Spring Break Trip, Tucson Day 5

 Friday March 18

Our main attraction for the day was the Pima Air and Space Museum. We arrived around 11am. It was neat to see all the different types of airplanes and helicopters . There were so many to see! Big ones, small ones…pretty much every shape and size an airplane can possibly come in. We browsed around the several hangars full of planes until we got hungry.

Being silly!

Erik's grandpa flew in a plane similar to this in WWII

These two were pals for the entire museum. 

We stopped for lunch at Beyond Bread for some sandwiches. I ordered the steak sandwich with Gorgonzola sauce, it was good considering I don’t care much for sandwiches. We couldn’t linger long at the restaurant, so we wrapped up the leftovers and headed back to the Pima museum for our tram ride through the huge lot where some more (huge) planes sat. The tram tour was about 45 minutes.

Gabe and his sandwich, that of course he didn't come close to finishing, but he did eat it later with some help from Erik.

On the tram, it was neat seeing all those HUGE airplanes!

After the tour we went back to the house to put the leftovers in the fridge and hang out for awhile. I took a short nap. Then we all hopped in the car and drove to Trail Dust Town. The first thing we did was put our names down for a table at the Pinnacle Peak restaurant. While we waited for a table to open, we went on a short, fun train ride, and the kids went on the carousel ride and a wagon Ferris-wheel ride. 

Not sure what this picture has to do with anything....but look, isn't Gabe cute?!

Cowboy Ian

On the train ride

Wandering around and panning for "gold"

She's flying! I got a pic of her mid-jump

It's hard to get good pics of the kids on the merry-go-round, so I also took a video.

Riding the wagons.

Finally it was time to eat, even though I wasn’t very hungry. I shared a filet mignon with Erik. The food was ok. Nothing impressive. The meat was tender but under seasoned. We were also given large slices of dry, tasteless white bread and a huge bowl of ranch-style beans large enough to feed twenty people.

Dinner

We bought tickets to the Pistolero’s show Killer Miller. It was super funny and entertaining. They got the audience involved—and by involved I mean made fun of random individuals in the audience, Gabe included! I wish I could have gotten a video, but by the time my brain thought about taking a video Gabe’s humiliation was over. He was a good sport about it and played along; they spotlighted Gabe as the dumbest-looking kid they ever saw. Needless to say, I enjoyed this show more than I did the gun fight show at Tombstone. It was about 9pm when we got out of the show, so we just went back to the house and went to bed.

3 cuties, just before the show

Spring Break Trip, Tucson Day 4

 Thursday March 17

St. Patrick’s day! We got up, dressed, and headed over to Baja Cafe for some delicious breakfast. I ordered the avocado toast, and it was really good. In fact, all the food was good. We were all stuffed by the end, but that's okay because we had planned on skipping lunch.

As I say to the guinea pigs: Such good nommings!!

After breakfast we headed up Mount Lemmon. We stopped to get a couple of big cookies—which would have been yummy if I wasn’t already so stuffed. We looked in a few shops and looked around at Ski Valley.

The huge cookies. I was still so stuffed from breakfast.

Cute kids enjoying the cookies.

Visiting the ski lodge for a few minutes

Then we made the long drive down the mountain to Sabino Canyon where Erik had booked us some tickets to ride the tram up the canyon. It was ok. We had to wear masks because the tram was part of the TSA but just on the tram. It took us 3.7 miles up the canyon. We stopped for 5 minutes at the end, and we were able to get out and walk around. Then it took us back. We were given white ear pods that plugged into the tram, and we listened to narration of some facts about the canyon. After getting off the tram (and immediately throwing away the masks), the boys, Erik, and I took a short walk down a trail to see some plants and scenery, and on the way back, we spotted a crested saguaro cactus! Elisa, grandma, and grandpa stayed behind and missed out.

Our last activity for the day was the Gaslight Theatre. We had booked a show back in 2020, but we didn’t get to see it since it shut down for a year due to Covid. Luckily we still had credit, so we got to go this year! We got to the theater a little early, in fact I believe we were the first ones there. We ordered two pizzas. We were mostly done eating the pizza before the show began. The show was fun, and I think we all really enjoyed it. Each table was given a free bag of popcorn, so we enjoyed the popcorn while we watched.

Hamming it up before the play

We sat in the top corner. I think our view was as good as any.

Yummy pizza! 

Erik loves it when I take pictures of him chewing his food, so I make sure to take as many as I can.

Ian and the band in the background.

They had extra ice cream, so the kids each got a free cone!

A few special acts to end the program.

Spring Break Trip, Tucson Day 3

 Wednesday March 16

We slept in a little and then ate, played fooseball, and packed.

Our checkout time was at 11, so we had a little time to kill. We went through the car wash and cleaned out the van a little. We stopped at the German Café for lunch. They served German food, obviously. I ordered Spätzle with onion cream. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was ordering, but it was pretty good. It came with a side of cucumber salad, which was pretty bland. Erik ordered a Reuben sandwich on pretzel bread, which was pretty good. The potato salad was good too. Ian ordered the spätzle with cheese, and he also got a roll and the potato pancakes as a side. Gabe ordered bratwurst with pretzel bread and seemed to enjoy it. Elisa ordered a grilled cheese but hardly ate any of it, but she did eat the roll it came with pretty quickly.

Our main activity for the day was the Kartchner Caverns. Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring any phones or cameras into the cave so I wasn't able to take pictures. It was a really neat (hour long) tour! We took a tram to a tunnel that lead to the cave. The tour was an hour long—we went into the rotunda and the throne room. The main interest in the cave were the stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, and the soda straw formations. The neatest thing to see in the cave was the Kubla Khan column in the throne room. Afterwards we browsed the gift shop and Ian bought himself an adventure tool, and both Elisa and Gabe bought themselves a postcard and a prickly pear sucker.

Not my pic-from the internet.

After the caverns we headed to our next rental house in Tucson. The house was ok. It had been cleaned, unlike the other house, but it wasn’t that clean. It was plenty large enough for us; each of the kids got their own room. For the rest of the evening we just hung out and watched the Shrek movies. Erik went to pick up some Sonoran hot dogs at El Guero Canelo for dinner.

This toilet was not clean

Hot dogs for dinner; black forest cake and cheesecake for dessert from the German restaurant.