The Lunch Box Journals

Yuma, AZ to Tucson, AZ (I-8 to I-10)
The road now leads due east across the Sonoran Desert for about four hours to Tucson, the next area I’m going to explore. One of the puzzles of Yuma is explained about 10 miles east of the town center as I cross what looks to be a town but in true Arizona fashion, isn’t incorporated as a town. Extensive newer developments spread across the foothills of the eastern mountains, complete with shopping and golf courses. This is where the more affluent snowbirds roost for the winter, close enough to Yuma proper to benefit from the mall, medical and government services but far enough away (and higher) to be a bit cooler and not near the neighborhoods of agricultural workers… I cross the mountains and enter south-central Arizona. At first it was the desert I had imagined, wide flat expanses framed by treeless mountains in the distance.

What I did not expect was the amount of agriculture scattered through the desert, in particular a number of huge cattle feedlots where thousands of cattle huddled in the shade of large sheds complete with sprinkler systems overhead to help them survive the desert heat.

It is late winter and the desert sand sets off the lush green of the creosote bushes. Creosote is particularly suited for the desert. Its leaves spread during the wet (relatively speaking) season and then dry out and curl up during the dry season. At Casa Grande I-8 merges into I-10 as we turn south. Soon a few saguaro cacti rise up from the desert floor.

The majestic saguaro require a very specific set of environmental conditions in order to thrive and the foothills of the mountains around Tucson offer the perfect environment for this majestic king of the desert.

This is what a “forest” looks like around Tucson!

Tucson sprawls across the Santa Cruz River Valley at the base of the Catalina Mountains, which rise to 10,000 feet from the desert floor. This area has been populated since prehistoric times due to the reliable presence of year-round water and Native Americans maintained an extensive irrigation system in order to farm the valley floor. The metropolitan area is now home to over a million people who enjoy great weather in the winter months (though it gets really hot in the summer!)

As usual, an eclectic buffet of options attract my attention during the visit!

San Xavier del Bac
Rising from the desert at the southern edge of the metro area is the San Xavier del Bac Mission complex.

Founded in 1692 by Spanish Catholics, the mission has been in continuous use for over 300 years. The current mission replaced an earlier one that had been destroyed by Apache Indians in 1770 and is the oldest European structure in Arizona, being completed in 1797.

The original building was never finished with only one of the distinctive towers actually having a completed cupola on its’ top.

The interior is decorated with intricate carvings and vivid colors.

A private chapel and desert garden extend from the western side of the main church.

A small hill rises east of the mission, giving the opportunity for a great view of downtown Tucson about 10 miles to the northeast as well as a birds-eye view of the mission to the west.

The mission complex continues to be the heart of the San Xavier Reservation and the mission school, seen adjoining the chapel on the left, still educates children today. About ten miles northwest of the mission just west of the small range of hills that form the western boundary of the city of Tucson lies our next destination which purports to document the western heritage of Tucson, “Old Tucson.”

Old Tucson

Old Tucson is not actually “old Tucson” as it sits about ten miles west of the historical center of the city. What it is, however, is what movie and set designers think a western town would have looked like in the late 1800’s. Yes, folks, this is an actual movie set of a western town. Columbia Pictures built a complete town as the set for its’ 1939 feature movie “Arizona”, using over 350,000 adobe bricks in the process. Over 300 films and television productions have been filmed here, including some I even recognized! “Rio Bravo”, “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, “Tombstone”, “The Three Amigos”, etc. I was surprised at the lack of “touristy shtick” present, probably due to the fact that it is still a working film set. Yes, there is the ever present gift shop, but it is not inside the set, but rather a separate building (the “Last Outpost”) that you, of course, have to exit through. A couple of restaurants and snack shops hide in period buildings. During the day little vignettes of the west (gun fights, dance hall girls, peddlers) are presented throughout the complex at areas with bleachers, but really wasn’t a trashy atmosphere! Here’s a map (crumpled from being stuffed in my back pocket) that gives the layout of the town.

Entering the Front Gate the view is up the main street.

Let’s just wander around Old Tucson!

The schoolhouse is modeled after the first school in Tucson, built in 1868. The inside is also set up as a movie set.

Tours of the town on stagecoach can be purchased at the depot. In the early 1900’s it would cost $50 to ride from Tucson to Yuma, $90 for a ticket from Tucson to San Diego.

Various businesses line the streets.

The yellow courthouse looms over the south end of town. Inside the courthouse are three different sets: a courtroom, a store and a bank. The street was too narrow and the courthouse too tall for me to be able to get a good “head-on” photo.

Chinese immigrants were part of nearly every Western town, living in segregated areas. A “Chinese Alley” is part of Old Tucson.

A small stream flows through parts of the town.

The other large structure in town is the mission. Unlike many of the other buildings, it is a “false-front’ building with the backside rigged for actors to move around.