Avast ye! hearties and scallwags we be singing a shanty cuz we found our doubloons. So grogfilled we be feasting on our salmagundi at the galley. That’s pirate talk for well . . . I’m not saying.

On Tuesday March 12th, we went to the Gaslight theatre, our third time there, to see The Curse of the Pirate’s Gold. “There’s romance and adventure a-plenty as the buccaneers search the Spanish Main for the Lost Pirate’s Treasure. Our merry pirate band encounters sea-shanties and rip-roaring action as The Captain and his mateys tirelessly try to avoid the infamous dreaded curse as they go in search of The Pirate’s Gold”

It was a lot of fun and laughs.

I just want to be a pirate…But I couldn’t get my ship together. May your anchor be tight, your cork be loose, your rum be spiced and your compass be true. Captain, can I bend your ear? Not for free; it’s a buccaneer.

After The Curse of the Pirates Gold, they did a spinoff on the “Hee Haw Show” it was just as good and corny as the show on TV, if your old enough to remember it.

Hee Haw was an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971. It was hosted by country music stars Buck Owens and Roy Clark. It was really corny but lots of fun to watch and the Play they did was just as memorable and funny as the show.

Our “Hee Haw Olio” is a hoot! 🤠🌽 Part of the fun! If your ever in the Tucson, AZ. area you should stop and see a show at The Gaslight Theatre.

We ventured once again to Sweetwater Preserve, south all the way down Tortolita Road you’ll hit a dead end, a parking lot and you’re at Sweetwater Preserve.

Sweetwater has 15 trails so we headed to the Desperado Loop to NightHawk then Oxbow to Red Tail, Red Canyon, Ocotilla Hill up to Wildflower then Roller Coaster and we were done.

We went for a lengthy hike in the desert but it was fun for us two old codgers.

This sign is at the enterance tells about Joseph Conrad Fraps. He came to Arizona from North Carolina in 1908 and was a railway machinist. To fulfill the requirements of the 1862 Homestead Act, Mr. Fraps built his house right in Sweetwater Preserve. He dug a well, built and lived in a one-room wooden shack with a metal roof and raised goats on the land, and paid $18 in fees and commissions. He was there from 1927 until he died in 1963. He was 90 years of age.

You can’t built anywhere in Sweetwater now, but people build their mansions as close as they can to the Preserve to look at the great views. So much for Joseph Fraps one room house.

“If seeds waited for perfect conditions to grow, there would be no plants in the desert.”

– Matshona Dhliwayo

On Thursday March 31, We finally got to see the Voyager Wild Dogs softball team in action!

Voyager Wildcats are a co-ed softball team, players have to be 55+ to play, they are sponsored by Voyager RV resort. They have games on Thursday mornings here at Voyager. There is one lady on the team and I have to applaud her because she is good and she still plays the game. I couldn’t be out there playing it’s been so, so, long since I played on a team.

I always liked that song. We got free fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that were delicious and a Sonoran hot dog from the food truck, yummy. It was a fun morning for us but we don’t know if they won or lost because we had to leave before the game was over. Hopefully we can attend another game.

Arizona National Scenic Trail

We were on a small portion of The Arizona National Scenic Trail. It is a trail that goes from Mexico to Utah that spans the whole north–south length of Arizona. The trail begins at the Coronado National Memorial near the US–Mexico border and moves north through parts of the Huachuca, Santa Rita, and Rincon Mountains.  The lenght of the trail is 800 miles.

We started our hike at the Gabe Zimmerman Davidson Canyon Trailhead.

The trailhead ” Gabe Zimmerman Davidson Canyon,” is a memorial for him. On January 8, 2011, at a Safeway in Tucson a gunman killed six and wounded 13, Gabe Zimmerman was one of the six who died. He was 30 years old and was a well known congressional aide and social worker. He hiked all around this area.

It’s a nice trail and it was great to see all the greenary along the way, Walking along we came to small area with water and then we came to where we had to cross a wide area of water. Dave & Cooper were all for it but . . . Not me. All I could see was myself getting all wet, not a pretty site. So we turned around and went down the Bicycle Bypass which didn’t take us where we wanted as we wanted to hike by the railroad trestles and bridges.

It was a great day for a hike, the temperature was perfect and we saw a lot of green scenery. And they say Arizona isn’t green.

On Friday March 29th we went Saguaro National Park, West. Both East & West parks are in Tucson and are home to the nation’s largest cacti. The giant saguaro is the universal symbol of the American west. These majestic plants, found only in a small portion of the United States, are protected by Saguaro National Park, to the east and west.

We were greeted by a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. He didn’t have much to say.

We took the Kings Canyon Trail Wash that follows the sandy wash bottom between the canyon walls to the junction and return via the King Canyon trail (an old mining road). There were several rocky “stair-step like” sections in the wash bottom. There is also an old stone building built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s on the trail.

Dave & I both like Saguaro Park West the most, due to it’s rocky terrain.

About a mile up the trail on both sides of the wash by a small damn, there were petroglyphs. Created by the local Hohokam people, who called southern and central Arizona home from approximately 450 to 1450 AD. The petroglyphs are believed to have been created during that time.

Petroglyphs are created by removing part of the rocks darker surface patina or desert varnish. There are multiple techniques thought to have created these petroglyphs, and it’s believed most of them here have been pecked out through indirect percussion, meaning a second rock is used like a chisel between a stone and the host rock’s surface.

The cabin the CCC built.

“National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”

Horace McFarland, president, American Civic Assn., 1916:

Ironwood Forest National Monument is located in Marana in the Sonoran Desert. The monument covers 129,055 acres and contains a significant system of cultural and historical sites covering a 5,000-year period. This also includes several desert mountain ranges including the Silver Bell, Waterman, and Sawtooth, with desert valleys in between.

A large number ironwood trees Olneya tesota) are found in the monument area, along with two federally recognized endangered animal and plant species. More than 200 Hohokam Indian archaeological sites have been identified in the monument, dated between 600 and 1450.

The ironwood tree is notable for its slow growth rates and extremely dense wood. Its wood even sinks in water. While scientists consider ironwood to be the “old growth” tree of the desert, standard tree-ring dating of its wood is difficult. Estimates show some trees to be 800 years old, and it is likely that they live even longer.

Titan II Missile Interpretive Site

Located in the mist of The Ironwood Forest was once a full operational Titan Missle Site. Which thet say many Arizonans don’t know about, it was dedicate on November 17, 2016. The U.S. Air Force and the BLM partnered in the conversion of Titan Missile Site 570-3 into a historical interpretive site. They took out or buried whatever was in the site.

Signs and ground where it once stood are all that remain of the Titan ll Missle. This site is one of 18 surrounding Tucson Arizona. The Titan II Missile sites were located in three places in the U.S. as a deterrent to nuclear war during the cold war period. They were also in Arkansas and Kansas and they were manned 24/7 for 24 years, from 1963 to 1987.  Each site was capable of launching a Titan II Missile in 58 seconds in case of attack on the United States from Russia. The Titan II missiles were capable of 25 times the speed of sound and had a target range of 5500 miles. Russia had the same weaponry aiming at the United States at that time. Scientists say that if a missle hit the US or Russia nothing in the area would have survived.

People can come here now to check out the Sonoran desert plants and get an informative tour of a piece of military history.

Dave & I visited the Titan Missile Museum which is in Green Valley AZ. on November 17th, 2023, which is the only preserved Titan II missile site, officially known as complex 571-7. It is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987.

 

Since we were in Marana we read about a cactis that had 80 arms! So we had to check out.

Dave is counting her arms.

Here is ‘Shiva” the Saguaro and her 80 arms. The name “Shiva” references a Hindu god often depicted with many arms.

They say it’s a normal, large saguaro, well over a hundred years old.” “Probably something to do with one of the hormones in the cactus that control that kind of stuff.” “It’s not rare to have an arm grow an arm, but it’s not ever as common as this.” Shiva is a healthy and happy saguaro that could be around for long time if it isn’t disturbed.

Different views of Shiva.

We hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

We had a great March here in Tucson. Took great hikes and saw beautiful scenery.