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Our time in Tucson finally came to an end this past weekend. We arrived in Tucson last November with plans to stay a month. Our stay doubled in length twice, first to two months and then to four. It was really such an easy decision to keep extending our time; the winters are mild, we both will always think of it as home, and southern Arizona is loaded with friends and family.

Of course we aren’t the only RVers who think Tucson is a wonderful place, so we felt lucky to find a place to park our rig. We split our time between a small park located close to downtown and a larger park in the desert west of the Tucson Mountains. Both locations had their pluses and minuses. We loved the hiking trails and wildlife out at the “Wrinkle Ranch” but we wished it was closer to the city. If only we could have combined them—it would’ve been perfect. Like a good friend of ours says, his wife wants a log cabin on five acres in the middle of St. Louis! That’s not asking much is it?

Although the weekdays were consumed with work and the sundry details of life, our evenings and weekends were spent visiting with family, hiking with friends, touring some of Tucson’s amazing museums, dining at favorite restaurants, and catching up. Many of our Tucson adventures have already been covered on our website but I can’t leave Tucson without sharing the events of our last couple weeks.

I’ll start with the new addition to the family, Aiden James. He showed up a couple weeks early near the beginning of March and we felt privileged to meet him a few hours after his arrival. His vitals almost matched those of his older brother Andrew when he was born. No doubt he’ll be tall like the rest of the men in the family. Heidi and Jed are thrilled to have Aiden in their lives, even though they seem to be rather sleep-deprived.

One of the gorgeous warm Sundays was spent on the trail with our good friends, AJ, Jenny, and their young man, Nate. Nate actually hiked most of the way and was a good sport. The desert floor was littered with wildflowers, mostly Scorpion Weed, Mojave Lupines and White Easterbonnets. We enjoyed lunch under the shade of a huge, old Ironwood Tree. I have never seen one that large anywhere else. Ironwoods defy logic by thriving in hot, dry areas that receive scant rainfall and are nutritionally barren.

The trees provide shelter and food to other plants, a variety of animals, and even humans. The beans of the tree are edible and the hard dense wood burns long and hot. Native peoples of the Sonoran Desert have long treasured the trees, many perform wedding ceremonies under their branches in hopes that the marriage will be blessed with the same strength and longevity as the tree itself.

Refreshed after lunch we hiked the loop trail back to our RV park. Well, not all of us hiked it, Nate quietly sat down in the middle of the trail indicating that he was done, so AJ carried him back. Hmm, maybe I’ll try that someday… (See also AJ and Jenny’s photos of the hike.)

It is a Spring tradition on Lance’s side of the family to watch a baseball game, so we attended a University of Arizona Wildcats game. I think we were all pleasantly surprised: parking was easy, the stadium was intimate and clean, and the game was fun. Tom, Libby, Joel, Adria, Lance, family friend George, and myself had a cool but lovely evening out there. After some wild pitches, a steal, a home run, and nine strikeouts, the UA won their 12th game in a row!

A date to meet up with our old friends Jeff and Maryann—who now live in Colorado—yielded a pleasant surprise. We arrived early that evening and ran into an old co-worker from the restaurant where Lance and I met. Paul was one of those rare genuine people in the service industry. He now teaches 6th grade math at a school in Tucson. I can’t imagine a better teacher; it was wonderful to run into him after all these years.

Our last couple weeks were mostly spent visiting with loved ones and saying “See you later.” We don’t consider it goodbye since we know we’ll be back in the Tucson area sometime soon. I made an overnight trip down to the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona to visit with my relatives one more time. If it ever warms up down there they should have some amazing wildflowers.

The last couple weeks we sampled from quite an international menu. We made sure to get our Mexican food fix by having dinner with our good friends and old neighbors Tori and Lori. Those meals always last several hours and none of us ever notice since we’re having too much fun. Another night it was Thai food with Lance’s biking and hiking buddy, Dave. Slurping noodles is more fun with good friends!

Then we tired Japanese food as we caught up on the activities of Boubacar and Eliza; next time I need to remember that I like the red bean ice cream not the green tea. Then came St. Patrick’s day so we had Irish fare at my Aunt Coralie’s house. She and Shirley regaled us with stories from their childhoods as Lance, Scott, Desiree, and myself devoured our corned beef, potatoes, and Soda Bread Tarte Tatin. Finally it was pizza night, Lance’s entire Tucson family congregated together for one last shared meal.

During our four month stay we also shared memorable moments with Carole, Bev, Geoff, Lauren, and Rafael. And we weren’t the only ones who came back home for a visit. Josiah and Heidi brought their two kids, Arwyn and Malachi, to see their grandparents, and Danny returned to see his folks. Our friend Brendan has never called Tucson home but he visits there every year anyway. His work sends him for the Gem Show, but we always sneak out for a hike during his stay.

So, the weather was wonderful and our adventures were many, but the times we’ll treasure most were those spent with family and friends. Thanks Tucson, and so long…

Photos: View our photographs of Our Tucson Family.

Notes: We stayed in Tucson, Arizona (this time around) from 11/04/2007 to 03/23/2008.