Day 7: Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum and Suguaro National Park (West) ; 65 miles round trip

We started off at 9:05 and headed southwest through Tucson and east to Gates pass where we had a great view of the rocky hills and a forest of suguaro.  We passed by the "Old Tucson Studio" where Joe Begay was making his movie and went on to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum.  It was sunny and warm.  I discovered that my legs had gotten sun burned yesterday in Tubac so I was wearing long pants  and slathered in sun tan lotion.  Noticed that they had sun tan lotion in addition to soap dispensers in the restrooms at the museum....

This is an outdoor museum (like a zoo) with Sonoran desert creaures and plants.

There were many volunteer tour guides that were very informative.  One of the highlights was the Javelina exibit where we saw a number of the wild=boar-like creatures.

We had a delicious lunch at the Ocotillo (type of cactus) Cafe including their special "prickly pear margarita."  It was bright pink, made from the flowers of the cactus and delicious.  Magaritas here are served on ice in large glasses.  I think I'll have to learn how to make "Tucson" margaritas.

After lunch we went to the hummingbird exibit.  There were lots of different species.  We saw three nests.  The birds use spider webs to keep the tiny nests together.  This was discovered at the Sonoran Museum.  They had trouble with a snake getting into the avairy at one time, so they removed everything, plugged all possible snake holes, sterilized everything and put the birds back in.  After that, they found that the nests fell apart.  Someone thought of spider webs.  They introduced spiders and the nests were fine.

After visiting the gift shop (of course) we continued on to the nearby Suguaro National Park (West).  We got there just in time to join a nature walk and learned a lot about cactus.  For example, the suguaro lives for 200 years and has very shallow roots.  It starts life in the shade and protection of other plants that do not live as long.  At some point the protection plants die of natural causes and leave the suguaro on its own.  In the meantime, the suauaro has put down so many shallow roots that other plants cannot grow beside it.

You can identify other types of cactus by whether they have many branches.  If they have branches they are cholla.  If they are saucer shaped, they are a prickly pear.   Barrel -shaped cactus with fish-hook-shaped spines are called barrel cactus.  Barrel cactus usually points towards the sun because the sun stunts the cactus on one side and the shaded side grows at a faster rate.  A barrel cactus spine can penetrate a tennis shoe (moral: don't kick a barrel cactus).

 Contrary to what we saw in John Wayne movies, saguaro and barrel cactus cannot be used for humans for water in an emerengcy.  They have water, but it is too acidic to be tollerated by humans.  (Moral: carry water in the desert.)

We took a drive on a circle route in the park and stopped to particially traverse several trails.  A sign along one path said, "No Stock."   T had to explain that to me.  It means no livestock, ie., horses, mules, or, I guess, pet cattle accompaning you along the path. Another sign of note: "Do not feed the coyotes."

Gem show tomorrow.