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At over 500,000 population, Tucson is the second largest city in Arizona, second only to the 1 million 700 population of sprawling Phoenix. Here in Tucson they have several Universities including University of Arizona with over 40,000 students. This may explain the over 20 breweries that we found in Tucson! 

With such a large amount of Breweries to choose from, where do you start? We chose to visit the Mercado district and Crooked Tooth Brewery. Crooked Tooth Brewery has a cool vibe with large antique “garage” doors that open out to the street and nice selection of house brewed beers. Our favorite was the 18th hour Hazy IPA with its juicy citrus notes. A really cool thing about Crooked tooth is it’s “across the alley” neighbor Anello, a true Napoletan style pizzeria. It was not so easy to find even though it sits directly across the way. It has chosen to be incognito with no signage and the front door blending into the woodwork on the facade. I felt like I was at a speakeasy ordering my pizza from the window…”do I need a secret password to order?” I wondered. Once my order was placed and paid for they brought the pizza right over to Crooked Tooth Brewery and we enjoyed our Napoletan wood fired pizza with our Hazy IPA. Talk about good food pairing! 

Another fun place in the Mercado District is the Mercado San Augustin on Avenida del Convento. This Spanish Colonial Revival shopping center is a beautiful courtyard surrounded by little shops with heaps of Old World Spanish Style. Surrounding the courtyard is Sies Kitchen where we ordered churros with carmel sauce and an icy sweet horchata to wash it down. Horchata is a Mexican beverage made with rice, cinnamon and sugar. There is also Presta, a great coffee roaster shop, so the guys both got a cappuccino and we sat in the courtyard admiring the quaint ambiance and old world charm while nibbling our churros and carmel sauce.

The Mercado District seems to be going through a revitalization with the surrounding area having homes with Spanish style facades painted in rich colors with dried chili hanging from the front doors. Wrought iron gates, copper garage doors and rooftop patios with twig awnings complete the old world look.

I think one of the best things about Tucson is the hiking. I really enjoyed waking up early in the morning at sunrise and hitting the trails. We had two mountain peaks near us and I loved the varied terrain in contrast to the alpine feel of Payson and Flagstaff and the red rock appeal of Sedona. 

In Tucson it’s all about the dessert and the beauty that thrives there. As I walked my early morning hike I could hear my shoes crunch on the gravel on the trails while I walked through the crevice between two mountain peaks. It felt like a corridor lined with tall Saguaros (pronounced sa-warro) the cactus with arms. As I passed they seemed to raise an arm in salute all the while staring straight ahead. Other Saguaros had no arm to raise in my honor but seemed to apologize for their impoliteness saying “Sorry I have no stump to raise but I grow very slowly, my first arm won’t come until I’m at least 50! But I’m happy to see you nonetheless!” These giants of the desert can live for 150 years and some have a perfectly formed raised arm while others look like an octopus with their many arms.

 I also see the Teddy Bear Cholla, a short cactus that seem to be illuminated within themselves with their thick thorns catching the sunlight. While I was communing with the Saguaro the Teddy Bear Chollo seemed to speak to me in a Danny DeVito voice saying “who you call’n short? Come down here so I can poke you with a thorn and I’ll show you short…” Hmmm, is it strange that the cacti are talking to me? About that time I was startled out of my imagination by a herd of deer that went galloping by at full speed. There were a few adults followed by several babies. They must have been grazing on soft grass still wet with the early dew when I startled them. 

I breathed in the desert air and looked around at the golden rays peeking out from behind the red mountain peaks. After being in Sedona I couldn’t really call these “red rocks”, they were more of a terracotta tone and I noticed the rocks beneath my feet were varying hues, some lavender, some seafoam green, others carmel colored and I marveled at the beauty. Arizona specializes in rocks and gems and I can understand why as I walk it’s trails. 

Sometimes as I walked along I saw a cottontail rabbit leap from its hiding place and take off at “break neck” speeds across the desert. In contrast was the “slow moving” tortoise with his ancient looking dinosaurs skin slowly making his way to places unknown to me. He seemed tired but determined as he slowly blinked his heavy eyelids in my direction. 

Every once in a while I had to step off the trail to make room for the mountain bike riders who were keeping their eye on the single track in front of them but would shout out their gratitude as they passed. I noticed the other hikers on the trail were clad in long khaki shorts and floppy tan sun hats with their feet securely in hiking boots. This was in sharp contrast to the hikers in Sedona who sprinted by in the latest spandex “work out” wear and running shoes: young, fit and good looking.

It was time to head back home before the suns strength reached too high in the sky and I noted to myself that it would be nice return to Tucson in the winter. Yes, when the rest of the country is shivering in frigid winter temperatures we could follow the sun to Tucson and could enjoy these desert hikes, old colonial courtyards and copious breweries all day long, in the warm winter sun.

If you would like to stay with Neil & Shari in Tucson, check out their Airbnb the “Coyote Lullaby”