Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum

Just a few miles from the Saguaro National Park is the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Part botanical garden with a huge variety of desert plants, and part zoo with animals native to the Sonoran desert, this made an interesting afternoon for Jack and I. We had our lunch in the Ocitillo Cafe and then meandered the zoo.

                                                    


                                                           First stop was a walk in Aviary
                                                                   Black headed Grosbeak

Big horn sheep are often seen on mountain sides in Arizona - they can make their way up the steepest slopes where you wonder how they can find a foothold!

The coatamundi takes a drink on a hot afternoon

Prairie Dogs

Organ Pipe Cactus grow in a cluster from one base point.

Javalinas or pecccaries are the wild pigs of the south west. They have the same snouts and shapes of the domestic pig but add to that their tusks and cranky nature and you will not want to get in their way. They will eat anything but this afternoon, this pair just wants to nap in the shade.

This was the closest we got the the real coyotes in their natural area. I think they were also taking a nap -----

                     Jack thought he should do it, too,
                          under this ramada!

But we decided that this would be a better way to refresh ourselves before we drove back to Phoenix. After leaving the park at 4pm, we passed Old Tucson Studios, a working lot for making Western movies that does daily gun fight shows and has lots of western theme activities. But that was for another day. We took Gate's Pass Road that winds it's way between mountains to 3200' and a pass giving access to downtown Tucson and the I 10 expressway back to our RV home in Mesa where we arrived just as the sun set at 6pm. A fun and interesting day!!