Old Tucson Studio and Saguaro National Park East

We arrived at the entrance to Old Tucson Studios when they opened at 10 am.  This area was the site where scenes from many well-known Western movies were filmed.  Some of the movies that had scenes filmed there include: Joe Kidd, Outlaw Josey Wales, Tombstone, 3:10 to Yuma (the 1957 version), The Bells of St. Marys, The Three Amigos, Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Frisco Kid and many more. Several John Wayne movies were filmed here including El Dorado, Rio Lobo, Rio Bravo, McLintock and Stagecoach.  In addition, a number of television shows were recoded here including most episodes of The High Chaparral, a few Bonanza, Highway to Heaven, Little House on the Prairie, Kung Fu, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, The Big Valley and the Rifleman.  We had a two-for-one coupon in the booklet that the rental owner left for us that got both of us admitted for $20.

We took a quick guided walking tour of the property that gave us some background of the movies that were filmed here.  Our guide had a good presentation style and a lot of knowledge of the movies filmed there.  The studio was built in 1939 but wasn’t used between 1941 and 1945 due to the war.  Many of the original buildings were made of adobe and built to resemble structures that may have been found in a typical Old West town.  Over the years, there have been buildings added and torn down.  Another location in the Tucson area provides additional options for filming locations in an Old West town.  There have been few movies filmed here since the 1970s since the Western film genre isn’t experiencing the popularity that it enjoyed in the 1960s and 70s. 

We saw the train that Clint Eastwood drove through the saloon in Joe Kid.  The same train was used in Tombstone, Rawhide and the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean.  The blacksmith shop is there where Dean Martin as Dude had his head dunked in the water trough in the 1959 movie, Rio Bravo.  The old mission has been used in a number of films.  The hotel and several street scenes from McLintock were shot in Old Tucson Movie Studios.  We were most amused that the Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short movie, The Three Amigos was filmed at Old Tucson Studios.  The El Toro Cantina was covered with a stucco finish to make it look more like a Central Mexican bar. 

We watched a short film in Rosa’s Cantina about John Wayne’s time at Old Tucson.  A number of people who worked at the location spoke very well of Wayne’s personality and positive attitude.  We went through the museum where we saw costumes and artifacts that were used in many movies and television shows that were filmed there. 

As we were leaving the sky started to cloud up and it appeared that rain was threatening.  We have had rain in the forecast for the past couple of days but so far there had been no rain.  The temperature was in the low 70s but a light breeze made it feel cooler.  Since it was nearly 1 pm we were hungry and made a quick stop at a nearby Wendy’s Restaurant. 

We drove East across Tucson to the part of Saguaro National Park that we didn’t visit on Wednesday.  The park is in two sections on the eastern and western sides of Tucson.  We were at the western part on Wednesday to we wanted to visit the eastern part today. 

There was a great deal of traffic in to the area.  We didn’t know whether the larger crowd was because the east side is more popular or whether it was because today was Saturday.  Once we got past the visitor center, however, we really didn’t see a huge number of people.  We drove the loop road to the Mica View Trailhead where we hiked back to the Pink Hill Trail then followed the Javelina Wash Trail back to near the parking area.  It was a nice walk.  We noticed that the area was very different from the west side of the park.  There were fewer palo verde trees and more mesquite.  There were prickly pear, jojoba and chollo but they seemed to less dense that on the east side.  There was a definite difference in the number of saguaro cacti with the frequency much lower on the east side.  As we walked along the trail a thunderstorm blew up.  It wasn’t a concerned since the rainfall was only .01 inches.  We saw a coyote on the road and a few hawks flying that we were unable to identify.  We also saw gila woodpeckers and acorn woodpeckers, cactus wrens, towhees and one roadrunner.  We spotted many jackrabbits and a few cottontails.  We were hoping to spot a javelina but never spotted one.  We did see where they had been digging in the bottom of a wash.

When we got back to the car we continued around the loop road to the trailhead for the route to the site of the Freeman Cabin, the home of early settlers to the area.  The trail was only about a half mile and was a nice walk to the location that once held an adobe cabin.  Over the years, the adobe has been eroded to leave only a pile of clay.

On our way toward the Freeman Cabin Trailhead we spotted a beautiful rainbow so we stopped and had to take snapshots.  The area is very photogenic and it is easy to take attractive photos in this scenic area.

We went to dinner at Paco’s Mexican Restaurant on Grant Avenue, not far from our rental.  The restaurant isn’t large with only about 10 tables but the food was very good and inexpensive to we all enjoyed our meal. We returned to our rental home and crashed.  Mary & Cindy played cribbage while Mark & I watched the New England-Houston playoff game. 

Saguaro National Park and Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum

We woke around 6 am and had breakfast of eggs left by Laurie and cereal before heading toward the western part of the Saguaro National Park.  We started our visit by using our National Park Annual Pass for entry which saved $15 on park entry.  We walked around the short trails at the visitor center and read the signs that identified the types of chollo, barrel cactus, mesquite, creosote bush and palo verde bushes.  We saw many saguaro cacti of all shapes and sizes.  The number and size of the giant saguaro cacti amazed us.  Many of them were 30 or more feet tall with arms curving skyward.  Others had what we called “octopus arms” appearing misshapen from whatever forces caused them to bend in odd directions.  Under many of the chollo or mesquite bushes we saw small hedgehog cacti that are generally about the size of a teacup and in clusters of 6 to 10 cacti.  

Several birds caught our attention including a Phainopepla which reminded us of a slim and dark cardinal.  We saw cactus wrens, thrashers and a quail.  According to the naturalist at the nature center there are no snakes out at this time of year but we did see a number of small lizards scurrying about in the underbrush.  Some of these lizards were the Sonoran whiptail lizards that are so often discussed in biology books because of their method of reproduction.  Male Sonoran whiptails develop from fertilized eggs while unfertilized eggs develop into female Sonoran whiptails by a process known as parthenogenesis.  Since no male Sonoran whiptails are known to exist, female lizards lay only unfertilized eggs producing only young female lizards.  It is an interesting and unique process.

We picked up some guides to birds and cacti from the visitor center then drove out to a driving loop to view cacti.  We stopped at several trailheads and walked out to overlooks or scenic locations.  The temperatures were in the mid 70s and a light breeze made the walk very comfortable.  Although we all wore long pants we were wishing that we had chosen shorts for the day.  We stayed in the park until nearly noon then had lunch of peanut butter and crackers, carrots and fruit as we drove to the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum.

This largely outdoor museum was a huge display of desert plants, animals and culture.  Our visit started with a raptor show where trainers showed kestrels, peregrine falcons, grey hawks, barn owls and Harris hawks in flight and feeding.  The show was excellent and had visitors up close to the magnificent birds of prey.  We were glad that the Harris hawks were shown since we are fairly certain that they are the birds that we had seen on Monday sitting on top of power poles along Rt. 79.  From there we went to displays of cacti and other succulents all of which were well marked for identification.  

There were inside exhibits of aquatic life of Arizona streams, displays of local rocks and minerals and pollinator gardens.  When we entered the museum we expected to spend about two hours there but when we left at 5 pm when the museum was closing we still hadn’t seen everything there was to see there.  We would be happy to spend a day there any time.

Several local people we spoke with recommended Gates Pass as a place to view sunset.  We discovered that it is a very popular place with locals and tourists alike.  

We watched as the sky changed from the turquoise blue to peach to red.  It was a nice way to end the day.  A local Tucson resident who was there recommended Guadalajara Grill near our lodging for dinner so we decided to give it a try.

The restaurant was obviously popular from the traffic into the parking lot on a Wednesday night.  We were seated quickly and had salsa made to order at our table.  Cindy had a chimichanga, Mark had fajitas, Mary had a steak and I had a combo that included a tamale, a chili relleno and a gordita.  Everyone enjoyed their meal and leftovers came back with Mary & Cindy. 

It appears that we will be visiting Tombstone and some of the nearby attractions on Thursday which means an early start.  With all of the walking on desert trails today I am certain that we will all sleep well tonight.