Life and such: Day Twenty-Three Tucson (AZ)

Another day, another brewpub. That's how it must seem to people. And if I had my druthers, that is probably how it would be - though maybe every other day or every third day would suffice. Unless I find the ultimate place. It could happen.

I think we are going to lose two hours on our trip today. At least one. Sigh. Well, easy come, easy go. I had a scare yesterday, which pushed me into blue territory - my GPS seemed not to be charging! What is up with this thing? I am hoping it was just the heat - I tried it briefly last night and it seemed to be functioning correctly (charging and all) but I was very tired and could have been hallucinating.

Where was I? Oh yes, Tucson, AZ. Land of the Saguaro - amongst other things. After I went to the effort of getting my coupon printed out for Staples, mom and I headed there to do some shopping. She mostly sat in an office chair (which was difficult to pry her out of) while I wandered around. We bought her three nice looking pens, a plastic folder for her postcards, and a flash drive. Amanda, the woman at the checkout, was remarkably peppy and friendly. (See, 'cause I remarked on it...) The world needs more Amandas like that! As we were checking out, she ran my total and realized I was going to not use up my whole coupon - so I impulse bought a sneaker key chain thing. She also sold me a bag that gave me 15% off my sale, more than enough to cover the cost of the bag itself. We ended up spending $.24 for a whole pile of loot! Yay!

We then headed off into the Sunset - well, North actually - so, not so sunset like. And it was only 11 in the morning. Nevermind. We drove to Sabino Canyon where we got to enter for free because of mom's pass. Yippee for mom's pass! Speaking of which, after I took it off of the dashboard, it was all melty and weird feeling. And now I don't know where it is. I hope we don't have an opportunity to use it again if I can't find it...Turns out that the tram through the canyon runs every hour during the "off" season - summer. And we had missed the 11 o'clock one. Oh well, gave us time to wander the visitor's center and to watch a movie about the flora and fauna in the canyon.

Tram time! I was surprised it wasn't electric. Anyway, David, just back from a month's vacation, did our tour. His spiel sounded a little rote, but still interesting and entertaining. Lots of great views, interesting little tidbits of information (lots of State This's and That's along the route). I am glad that we took the excursion. I took way too many pictures including one of a very funny sign. Well, funny to me at least.

After the tram, we did a little postcard shopping in the visitor's center - then headed back to the house. The plan was for us to eat lunch at a brewpub! I liked that plan. Andy was out and about and Ethel returned shortly after we did. There were two more brewpubs on my list - Ethel chose the one called Thunder Canyon, because it was located near where Andy needed to be and where a friend of theirs, Beth, lived. We got to the place first, because of Ethel's sharp eyes - and despite the GPS that sent us on a little bit of a wild goose chase. Weird. Andy appeared next. And Beth arrived in time for us to order lunch. I tried 14 beers (a few of them were guest taps). We ate a lot - mom and I had fish and chips that we shared. Fun time! (More about Thunder Canyon on my brewpub blog - eventually)

Ethel and Andy wanted us to see more of the beauty of the area. So we got in the van and drove to the Western side of the city and the parkland that is there. Some of it looked familiar from the trip I took ten years ago. Huge numbers of Saguaro marching around the countryside. It was a great drive!

Eventually we made it home again. Where everyone faded at different rates - well, except for Ethel who seemed to have caught her second wind...I actually tried to help her with her website, but I was too tired. I do hope to get something up for her in the near future - maybe when we are in Austin I will be able to get something done.

Oh, and the laundry was finally dry, so I "folded" it. More like put in in piles to pack this morning...

Today is going to be a long travel day. As is tomorrow. Joy. It will be hard leaving this bastion of relative luxury!