When I left New England for Tucson, Arizona, my son gave me one stern warning, “Don’t get pricked by a cactus!” Cacti are as common in Tucson as black flies in Maine. Each time I passed another cactus patch, I had my buddies snap a photo of me getting pricked by a cactus. This then somehow led to photos of cacti by themselves in the wild, thus creating a cacti tour of Tucson.
One word of note, I am not an acanthochronologist, or one who studies cacti. Nor am I even a botanist. My classification of cacti ranges from “short” to “twisty” to “big.” And to boot, we never made it to see the Giant Saguaros at Saguaro National Park, so even though some may be classified as “big,” they certainly are dwarfed by the Giant Saguaro cactus.
University of Arizona
Outside the University of Arizona’s main gate is where I first felt the wrath of the cactus. I went up to a species of “big” cactus and placed my palm upon its prickly spines. Mike and Dan, my travel buddies, snapped a photo and I sent it to show my kids. Next also at the University of Arizona’s arboretum, I took another picture with a “twisty” species of cactus.
Raptor Canyon Cafe
For lunch, we dined at the utterly delicious Raptor Canyon Cafe in downtown Tucson. The actual meal is detailed in another post. More importantly, my cacti tour of Tucson continued with me being pricked by a “small” species of cactus which took up a quarter of our table at the restaurant.
Main Gate Square
Being the night owls that we were on this trip, we utilized the tram to take us from the university area to downtown and back. Wrapping up the on-the town portion of the evening, we caught a few minutes of live music at a park in Main Gate Square. The park is gorgeous with ample seating, a fountain, and shops. More importantly, it is also a stop on the cacti tour of Tucson. Here I identified the ever-elusive “lighted” species of cactus. I think my beverage intake from the Circle K may have thwarted my scientific conclusiveness since the next morning I realized that this rare cactus was actually a species called a “tree.”
San Xavier del Bac Mission
This was a veritable cacti tour of Tucson all by itself! The prickly plants thrive in this dry, desolate countryside south of town. Here I spotted outside the mission gates “medium height,” “short,” and “the cactus from Super Mario Brothers” species. Very rare indeed. Just outside the mission was a “tall” cactus with “small cactus-like projections” stemming from its top. Also on the grounds were “short and twisty,” “big,” “short and fat,” and more Mario Brothers cacti. And then before we left, we spotted a “purple” cactus.
Pima Air and Space Museum
By this point, I was salivating for more cacti. Actually, I was not salivating; since the weather was so hot and dry, I had no saliva left. I was mentally salivating. Although at a museum full of aircraft of all kinds, all I cared about was the cacti! Before entering the museum, a few “very big” Saguaro (not giant!) cacti greeted us.
Hacienda Del Sol
The crowning achievement of my cacti tour of Tucson came at Hacienda Del Sol. This beautiful resort was once a ranch school for girls. By dining in the bar afterward, we were able to explore the grounds. I keep getting sidetracked. The beauty of the resort is detailed in this post.
As my cacti identification skills have grown in power, I did notice that there were other Saguaro cacti here as well, but for this system of classification, we will call them “very big.” These were the tallest. Others, including “short,” “purple,” “spiky,” and “thin and bristly,” were located in the Saguaro’s shadow.
Roaming the grounds, next to the pool, overlooking the sunset locale were more “very big” Saguaros. Cacti of all shapes and sizes were interspersed throughout the grounds. Another species, a Senita Cactus, was labeled. But throughout the whole resort are cacti that “look like Mario Brothers,” as well as others planted in a garden-like setting. Another cactus sprouted out of a large pot, this species is called “potted.”
I was able to touch a Mario species as a Saguaro. That’s where I left my mark on the cacti tour of Tucson. After jokingly being pricked by each type, the final Saguaro left a spine in my finger, a souvenir I would keep with me for a few weeks. Before we left, I saw cacti by a fountain, cacti near outdoor dining, cacti near rocks, and cacti near the exit. So much cacti. The Hacienda Del Sol was truly the primo destination on my cacti tour of Tucson.
Saying Goodbye to Cacti
Before saying goodbye to cacti, I spotted a few more in the wild outside of Fate Brewing Company in Scottsdale and others in Old Town Scottsdale, although I did not touch either, still feeling the recent sting of the “very big” Saguaro in my finger. My cacti tour of Tucson had come to an end. With a heavy heart and a throbbing finger, I headed back to the northeast.
Check out this link for the attractions from my weekend in Tucson.
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This post was most definitely sharp and to the point complete with some of your barbed wit making it even more fun to read!
It reminds though of a time long, long ago when I lived in Tucson where I always liked the cacti but definitely learned a cautionary tale. At one of the houses where we lived, there was a cactus garden in the backyard which included a member of the “jumping cactus” species which, I was told, would jump out and latch onto you if you made the mistake of getting too close. Well … silly second-grader that I was, one day I made the mistake of going out to the cactus garden wearing a pair of flip-flops rather than sensible cactus garden shoes. Mistake number 2 came when I got too close to the jumping cactus and – sure enough – I ended up with a rather big piece of cactus stuck to the big toe of my right foot! The darned thing had one of those hooked needles which are next to impossible to remove so I did a lot of howling while dragging the piece of cactus that was firmly attached to my toe back to the house where my mother had to extricate it.
From then on I had a healthy respect for all cacti and reverently kept my distance whenever one was around for fear of getting stuck again. I suspect you acquired that same healthy respect!
Wow!!! That’s much worse than my self inflicted cacti attack!