Snowbirding Magnus Style, Day 8

Tuesday Nov 11

Up on time and quick with breakfast. We had tickets to the Sabino Canyon Crawler, a tram tour that goes up the canyon. Google Maps totally messed with our minds—we left at 9:30 for an 11:00 ticket time, and we had about a 40-minute drive to the place. Easy breezy. Except when we arrived, Google insisted we hadn’t arrived!!! It wanted us to keep going, driving along the tram-only route.

We were stuck circling a parking lot full of cars and lots and lots of people, until I finally asked Ed to park and I’d walk up to the ticket office and find out where to go. When I got there, I freaked. (briefly) The ticketing was all electronic and there was no one to ask!

But then I saw the sign for the Sabino Canyon Crawler tram loading area, and just then realized that the lady working on the ticket machine was actually an employee. She very nicely confirmed we were in the right place and had plenty of time to get on our tram. Whew.

It was a lovely ride. It would have been great to get off at the end and walk back, but that wasn’t on the agenda for the day.  Molly was waiting at home.

There were lots of other trails of varying lengths out in the canyon, including half-day hikes. That would have been fun!

But we enjoyed the ride and saw our fill of mountains and saguaros and scary, narrow, low-water crossings.

Then back. I ate a little lunch and wished I’d eaten less (will explain later), then took Molly for a long walk. Before setting out, I looked at the computer clock and thought that we were leaving at about 3:10 for a one-hour walk, but after a while I remembered that my computer clock was an hour fast. So we actually left at 2:10 and walked until about 3:50.  About 1-3/4 hours. Wow.

It wasn’t all that hot and I’d taken a half-bottle of water and Molly’s water dish. So at the halfway point, when we reached the trailhead that we’d driven to the day before, I promised Molly I’d split the water with her if we didn’t find a spigot. But as it turned out, there were lots of spigots. And a restroom—pit toilet style--waterless but also odorless so I can’t complain.

So Molly got a full bowl of water and I got to empty the bottle and refill it with fresh water for my drink.

And then we walked back. Shorter this time, as it always it. On the way I saw several birds but didn’t take the time to see them well. Stupid me.

 

Phainopepla -- a common bird in the desert but you'll never see one at my house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We ate supper at La Hacienda Family Mexican. A great place with lots and lots of food items on the menu, plus a very long wait to be seated. 40 minutes on a Tuesday?  At about 5:15 in the evening?  There were tons of old people there—what can you expect.

Anyway, Ed had Beef Molcajete and seemed to like it; I had Portabella Fajitas, which were great. I had leftovers but never managed to eat them all. If we’re ever in the neighborhood, we’ll definitely go there again.

 

By the way, I believe that was the day when I actually met Debra Winger, the author. She had a Ellie Dwyer advertisement on the spare tire cover on her pop-up camper. Seeing her poking around in the dumpster (they were camped in the row in between the one with the restroom and the one with the dumpster), I mentioned that I loved Ellie Dwyer. And she said that she was starting on Book 8 of the series right away. So it was her!

I didn’t mention that I was actually re-reading the series even then. All I did was holler something like, “don’t let anything bad happen to Ruth” and get on my way.