Tucson, Az

It was time to juice up on family time. It had been a while since we've spent time with relatives and so this stop was, well, selfishly for our state of mind:) We thoroughly enjoyed quaint little Tucson - right down to the kitchy RV Campground we called home.

Our Tucson introduction began at the infamous historical hotel, Congress Hotel. Built in 1919, this hip Downtown hotel once provided rooms to legendary bank robber John Dillinger. The interior still has much of it's original woodwork, ornately decorated bars and photos & articles about said bank robber.

Since we have a flight guru on board, stopping at the The Titan Missile Museum was a must. This museum is the only remaining Titan II site open to the public. During our tour we relived a time when the threat of nuclear war between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union was a reality. Very eye opening for us all!

Gigi was chosen to 'close the 6,000 pound door which 'closed us in' in case of nuclear attack, and Ang & Oli were the 'key turners' - which, well, you know....

The Titan II was capable of launching from it's underground silo in 58 seconds and could deliver a nine megaton thermonuclear warhead to its target more than 6,300 miles away in less than thirty minutes. [jaw drop] For more than two decades, 54 Titan II missile complexes stood "on alert" 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Would you say: "making threat of nuclear war obvious" or "Preventing Armageddon"?

We were excited to hear that the Director of the museum is Yvonne C. Morris, a former Titan II Missile Combat Crew Commander. We first learned about Yvonne through several history and tourism themed television shows and documentaries - she's pretty amazing!

When we think of the West, we think of cowboys and cacti - big cacti! Tucson, Arizona is home to the nation's largest cacti, the giant saguaro. These plants, found only in a small portion of the United States, are protected by Saguaro National Park, to the east and west of Tucson. We are so lucky to hike the park, see these enormous cacti, and get some amazing desert sunset photos. Unfortunately one of us got 'attacked' by one.

In 1700, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino put down the foundations for a church at the village of Bac, on the Santa Cruz River near modern Tucson, to be named after his patron saint, St. Francis Xavier. The church is known as the white dove of the desert. Like many European churches, San Xavier is shaped like a cruciform, or cross and the inside structure is made mostly of wood. It was so beautiful - we felt such respite entrance to exit.

Tucson is pretty amazing for all the unique culture it has to offer, but what we mostly adored was spending time with our family:)