Tucson!

[glepore]

Originally Posted by bigbill

Catalina has a lot of equestrians, so remember that hikers yield to horses. We had a "Karen" experience about two years ago when a hiker blocked the trail because she believed she had the right of way. The hiking is spectacular, especially the hilltops.

Well, there's always mounted cowboy shooting... lol

[GregL]

One more Tucson place of interest: the Titan Missile Museum. If you're interested in Cold War history and want a peak into Armageddon, it's worth a visit.

Greg

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by glepore

Well, there's always mounted cowboy shooting... lol

She was screaming at us about her rights. Everyone was trying to not react to her. I told her to call a park ranger and report us, I figured that would straighten her out. All the trailheads have the signs with MTBs, hikers, and equestrians, and who has the right of way. It was a first for all of us.

[RoosterCogset]

Maybe a bit hokey, but can still be a fun stroll/day is an excursion to Tombstone.

[eddief]

Downtown on Broadway. Brew, food, vibes.

[Likes2ridefar]

Drive to Sonoita for some wine tasting and to see endless open grasslands surrounded by mountains in the distance. We have found the wine to be surprisingly good. Lots of places to pick from. We’ve been to these two:

runewines.com
autumnsage.com

Great pizza and wine at the crossroads of Sonoita at Dos Cabez:
doscabezas.com

We really enjoy staying in the dog friendly Sonoita Inn:
sonoitainn.com

From Sonoita a scenic drive to lakes and hiking opportunities in multiple directions towards Patagonia (excellent dirt road riding) and hiking on the AZT or go for a more rustic incredibly scenic drive to Parker Canyon Lake that has lots of recreation and is beautiful.

[TheseGoTo11]

Road: Mt Lemmon as the obvious, but it really is a fabulous ride. Smooth tarmac, plenty of shoulder, incredible views and relatively steady grades (mostly 4-5% if memory serves).

MTB: Check out Honeybee Canyon in Oro Valley. Nothing technical but miles of winding desert singletrack that's just interesting enough. Lots of ways to patch together a short or long loop or out and back.

Beer: I like Dragoon Brewery. Barrio is good, too, if you want food to go with your suds.

Food: There's an old school family-run Italian place near downtown called Caruso's we usually hit when we're in town. Nothing exceptional about the food, but it's good and I really dig the place.

[lorenbike]

Man I miss living in Tucson!
Lots of great suggestions already. I'll add:
AZT just south of Tucson near the Santa Rita's is amazing. Buenos Aires NWR, any of the Sky Islands, University of Arizona is a beautiful campus, if you get snow by any chance snow in the Catalinas or Saguaro NP is one of the prettiest things I've ever seen, Bisbee area is a cool drive, Reddington Road is a nice gravel ride, don't hesitate to take some time off the bike to go hiking or birding or just checking out all the cool cactus. Enjoy!

[CNY rider]

I rode Mt. Lemmon yesterday.
It was a spectacular sunny day and a great ride.
I was on my coupled Legend with rim brakes and 26 mm tires.

I did this ride about 5 or 6 years ago. The pavement is not in nearly as nice shape as it was back then. There are regular cracks across the road surface and they are expanding and deepening with time. Each is a nice little whack as you hit it but when you’re going downhill for more than 20 miles straight it adds up.
There are also a few spots with rougher bumps and longitudinal cracks on the descent that could spell disaster if you hit them wrong.
My hands were cramping up from braking by the time I got to the bottom. For someone who knows the road or can descend more aggressively this might not be a problem.

Summary: It’s a fantastic and unique ride. It might even be better on a road bike that can take slightly wider tires. Disc brakes wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
And you need to treat the descent with respect.
Enjoy!

[TimD]

Ren Coffeehouse

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7bR9mi55n5TViiWj7

Lots of cyclists there.

Already mentioned, the Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley.

Have fun!

Tim

[weisan]

We (myself + 3 kids 17,15,11) spent the last four days in Tucson, now on our way back to Texas.

We stayed at Varsity Club of America - great location, really spacious with separate rooms, full kitchen etc, highly recommend.





Pima Air and Space Museum - this place is HUGE, so many planes on display both indoor and outdoor. My son is into airplanes, he was in heaven. Being able to see and touch the SR71 Blackbird up close, that was cool.

With Maverick, this old bird can beat any fifth-gen fighter any day.


My girls are fired up about this, I told them the sky's the limit.



Met the only surviving crew member of the 390th bomber squad - Charles Richardson, he's One-hundred-freakin'years-old, still very alert, it's all in the genes.
https://narrowaytemp.narrowaydevelop...les-richardson


Titan Missile Museum
My son was picked to be the lead commander of a simulated missile launch. He turned the key and there goes the world as we knew it....hopefully, that will never happen.





Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
We got there as soon as it opened at 8:30am and boy, are we glad we did, it got hot pretty quick in a couple of hours.

[weisan]

Here's Bonnie, our guide, who taught us about Cactus more than anyone else. Other than giving us a very informative and interesting tour, she also pointed us to a very nice restaurant called "La Chaiteria" for lunch afterwards.


A lucky shot, caught a hummingbird in flight




This sort of defines my life too.



Mt Lemmon
We drove up to the top and walked the last 2 miles (closed to traffic) up to the observatory. It was a very nice walk, the temperature was hovering around 40s if I were to guess compared to 70s when we were at the valley floor. We get to play with snow!





My daughter made a snow angel.



Saw tons of cyclists making their way up.

[weisan]

Our last stop before we left Tucson this morning was riding the 8-mile Cactus Forest Trail loop inside Saguaro National Park. I was on my Brompton, the kids were riding their mtbs. It was a cool experience. We didn't take that many pictures, I took mostly video of our ride. We also did some riding the first few days we were in Tucson along the river/canal LOOP, it was nice and relaxing especially after a day of sightseeing to be able to close the day with a casual ride at cooler temp. near dusk.







The food at La Chaiteria is really good, we all like what we ordered.






Check out downtown Tucson, Presidio, Main Library - my kids enjoyed seeing the outdoor public artwork on display and unique cultural stuff

[weisan]

Thank you Tex pal for starting this thread and thank you all for chimed in with their suggestions, we have enjoyed Tucson's hospitality!

[RoosterCogset]

Tombstone! They even named a pizza after it.