Tucson, March 30, 2026
Everybody had an early morning swim and then we were off to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The road leads up and over Gates Pass, a low point in the Tucson Mountains west of the city; you descend through the western district of Saguaro National Park.
The Desert Museum is really one of the great zoos in the world: a huge complex with an astonishing variety of animal life, brilliantly folded into the desert landscape.
It was pretty warm, so we didn’t do everything, but the eastern types got a very good introduction to the desert flora and fauna. And Ingrid spent her souvenir money from Grandma and Grandpa wisely, choosing a darling stuffed Coata Mundi, something she clearly is not going to find in New Jersey.
Next stop was Old Tucson, a movie set made to look like a western town. I had been here as a kid, and so had Dan…who badly wanted to revisit his youth! So, although there were no events scheduled (they have gunfights and other fun activities), we took a tour with a quickly guy who explained how ever building, street, corner, and pond had appeared in a myriad of movies. Ingrid knew it was important to her dad, and got souvenir Old Tucson knives for dad and grandad…only to realize they couldn’t be taken on the plane. The replacement, an Old Tucson memorial spoon, sits proudly in front of my computer!
I had hoped to show the gang San Xavier del Bac, the “White Dove of the Desert,” the glorious Franciscan mission south of town, but we had promised the girls a long swim…so next time. Just as a marker: the mission was founded in 1692 by Father Eusebio Kino.
I did manage to sneak one more stop in on the way home. Bahti Indian Arts is one of the leading dealers in Native American art in the country. Founded in 1949 by Tom Bahti, it is now run by his son Mark…my compatriot at Catalina Foothills School during my middle school years.
Mark unfortunately had stepped out. But…my eye wandered to the wall of Hopi Katsina dolls. I had long lusted after a Katsina to remind me of home. And I fastened on a six-inch whipper, one of the dancers who literally whips the audience away from the dancers.
We had a really nice late afternoon by the pool, fueled by a spicy “green margarita:” tequila with lots of cucumber, nopales, and herbs.
The evening was absolutely festive. Our friends Thom Laursen and Michele Morris had arranged a dinner at El Charro, the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in America. The eight of us joined Thom and Michele, David and Patti Bradley, Kim Bradley, David’s younger brother, and Ralph Phillips for a riotous evening. The restaurant specializes in Carne Seca, and it really is delicious, especially in a chimichanga, which was invented here!
We traded some really old photographs: Ralph dug this up from Sue’s very first backpack, a trek across the Catalina Mountains and into God’s Pocket, our favorite and very private canyon on the north side.
It was a wonderful capstone to our time in Tucson!