Air Time Tucson: Fill & Download for Free

It’s rather according to what you like; if you were me, you’d like…Saguaro National Forest:Hiking and biking trails and beautiful desert scenery. Also wildlife and local art. (Gift shop likely not open during Government Shutdown)Reid Park Zoo:Terrific place, especially in the early morning.Old TucsonA fun spot to while away a day, and an evening….The Arizona-Sonoran Desert MuseumAmazing animals, classes, tours, and time to soak it all in.Pima Air and Space MuseumAll aircraft, all the time.Tucson Botanical GardensDesert plants, gardening First Peoples’ Style and a Butterfly Pavilion with species rarely ever seen.A terrific Interactive Murder-Mystery DinnerHome - Tucson, AZThis is becoming waaaay too long. So, I’ll leave you links:The Top 10 Things to Do in Tucson 2018 - Must See Attractions in Tucson, AZ | TripAdvisor100 Things to Do62 Things to Do in Tucson & Southern Arizona, Attractions & EventsAnd, if you still have time, hit Tombstone, Bisbee, Phoenix, Karchner Caverns, Colossal Cave, Ft Huachuca, Cochise Stronghold, Green Valley, Ruby….

I have lived in Tucson since 1978, but I also worked in Phoenix for 8 years, so I know it pretty well.Tucson is dry, and has low humidity through most of the year, except for the monsoon season.Phoenix has a LOT of grass and trees, so the humidity there is ALWAYS high.Phoenix has mosquitoes, including the ones that carry the West Nile Virus. They are on you constantly.Tucson mosquito sightings are rare. You can sit in a lawn chair and watch the stars and not be bothered all the time, like you do in Phoenix.The temp differences between Tucson and Phoenix are closer to 10 degrees than 6 degrees. Phoenix is just a little above sea level. Tucson is considered a high mountain valley, as it’s elevation is 3600 feet.With the reduced humidity and lower mosquito population, it is far more comfortable to live in Tucson.Phoenix has a lot of crime, compared to Tucson.Phoenix traffic is enormous, and unpleasant.Tucson traffic is much lighter, and the rush hour periods are much shorter than they are in Phoenix.People in Tucson are kinder and happier than in Phoenix. People are much more relaxed in Tucson. They also are more tolerant of people who are different. If you are gay, you want to live in Tucson. If you are Goth or Punk, you want to live in Tucson. If you are into BDSM, you want to live in Tucson. Everyone is pretty much accepted here, at face value. If you are a good person, you will be fine.To me, Phoenix had always seemed like L.A. but without the beaches and the Universal Studios and Disneyland. It has the smog, the crime, the traffic of L.A. but without any of the redeeming qualities.I can turn right, going out of my subdivision, and go 19 miles, and be way up in the mountains in the pine trees. Less than 30 minutes to a pine-scented campsite with cool breezes.The same place is also the southern-most ski resort in the Northern Hemisphere. (Mt. Lemmon)Tucson has actual western history. We were founded by an Irishman, working for the Spanish. Tucson (Black Mountain) is one of the oldest continually inhabited city sites in the U.S. with organized society (Agriculture and irrigation projects) dating back 2000 years. There is a statue downtown where Doc Holliday killed a man who was trying to ambush his best friend, Wyatt Earp. The remains of Tucson’s cavalry fort (Fort Lowell) are still existing and can be visited. You can come to Tucson and see actual stage stops from the pioneer days. (Lil Abner’s steakhouse is one. There is another 3 miles from my house. There is one east of Tucson about 10 miles (Posta Quemada) The only time John Dillinger was actually captured was in Tucson, near the Hotel Congress, which still exists and has a celebration every year.We have a historic Presidio area, which recreates the original Presidio of Tucson, and which has practicing craftsmen, doing their work the same way the Spanish did it. (One example - Blacksmithing- I know the guy who does the blacksmithing demos for the Presidio. When you forge-weld metal pieces together, you use a material called a “flux” to help the metal join together. (You sprinkle on the flux, put the second metal piece on top, then hit them with the forging hammer, and they become one. ) But the Spanish did not have the proper flux materials. So he doesn’t use flux when he forge welds. He uses what the Spanish had, which is iron filings and salt. Everything he uses is what the Spanish had available at the time. )Tucson has a lot of EXCELLENT museums. The Arizona History museum is awesome. The Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum is rated as one of the top 10 in the U.S. The Pima Air Museum is the 3rd largest in the world, and has a lot of items on display that are actually owned by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, but were too big to move there (First B-52 prototype. The Boeing 787 prototype.) The PAM also has a restored missile silo south of Tucson that you can visit. It still has a deactivated Titan II missile in it.West of Tucson is the telescope array at Kitt Peak National Observatory, which is the largest cluster of telescopes in one place in the world. You can visit it, and they even organize night viewing sessions a couple of times a month.Tucson has a huge number of live event venues, such as the FOX Theater, (restored to it’s 1920’s opulence) Rialto Theater, 191 Toole Music Venue and of course the normal city convention center for big events like rock concerts. There are dozens of smaller places that host comics and performers of all types.Tucson has the largest non-mechanized parade in the world, with all horse-drawn vehicles, for Rodeo Days.I could go on and on, but my fingers are tired. Visit Tucson, and you will see what I am talking about.

I came to Tucson one year back. The moment I landed in Tucson, I realized that I didn’t see any unusual road traffic in Tucson. I was surrounded by mountains in all the directions. It is one of the beautiful scenic beauty in Tucson. Sunrise and sunset are the most beautiful moments of nature in Tucson.Usually, I have a cup of coffee every day in the morning and evening to admire the beauty of sunrise and sunset. The cloud formation in the Tucson sky always blow your mind.You can see cactus in all the places. The most annoying part for me was the dryness in air. I could visually see my skin getting dry in less than four hours after applying moisturizer. Dry air is also an insulator, so static electricity is even more common during the dry winter months. Tucson has more things to appreciate and you get used to live here and you will miss Tucson when you move to any other city. BEAR DOWN!!! ZONA ZOO!!!