It feels like a lifetime ago now, but the first two weeks of this month were spent in Tucson, Arizona.
Everything changed significantly in that time as we went from coronavirus not being of immediate concern to being woken up by a phone call from our hotel’s front desk letting us know that another guest was self-isolating due to possibly contracting the disease.
That happened towards the end of our time in Tucson, so we did get to enjoy “normal” life for most of our two weeks there. Here’s everything that we did while in Tucson, Arizona – a city I loved far more than I expected to.
Where We Stayed In Tucson
Hyatt Place Tucson-Central
Our first 11 nights were spent at the Hyatt Place Tucson-Central. While it wasn’t the best Hyatt Place we’ve stayed at because the rooms were much smaller than normal, the staff members were wonderful and Truffles loved all the attention they gave her. You can read our full review of the hotel here.
Country Inn & Suites Tucson Airport
At the time, we’d been expecting my parents to fly over from the UK to join us on the road trip for 6-7 weeks. We therefore booked a 5 night stay at the Country Inn & Suites Tucson Airport before they arrived so that we could pause our travel and focus on getting caught up with work before they arrived.
That ended up being a moot requirement because coronavirus meant their trip had to be cancelled. Our time at the Country Inn & Suites therefore ended up being a little more relaxed as there wasn’t as much pressure to get all our work done in such a short time period.
It was a nice hotel to stay at, especially because we were upgraded to their Executive Suite which is a one bedroom suite. That gave us much more space which we appreciated as we’d brought in all our luggage to sort through as we’d been planning on putting some of it in storage while my parents visited.
Our last few days there were a little nervy as they let us know another guest was sick and might have coronavirus (it later turned out that they tested negative). The hotel dealt with it extremely well though and they were incredibly thorough with ensuring everything was cleaned and disinfected throughout each day for the rest of our stay. Here’s a full review of the Country Inn & Suites Tucson Airport.
Where We Visited In Tucson
Catalina State Park
I ended up visiting Catalina State Park three times as it’s in such a beautiful setting at the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains.
There are several trails in the park and they run a ton of fun and interesting programs for people of all ages. At the time of writing this, those programs are probably on hiatus due to coronavirus, but it’s one of the nicest state parks I’ve ever been to. With mountains, a stream, saguaro cacti everywhere and more, it’s definitely worth a visit. Check out this post to read even more about Catalina State Park.
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is in two locations – east and west – with Tucson in the middle. We only visited Saguaro National Park East as we’d already seen loads of saguaro by that point, but still wanted to visit the National Park.
I’m not sure about the West side, but the East side has a winding road running through it, so it could be a great stop if you’re only driving through Tucson on a road trip and want a relatively quick break. There are several scenic stops, along with a nature trail or two that give you an opportunity to stretch your legs.
Pets are allowed in the park, but only in your car, on paved paths, etc. That therefore worked out perfectly for us as it meant Truffles could join us seeing as we weren’t planning on doing any actual hiking in the park. Based on what somebody said that we chatted to, Saguaro National Park East is best if you just want to drive through, whereas Saguaro National Park West is best if you want to actually go hiking.
Tanque Verde Falls
If you want to go hiking, Tanque Verde Falls in Coronado National Forest might be your thing. Be aware though, the hike there isn’t particularly easy, especially if you have a small pup with you.
The Tanque Verde Canyon Trail down into the canyon was easy enough and that in itself is worth doing as it’s beautiful down there, with pools and short waterfalls. To get to Tanque Verde Falls themselves though, you have to create your own trail of sorts by following the canyon up – there’s no set trail.
The problem we had was that the rocks were very smooth. So smooth in fact that it was hard to get any grip when having to climb up them, even though we both had hiking boots on. The photo above was an easier section, but it got to the point where the sloping rocks meant we had a hard time getting any further without risking that we’d slip and fall. Truffles couldn’t get any purchase on her little paws at times, so I was having to carry her when necessary. It got to the point where it wasn’t going to be safe for us to continue, so we had to turn back.
That meant we sadly didn’t make it to Tanque Verde Falls, but chatting to other hikers it sounds like it’s worth it if you’re in good shape and don’t have to carry a small dog!
Biosphere 2
Biosphere 2 is a scientific research facility that houses many different biomes that you wouldn’t normally expect to see in the Sonoran Desert – a rainforest, an ocean and more.
Shae visited Biosphere 2 one afternoon while I took Truffles for a hike at Catalina State Park and it sounds like I missed out. Check out her post here to learn more about the research facility.
Tucson Petting Zoo & Funny Foot Farm
One afternoon Shae and I took a trip over to Tucson Petting Zoo & Funny Foot Farm as she wanted to have a chance to meet and pet the capybara they have there, along with other animals.
The facility wasn’t enormous, but we got to see some animals that I don’t think we’ve seen at other zoos, including a pygmy cavi.
What I hadn’t expected was for the petting zoo section to be my favorite part. We went in to feed the goats and the kids were so cute and snuggly. I’d love to have taken one with us, but we think Truffles prefers being an only child 😉
Tombstone
We had a couple of people recommend that we visit Tombstone, site of the OK Corral and home to all things Western.
If you’re fascinated by that part of US history, I’m sure you’d get a kick from visiting all the historical locations. We ended up being pretty bored though and left after an hour which was a bit of a shame seeing as it takes more than an hour to get there from Tucson!
If you do visit Tombstone, be prepared to spend $10-$20 per person per activity if you want to do anything while you’re there. Otherwise, you’ll just be walking up and down Allen Street with nothing to do.
Before leaving, we did go for a ride around town in an original 1864 stagecoach.
The best part of Tombstone? Having an excuse to dress up Truffles.
What We Ate In Tucson
La Fresita
La Fresita was on Grubhub or Uber Eats and we ordered dinner from there one evening and picked it up rather than having it delivered to us. Shae got the nachos which she thought were pretty good, although they weren’t quite as warm as she’d been hoping by the time I got back from the restaurant.
I ordered four tacos because they were only $1.50 each and they were some of the best tacos I’ve ever had. I hadn’t been able to decide which meat to get, so I ordered four different meats. I think it was the barbacoa that was my favorite, but they were all incredibly flavorful and came loaded with meat – far more than I’d been expecting to get for $1.50 each which is why I’d ordered four of them!
El Guero Canelo
We were advised that Sonoran hot dogs were the thing to try in Tucson, with someone subsequently recommending the Sonoran hot dogs from El Guero Canelo.
The Sonoran hot dogs from El Guero Canelo have franks wrapped in bacon and are topped with beans, grilled & fresh onion, tomato, mayo, mustard & jalapeno sauce. They weren’t my favorite hot dogs ever, but they were very good.
Shae isn’t a huge fan of bacon (don’t judge her too harshly – I don’t like cheese 😉 ), so she ordered tacos and tried a bite of my hot dog just to see what it was like. Similar to La Fresita, her tacos came loaded with meat. So much meat fell out of the tacos, she had loads left over and so took it to go for dinner the next night.
There was a salsa cart with all kinds of different types of salsa; we ordered a side of chips so I could try the salsa too and they were all very tasty.
Frost Gelato
While all three of us went hiking one afternoon at Catalina State Park, we (and by we I mean Shae as she’s the extrovert) got chatting to a lovely couple who were also out hiking. They recommended getting ice cream afterwards at Frost Gelato which happened to be on the way back to our hotel, so we stopped by there to treat ourselves afterwards.
The gelato was excellent and incredibly creamy. Shae got a cone with chocolate and mint chocolate chip…
…while I got a bowl with mango and salted caramel gelato.
[…] think it would’ve been free for us anyway seeing as we bought a National Parks pass while at Saguaro National Park recently, but we didn’t have to […]