Travels With Frank #7: Wandering the Desert

Saturday is my day to take my Dad out for "lunch and adventures." I had an idea today that I might try again to take Dad down to Bisbee, Arizona, but it was raining and the check engine light is on on the Prius, so...no. We started out east on I-10, but I pulled off at the exit for Vail and Colossal Cave. We drove down to Colossal Cave at the very end of Old Spanish Trail. At the entrance I asked whether there is anything to do there on a rainy afternoon with a man of limited mobility. Not really, was the answer, because "it's mostly all stairs in there." In the cave, I presume. Stairs. Go figure.

So I drove up Old Spanish Trail, and we took the loop road in Saguaro National Park East. Dad kept asking how long the loop was. It's only 8 miles, but with a speed limit of 15 mph on a one way road with steep hills and hairpin turns, it takes a while. Dad was bored. He's not very interested in nature. He'd rather have lots of signs to read, and traffic to keep an eye on. "How much did this cost?" He asked, with the implication that it wasn't worth it. But it was free today. The first time we went there, I got a lifetime Golden Age pass for a pittance. It gets us into National Parks, Forests and Monuments for the rest of Dad's life.

Saguaro National Park East.

After that we stopped by St. Matthew's Church briefly, where I work on Thursday afternoons, and then went on to Amber Restaurant on Tanque Verde. Tucson apparently doesn't have a German restaurant but it has two Polish ones. Amber's pierogies, red cabbage, sauerkraut and sausage are all quite good.

Ice cream at Amber Restaurant.

To finish up the afternoon we followed Tanque Verde until it turned into Redington Rd, and that until it became the rough dirt road of Redington Pass. On the way back I drove around the parking lot of Agua Caliente Park. Again, Dad wasn't interested, except in the people in the parking lot. He thought I should ask a woman in the parking lot, but I don't know what the question would have been.

Oh, and Dad asked again today about his wife. Once I realized that he really did mean Ruth, my stepmother, I told him again that she died of cancer last year. I said that Ruth told me before she died that she always thought she'd be there to  care for Dad, which is true. Then I said Ruth passed on that responsibility to Jan and me, which is something she didn't actually say out loud to me. But it's true anyway. Dad smiled and laughed, and asked no more questions.

Redington Pass.

 

Twists and turns.

Karen

Round Robin: They Make My Heart Sing

For this week's Round Robin Challenge: Wild Thing, I asked to see any sort of wild thing - human, creature, hair, whatever. But for my own entry, it was always going to be some sort of bird or critter, or both!

My Dad at the top of the road, Madera Canyon AZ

So a week ago, on my weekly outing with my Dad for "lunch and adventures" (that's what I always write on his whiteboard for Saturdays), I drove him all the way down to Madera Canyon, southeast of Tucson. John and I visited the place together several times in the 1980s, and I'd gone down there on my own more than a few times during that same era. It's a great place for hummingbirds, owls, nighthawks, and even a rare and colorful tropical bird called a Trogan. In years past I've also seen rock squirrels, deer, rattlesnakes and a skunk (and not the usual kind of skunk, either). Last fall I took the dogs along a nature trail and saw two deer along the way. So I had high hopes of being able to show Dad something interesting, and get shots for the RRPC at the same time. If nothing else, he would enjoy reading the road signs on the long drive down.

This was not my first try at showing Dad the local wildlife. I've driven him to the top of Mount Lemmon, only to get rear-ended on the way down by a motorcyclist without a helmet, who then had to be evacuated by helicopter. I also took  Dad on a tram ride up Sabino Canyon about a month ago. I love driving out into the mountains or into the desert, and seeing all the wild things I can, whether they are birds or cacti or critters, or even just the wilderness of rocks and dry creek beds.

A week before the Madera trip I took Dad to Saguaro National Park East. It turned out I could get him a lifetime senior pass for next to nothing that was good for all the National Parks and recreation areas. It even gets me and the car in too when I'm with him. Good deal!

While I was in the visitor center, the rangers recommended that I bring my Dad inside to have a look out their back window:

These are javalinas, also known as collared peccaries. They were waiting out the heat of our first official 100 degree day (my car had recorded higher than that for at least a week) in the shade of the building. Look closer:

There's a half-grown one in the foreground, and lying up against the adult, a little javalina "piglet!"

None of which meant anything to Dad. But he liked being out with me, and reading the road signs. So I tried again with Madera Canyon.

The easiest place to look for wildlife in Madera Canyon is outside the Santa Rita Lodge and gift shop. They have (mostly) shaded benches and chairs spaced in front of a variety of bird feeders, trees and a running water "bird bath" feature. If you look at the large version of the photo above, you can just about make out a Mexican Jay on the horizontal beam above the bench. But what are those big, black things on the ground?

Why, it's a flock of wild turkeys! Ten of them! And they were huge!

And Dad was bored, because there were hardly any signs to read. Ah, well.

I did better two weeks ago with an outing to the Gaslight Theatre to see Arizona Smith and the Relic of Doom. The wildly silly show (no pictures allowed during performances) seemed to make a bit more of an impression on Dad than any wild animal. It was fun, but it's not something we can do every week.

Tomorrow I think we'll go back to the Pima Air and Space Museum. Or maybe the Titan Missile Museum. Or...?

Karen

Now let's see what other Wild Things the Robins have captured with their cameras!

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