Old Tucson & A Ride up Snowy Mt. Lemmon

Tucson, AZ
Dustin's Diamond J RV Park


Since this was my brother's first time to Tucson, we did another trip to Old Tucson.  It's just s few miles from the RV park and in a beautiful setting.  If you've been in Tucson you've probably come here if you like old westerns.  They've filmed many here for 70 years.  Some include Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza and High Chaparral.   There are old west shows, musicals, tours, stunt shows and living history exhibits.

This saloon and hotel are very recognizable in many westerns.

 

They were doing some Civil War Battle recreations which were interesting.  They were using Muskets, Henry's and cannons.

 

Bombs Away!

 

The Union firing muskets.

 

This plaza and fountain can also be found in many westerns.  We see so many as Steve really loves to watch them so we try to pay attention to the locations.  It's surprising how many we recognize.

Gettin' ready for a hangin'!

 

Of course there was a gunfight which led in the bad guy falling off the roof.

 

This was one of my favorite shows growing up.

 

"The Reno", built in 1872 for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.  Many presidents and actors have been its passengers in over 100 movies.

Crooked Creek Cemetery

I've seen a few versions of this one at many cemeteries.  Always thought it was funny.

The scenery and props are very interesting.  I don't know how they got the etched look on the old tin, but it looks really cool.

The Iron Door Mine is a little cheesy, but the little kids thought it was fun.  You walk through a dark "mine" with some displays.

I had to close my eyes to walk over the bridge above.  It had flashing lights that rotated around the tunnel.  Very dizzy!

We stopped and talked with the blacksmith for a while and watched him make square nails.

We watched a couple shows and walked around for about 3 hours and had a great bbq meal there for lunch.  It's about $20 for an adult admission but with our handy dandy Tucson Pass it was 50% off!

We timed our excursions well as the slightly warmer day without wind we went to Old Tucson.  On Sunday it was colder with more wind so we took a drive up to Mt. Lemmon.  This was another trek we have not been able to do.  It was a really pretty drive up, leaving Tucson below and driving up Mt Lemmon with an elevation over 9100' at the summit.

We loved the rock formations and all the pullouts.  It was so cold and windy though we only popped out for pictures!

Some brave souls hiking much further down than we were willing to go.

 

This was the prettiest part.  A wall of frozen waterfalls!  Just gorgeous!

At one of the pull outs there was info on some of the copper that was mined around here.  I thought the above was very interesting.  Over 40 pounds of copper in a car?!

Finally a little bit of blue sky!

 

It was only 34 degrees and that didn't count the wind!

And by time we headed back down, the sky was mostly blue.

 

All in all, our two weeks here in Tucson were great!  We had mostly nice weather and did quite a bit of hiking and sightseeing.  We will have to come back next year to see the Barrett Jackson Car Show and the Pima Air & Space Museum/Boneyard.  The later requires reservations days in advance and a background clearance.