San Xavier del Bac Mission, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, and Dinner at Inca's Peruvian restaurant

After eating lunch near the presidio we headed out to see the San Xavier del Bac Mission. 

It was completed in 1797 which makes it 217 years old. 

The pews inside the mission. 

The ceiling. 

And look, there's Alexis. 

An outer courtyard.  

This door is made of mesquite. 

Oh, and you may have noticed it rained all afternoon. 

And look how happy Alexis is posing in the rain. 

On our way back to the resort we got pictures of these bus stops. Notice the support on the right sides.  

And then we took a stroll around the grounds of our resort. 

Look at that smile.  

We are trying to figure out what is going on in that tree. 

Dinner at Inca's Peruvian restaurant. 

Today we spend most of the day driving to Sedona. Though we do have some stops that might provide photo ops to share. So keep checking back. 

Presidio, Tucson Museum of Art

The historic Presidio district was cool. Too bad I was desperate for a washroom and not so attentive to the cool architecture. 

Museum changing exhibition so nothing to see.  

 

Quite accidentally we stumbled across the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson. 

The gate. 

A pit house. 

A bread oven with Alexis and our tour guide Rachel, who was super sweet and extremely knowledgeable. 

And as my travel Karma typically does, we found a free tour of the site that was very fascinating. That's Alexis learning something cool from Rachel. 

We had to duck inside one of the structures for shelter from the rain. Yes, we are in the desert and getting rain. 

Keep checking back. 

Saguaro National Park and Sabino Canyon

This is at the visitors center of Saguaro National Park. It was right before we embarked on our 8 mile drive through the park. 

This is some of what we saw during our drive. 

I love the road signs. 

Alexis asked that we stop and take a hike. I got very nervous because while the signs indicated we should turn where we did, the dirt road seemed to be taking us into restricted territory. 

Eventually we found the picnic area which is also where some of the hiking trails began. 

On the hike we saw many saguaro cacti and many teddy bear cacti like the one Alexis is examining. 

Alexis discovered that despite their name, teddy bear cacti are far from cuddly.

At one point we lost track of our trail and Alexis started to worry. I was less worried because we had our phones and the gps was showing a road nearby. 

After we got found our way back to the trail we got back in the car and finished our drive. 

Below is one of the last stops we made before leaving Saguaro Park. 

Thanks to the concierge at our hotel we learned about Sabino Canyon. It is close to where we are staying so we decided after a long day hiking out in the sun we would stop there. We arrived just in time to take the guided tram tour through the canyon. 

Alexis is jut glad to be off his feet. 

Another sign that we loved. 

Here's looking at you. 

Afterward, we went back to the hotel where I tried to write this blog installment. Sadly, I was attacked by flying vermin that would not give me enough peace to concentrate. We even went down to the pool so Alexis could have a swim and they followed me there.  

I gave up and instead showered and prepared for dinner. 

After eating at El Charro, we returned to the hotel. We watched an episode of Smallville on my iPad and fell fast asleep. 

After a wonderful nights rest we are preparing for today's adventure. 

So check back later to see what we've been up to. 

Loews Ventana Resort

As we made our way into the complex, I fell silent.  Alexis thought I was getting worried about where we were staying since he booked all our accommodations.  In reality, I found the vistas that kept unfolding in front of us to be so breathtaking and beautiful, to speak would have ruined the moment.  

While I don't have any photos of our approach, here are some of the grounds where we are staying.

And this is the night view from our room.

And this is the morning view.  Thanks to the panoramic mode you really get the full effect.

The drive to our next hotel

The main highway connecting Phoenix and Tucson is interstate 10.

While it is like most interstates in the US, with very little around it, we did enjoy the mountain scenery. 

In addition, we saw a commercial jet cemetery. Sadly, there was no way to get a photo as I was driving.

Shortly after this, we stopped to put the top up because the wind was making Alexis nauseated. 

That was fine with me because it allowed us to listen to music.   😃

Phoenix Historic District

Either we missed something or this was really all they had to offer. It was stuck in between the convention center and Arizona State University.