Em N Ru: Tucson day 3 Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

This morning we were heading to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. It was about a half hour drive from our hotel and we thought the museum might get crowded so we left as early as we could, 8:30. I was up at 6 as usual, but Ru and Fred still had some sleeping to do so I played on my phone until they were friendly enough to wake up. After another great breakfast buffet we grabbed some snacks, some water, and headed off into the desert.

The drive there was fun, one of the roads had little dips and hills much like that last part of a roller coaster. We drove through hills covered by a huge array of cactus until we arrived at the museum. In retrospect its really not much of a museum. Its more like a zoo, botanical garden, and wildlife park. We started with the zoo part and saw lots of animals in very nice display pens (I always cry) including big cats, big horned sheep, brown bears, and javelina.

We hurried to the bird exibit to watch the birds of prey presentation at 10am. The trainers had trained the birds to swoop over the audience while the guide gave descriptions of the birds and their characteristics. We finished the ravens and the owl and they let out a hawk for us to see, but it flew away. The presenter said that the hawk had a radio transmitter and they would get her back. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that.

Next we walked into the enclosure with the hummingbirds, and saw many nesting females and lots of showy males. Ruben started to complain about being hot so we went to the snack shack for an icee. We walked around some more and saw a butterfly garden, a bee garden, exhibits on various cactus, turtles, well we didn't see the turtle, just its exibit.

We were getting hot again so we went to catch the show about venomous repiles. We learned a lot about rattlesnakes and gila monsters. Freddie stayed after and took some great pictures of them. We got an ice cream and walked through the exhibit on underground animals then we saw the aquarium. Ruben and I were fascinated by the garden eels. They have shovel shaped tails that hold onto the sand and they burrow down so only their long heads poke out. When another fish swims by they all sink down and hide.

We left at about 2:30 and had a tough decision to make. Should we have a nice lunch in a restaurant and then have a light dinner back at the hotel, or should we have a light lunch and go out for dinner. We decided since we were already on the move to go have a nice lunch. We went to a Mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel called Rigo's. Freddie got shrimp wrapped in bacon and dipped in butter, Ruben had a bean and cheese burrito, and I had tomales and a taco. It was all very good. Freddie napped it off while Ru and I went to the pool. Ru had a good time diving for his pool toy missiles, and I had a good time reading a book on meditation while laying in the sun.

Ah well it wasn't entirely sunny, it was mostly overcast but very warm and bright. Kind of like late August in Oregon. When we were getting ready to head for the pool again around 7:30 we heard some thunder but no rain or lightning. Our evening swim was lovely with the full moon shining through the light clouds. I sat in the spa for half an our while Ru and Fred played various diving games.

When we got back to our room we called Jeff to wish him a happy birthday. We tried skype but it just wasn't working. Mom and Jeff are enjoying a trip to the redwoods this spring break! They had a lovely dinner in Crescent City while watching the seals play on the docks.

After a bedtime cup of tea Ru crashed out, and I'm about there myself.