Wednesday, February 15, 2012 (Catalina State Park, Tucson, AZ)

The skies were clear when we got up this morning, although it was still quite cool out...it had actually gone down below freezing but thankfully we had no water problems considering the taps weren’t wrapped.  Had Steve known that the temps would dip to 25F, I’m sure he would have disconnected the water.

After another try at the “Dealer Locator” on the Thule website, it actually worked, producing a list in the Tucson area.  Steve called Quality Bumper to confirm...we would be there a little later.  So we had breakfast, showers and did the dishes and were ready to go.  It was shortly after 10:00 when we headed off.

We had no problems finding the place and once parked, Steve went inside.  It seemed to take forever as I waited in the truck...thank goodness I had my Wi-Fi hotspot and iPad with me!  Steve finally came back...I guess the fellow had taken pictures and sent them to the Thule rep but hadn’t had a response yet.  Steve left him our phone number...he would call us when he heard back from the rep.

Okay...what shall we do now?  We had heard that the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum is a “must see” so we decided to head there.  We took a route that Serena did not like...the road goes through Gates Pass, very scenic but with a short stretch of steep, windy, narrow road.  But the views were beautiful....

Steve pulled over and took this picture looking back the way we had come...

Once through the pass, Gates Pass Road comes to a T-intersection...the Desert Museum is to the right but we noticed something to the left that looked interesting...Old Tucson...hmmm...what is that?  So we decided to go take a look.  Old Tucson Studios is an Old West theme park and movie set.  “Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona, Old Tucson has been the setting for more than 300 movies and TV productions including John Wayne westerns Rio Bravo and McLintock! and modern classics like The Three Amigos and Tombstone starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.”

Well, I think the Desert Museum will have to wait for another day...it was just after noon when we entered Old Tucson...and 3:00 by the time we were finished wandering around the whole site.  Steve took lots of pictures.

The first thing we did once we paid our admission was to go to the performance of "The Quick & The Dead"--As portrayed in the 1995 film shot at Old Tucson, a ruthless land owner and gunslinger holds a quick-draw competition to see who is the fastest in the territory.  Here are just a couple of the action pictures Steve took...

"The Reno"...

The High Chaparral Set...

Native Village...

Grand Palace Saloon...

We even went on a tour of the haunted Iron Door Mine...

Oh dear....too funny...

Inside the Movie Museum...

Old Tucson Studios Web Album

On the way home, we thought we would stop at Walmart and pick up a new coffee pot.  There is a Walmart across from the entrance to the State Park...how convenient is that?!  But would you believe, this Walmart, like the one in Mesa, didn’t have any in stock.  They only had the expensive “fancy” ones...we only want a plain, ordinary cheap Black & Decker or Mr. Coffee coffee pot...my only stipulation is that it has to be black.  Oh well...I guess we’ll have to keep looking.

The rest of our evening was “as usual”...inside watching our favourite TV shows...”Survivor” started again tonight!