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Memorial Day in Tucson

 

The Memorial Day destination this year was Tucson, Arizona.  The Saguaro cactus blooms peak in May so we planned a trip to get the shots.  It was a bit warmer in Tucson than in Denver, ok, it was 99 degrees. When we left Denver the expected high was 63 degrees, which was quite a contrast. Hey, but it is a dry heat, right? I was on the verge of heat exhaustion only twice. Once in Saguaro National Park and the other time at the Pima Air & Space Museum. You just got to take it slow.

Saguaro National Park is actually two parks,  with the city of Tucson in the middle.  We decided that we would not do a lot of hiking, due to the heat, and just pull off at the pull outs on the scenic road though the park and shoot.  That was a good idea, it was way too hot to hike.

We shot the east park and the Saguaros were pretty sparse, not what I was expecting.  Apparently, the area has been damaged due to cattle grazing and it is now under restoration. Our mission was to shoot the blooms, but Saguaro cactus are pretty tall and, well, you can only zoom up on the bottom of the blooms.

After a few hours of shooting we headed over to the west side of the park to have lunch and shoot some more.  There were way more cacti on the west side.  So, on the west side of the park we were on the hunt for short Saguaros.  Luckily we found some bent arms where we could get a nice shot.  

Camera: FujiFilm XT3 & FujiFilm EX4





We visited the San Xaiver Mission and the St. Augustine Cathedral and then on the the Pima Air and Space Museum. The Museum had several hangars with airplanes mounted on the ceiling and also had 88 acres outside filled with aircraft.  I was using the large airplane wings as shade cover as we walked the grounds.   I got a bit of heat exhaustion and had to sit down for a while in one of the hangars.  









On the way to the museum we spotted some street art in a construction zone in downtown Tucson and had to stop.  






Location: Tucson, AZ, USA

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