Tuscon Trip, Day 3: Mt. Lemmon

March 18

We hung around in the morning watching movies and such, plus fighting with Elisa to get her hair fixed. We left around 10:00 and drove the long, winding uphill drive to Mt Lemmon. There wasn’t much open. We got out of the car anyway at a little parking lot in front of a closed restaurant. It was freezing cold out (probably in the 30’s). We looked out over the edge to see the scenery and, since we were so high up, the wisps of clouds that passed right through us. We piled back into the car and stopped by a little convenience store (the only place that was open) and browsed around for a bit, but didn’t buy anything.

Miss Grumpy. She thought she didn't need her hair fixed, so Erik took this picture of her and her messy hair to show her that yes, she did indeed need her hair fixed!

On our way back down we took a potty break at a roadside stop. I got out and did a 2-min hike up to a large rock. It would have been fun if all of us got out to walk/hike around for a bit, but it was starting to rain, so we headed back down and go carry out from Baja Cafe. We took the food back to our rental house and ate it there. I ordered the huevos rancheros with beef brisket, and all the kids got pancakes. It was pretty good, but the portions were so large that I had to save the rest for breakfast the next morning. I didn’t even have it for dinner since I was so full. The rest of the day was spent at the house. Erik had something else planned but it was raining, so we had to stay in. The kids had “school” with grandpa and daddy while I lounged on the bed, falling in and out of sleep. We played games (mainly apples to apples), ate a little bit of Taco Bell, and finished off the evening with a Netflix movie, True Grit.

 

 

Yum!

Tuscon Trip, Day 2 Part II: Lunch and Old Tucson

March 17

After horseback riding, we stopped at Trident Grill. The dine-in area was still open (yay!). Me and Elisa ordered the fish n chips, Erik ordered a blt sandwich with clam chowder, Gabe ordered pasta shells, Ian Mac n cheese, grandpa Salmon and Grandma a salad. I thought the food was good, but not great. After the restaurant, we headed back to our rental house, but not before Erik stopped at Café a la Carte for 3 chocolate bombs. We ate them back at the house and although they were delicious, they were very rich so I was done after about 5 or so bites.:

Ian and his Mac n Cheese!

My fish n chips

So Delicious!

Our last stop of the day was Old Tucson. We got there after 3:00 so the admission was half off. We went on a motor car ride, a carousel ride, a train ride, and a haunted mine walk-though. The rest of the time we just walked around, watched a short video on the actor JohnWayne in the town hall (Old Tuscan was where all the old westerns were filmed), browsed a shop or two (I bought a bracelet for myself, a magnet, and binoculars for Ian), and last but not least watched a live shoot-out (performed by actors, of course). We headed back to the house and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We didn’t even go anywhere for dinner, we just ate our leftovers. 

 

Riding the motorcars.  That was the longest line we had to wait in, most of the activities we just walk onto. 

The carousel

Looking at wooden hand-carved scenes of the old west, while in the town hall

The old town

Watching the shoot-out.

Gabe getting himself another pressed penny

Tuscon Trip, Day 2 Part I: Horseback Riding

March 17

We woke up around 7, the kids ate cereal for breakfast, got dressed, and headed to Houston Horseback Riding where we made reservations to ride horses. We were each assigned a horse: I had Deedee, Gabe has Captain, Elisa had Carmen, Ian had Doc, Erik had Tug, Grandma had (I don't know?) and Grandpa had JohnWayne. We got on the horses via a ramp, and went single file in line, following the group leader, who had Ian and his horse tethered to a rope behind her. It was a long ride and I was getting sore halfway through. Meanwhile, my stinker of a horse took every opportunity to munch on apparently delicious weeds. I had to pull the reigns probably about 20 separate times to get her to stop grazing and get going. The desert landscape was beautiful and the weather was perfect. I enjoyed the horse riding as much as my sore butt and knees would let me, besides my horse getting distracted by the delicious weeds. We finally arrived back where we started, got a picture, and got off the horse. We were all sore for some extent, except the kids. I think it would have been nice if we could have had a break mid-way through to stretch our legs and give relief to our butts. Here are the many pictures I took:

Getting helmets for the kids

Elisa on Carmen

Erik on Tug

Gabe on Captain

Grandpa on JohnWayne

Grandma on her horse

We finally got him on the horse!

So pretty!

I tried to get some pictures of Gabe who was behind me the whole time. It wasn't easy!