to the social elite.  In the mid-20^th century Harold and Margaret Steinfeld, owners of a large downtown department store lived in the penthouse.  A disastrous fire severely damaged the building in December 1970, and among the 29 victims were the Steinfelds.  The fire hastened the decline of downtown Tucson, which is reviving today with the help of the ambitious Rio Nuevo redevelopment project.

Letter I, Arizona Historical Society Downtown Museum

 

           Located just across from the Tucson Main Library, this excellent, small museum tells the fascinating story of downtown Tucson.

 

 

 

We were really getting tired of walking so we kind of picked up the pace so we could complete the tour and get back to the car to sit down. 

We somehow managed to get off track again and ended up missing #22, going directly to #23, the Telles Block (now Old Town Artisans).

 

 

            Almost this entire block is defined by attached Sonoran row houses, with a large, shady courtyard on the interior.  These structures have had a variety of incarnations, including homes during the late 1800s, a lumber yard, and a gas station.  In addition, the blacksmith shop of the Spanish-era presidio was very likely located here.  Now these old adobe buildings house 11 different artisans shops as well as a restaurant.

 

 

We walked through the courtyard quickly taking just enough time to take a few pictures. 

 

 Looking at the map again we realized where we had made our mistake and only had to walk one block to do our last site, # 22, Tucson Museum of Art And Historic Block.

 

 

            Built in 1973, this museum features modern western and Pre-Columbian art.  Five historic homes are on its grounds.  The Fish-Stevens homes, the Romero house, and the Casa Cordova, all built in the 1860s are classic Sonoran row houses.  In the Casa Cordova an elaborate Nacimiento, a Mexican Nativity Scene, is displayed; it is generally open from November to April.  The Mission Revival style Corbett house was built in 1907 by one of Tucson’s first lumber dealers.

 

 

 

We walked inside the museum to find out what they offer.  We decided not to pay the $8.00 per person admission fee because it was already 4pm and we were really tired.  Luckily the parking lot where our car was parked was only one block away. 

We had planned on eating a nice dinner out but it was too early so I looked at the map to see if there was anything close by where we could tour by driving.  I noticed that Saguaro National Park was nearby.   In order to get to the National Park we had to drive through Tucson Mountain Park on our favorite kind of road—twisty turning with no guardrail. 

 

I was hoping to get to the Red Hills Visitor Center by 5pm because I wanted to be able to stamp my passport. 

 

 

 We heard the announcement that the center was closing just as we entered.

 

 

I quickly rushed over to the counter, found the stamping station and stamped my book. 

 

 The ranger gave us a park paper, informed us that we could stay in the park until sunset and even answered a few questions before reminding us they were officially closed.

 

We drove along Kinney Road that is paved, before turning into a road with an open gate.

 

 Hohokam Road is a dirt road that after a mile goes from a two way road to a one way road.  It did not take us long to discover why it was one way.  The road was very narrow and curving.  We stopped a few places along the way to take pictures but I was rushed Monte along because I was afraid of being locked in after 6pm with only one bottle of water between us and a couple of granola bars. 

 

 

We made it back onto the main road in plenty of time.

 

 We were hungry so I entered Applebee’s in the GPS because I had a gift card.  I was pleasantly surprised to see there was on located only 20 miles away.

I got a little nervous when the GPS said we would arrive at the "Alley"

But it really did take us to Applebee's!

 

  We found it easily.

 

 

 Before we went inside Monte took some pictures of the sunset.

 

 We did not have to wait to be seated. 

 

 When our waitress came to take our drink order she informed me that it was Happy Hour.  Great!  I was ready for a cocktail.  I ordered my usual White Zinfandel.

“Wines are not part of our happy hour.”

WHAT! 

“But the wine only costs $4 a glass.”

Okay, I say. 

“I will have to check to see if we have any white zinfandel left.”

WHAT!

Our waitress leaves and returns in a few minutes with Monte’s Mountain Dew

 

 and informed me that they have the wine and she will bring it over in a few minutes.  She took our order.  Monte made a point of asking her not to bring his meal too quickly after receiving his soup.

I finally got my glass of wine. 

                                                     (Well half a glass really)

 It took 40 minutes for our appetizer and Monte’s soup to be delivered to the table.

 

 Our server asked me if I wanted another glass of wine.  I asked her if the Red Apple Sangria was part of the happy hour.  She said it was and I ordered one.  A few minutes later, the waitress returns to let me know the bar is out of Red Apple Sangria and asks me if I would like to try the White Peach Sangria instead. 

 

 

Long story short—I tried it and spent the hour and a half ride home regretting it.  I know I can’t drink liquor but every once in a while I order something with liquor and am reminded why I don’t drink LIQUOR!

We had been concerned about getting our entrees too soon but we really didn’t have to be concerned because our meals did not arrive for another 40 minutes!  Monte’s mashed potatoes were lumpy but his steak was cooked perfectly as was mine.  BUT we overate.  Normally, when we eat at Applebee’s we bring home half for another meal but because we had to travel home too long without refrigeration, we could not take home leftovers.  So in order not to be wasteful, we ate all of our steak and most of the potato. 

It was a very dark ride home on AZ-79.  But the ride home went quickly as we relived the events of the day. 

 

Note: all print in italic was taken directly from the Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation brochure.