My favorite Mexican restaurant in Tucson is El Charro Cafe, www.elcharrocafe.com. I love the story behind it. El Charro is the oldest Mexican restaurant in the United States (at least the oldest one continuously operated by the same family, the descendents of Jules Flin). His daughter, Monica, opened El Charro in 1922 with money borrowed from a sister and, through hard work and determination, kept it going through the Depression. In 1968, Monica moved the restaurant into the family home she had inherited on Court Street, where patrons can dine among heirlooms, including the rifles Jules used to fight off Apaches in Tucson's early days. In the early 70s, Monica turned the restaurant over to her niece, Carlotta Flores, who has been running it since.
Both times I've been at El Charro for lunch, and unbelievably, I've never sampled their margaritas. (Next time!!) On my first visit, I think I had carne seca, which I'm told is their house specialty. Last week, I had the chimichanga. USA Today named El Charro "The Home of the Chimichanga," and I can certainly see why. The meat was flavorful and tender. I've got to get back for dinner (and margaritas), and I'd also like to visit some of their other locations. The Oro Valley El Charro is just a few miles from the Hilton El Conquistador.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Colossal Cave Mountain Park
I'm going to skip forward to the end of our Tucson trip because the girls and I spent Tuesday at the resort pool. Wednesday, Jerry was able to join us on our tour of Colossal Cave Mountain Park, http://www.colossalcave.com/. It was a bit longer drive than I expected, but I guess we were coming from Oro Valley, north of Tucson, and heading to Vail, which is south off of I10. Once you exit the freeway, the route is well-marked, but you still have another 15 minutes, at least, to go.
First things first...get there early or at least set aside a couple of hours to explore the park. Colossal Cave may be the main attraction for many people, but there is another entire section of the park, La Posta Quemada Ranch, that we missed because we ran out of time. My sister, who visited the park with her family last summer, also ran out of time, and although they were able to get down to the ranch, they couldn't spend much time there. That's a shame because La Posta Quemada Ranch has a lot to offer, including two museums, a butterfly garden, and riding stables. The park opens at 8 am during the summer and 9 am during the winter. It closes at 5 pm year round.
You'll also want to allow plenty of time for the kids to play the Discovery Tour game. The game map is handed out at the booth at the park's entrance and consists of 18 park highlights. At each of these highlights, the kids will find a punch station, i.e. a hole punch attached to a small, turquoise box. Once, they have punched each box on their game map, they can go to either of the park's gift shops or to the trail ride office to collect a prize. Even my 12 year old got caught up in the game.I can't tell you much about La Posta Quemada Ranch or anything else at the park other than to say that camping is available on site and there are several picnic areas. You will pay a $5 fee per car to enter the park, so try to limit your party to one vehicle. (You will be charged $1 per person for parties over 6, but it might still save you money over multiple vehicles.)
The $5 park entrance fee does not include the cave tour. Depending on which tour you select, entrance to the actual cave is an additional fee. Regular cave tours are $11 for adults, $6 for children 5-12, and free for children 4 and under. If you go to http://www.colossalcave.com/, there is a Fun Pass 1/2 coupon that discounts a child's ticket to $3 with the purchase of an adult ticket. The only daytime tour option for parents with children under 12 is the standard tour (although children over 10 can take the Candlelight Tour); you have to be at least 12 to go on the Ladder Tour, 14 to go on the Intermediate Wild Cave Tour and 16 to go on the Advanced Wild Cave Tour.
Needless to say, we took the standard tour. If you're in Southern Arizona with kids and you are considering whether to go to Kartchner Caverns or Colossal Cave, I think Colossal is the better choice. First, it's a dry cave. Kartchner is a living, wet cave, which means you can't touch anything, at all. Period. They stop the tour if you do, and they mark the spot so crews can address the damaged area. In Colossal Cave, they encourage you to touch the cave in spots. Also, the tour groups are small, and tours depart approximately every 20 minutes. While there's never a long wait for the next tour, the small groups also allow for more interaction with your guide, something that's great for curious kids.
Don't get me wrong. Kartchner Caverns is wonderful. I love it, especially the light show at the end of Kartchner's general tour. Colossal Cave is just very different. At Kartchner, I was in awe; in Colossal, I found myself wondering what it would have been like to have been on one of those first tours in the 1920s or what it would have been like to have hidden out in this cave, like the outlaws used to do, and find my way through the narrow areas with a candle or old lantern. These are just two different experiences, in my opinion, and either one is an excellent adventure.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Titan Missile Museum
Our first stop during our Tucson trip was to the Titan Missile Museum, http://www.titanmissilemuseum.org/. It's actually a short drive south of Tucson in Sahuarita. The picture below shows the actual site with the tan blast doors peeled back enough to reveal the disarmed Titan Missile II below.
Plan to arrive at the Titan Missile Museum no later than 15 minutes before the hour. The general tours begin on the hour, every hour, from 9 am until 4 pm. If you show up at 9:15, you'll be waiting for 45 minutes in the Count Ferdinand von Galen Education and Research Center, and while there are some exhibits and a small gift shop, I think you'll be hard pressed to find enough to keep you occupied for much time, especially if you have small children.
The tour begins with a short movie explaining the Cold War and the role the Titan Missile program played in it. Then, you step outside for the above-ground portion of the tour. I'm not very technical, so I'm bound to get some of the details about what we saw wrong. We talked quite a bit about the security system that could detect movement above ground, we saw some fuel tanks and discussed how the missile would get to its target, and we peered through Plexiglas to the disarmed missile in the silo. At the access portal, we stopped for a few minutes to talk about the procedures each crew would go through to get into the control center. It was very interesting, but by that time, I was dying to get out of the summer heat and into the cool air underground.
It wasn't as cool, temperature-wise, as I had hoped underground, but it was still pleasant. You begin by walking down several flights of stairs. (I think I overheard one of the guides say that there were 55 steps.) If you're unable to use stairs, there is a freight elevator to take you down. During this portion of the tour, the guide spent a good deal of time discussing the structure's design and what portions would have survived a nuclear strike. I can't say that the concrete walls and 6-ton doors made me feel 100 percent safe, but supposedly, once you're in the control center, you're strike-proof.
If you have grade school-aged kids, especially girls, try to maneuver towards the front of the line as you enter the control room. There's a good chance they could be singled out, like my 10-year-old daughter was, to be the crew commander. She sat in the commander's chair as the guide talked about crew life and the inner workings of the control center. Near the end of this, he asked Kim to help him simulate a launch, which basically entailed them both turning a key at the exact time. She thought it was very cool. This particular tour guide said he liked to select girls for the task since this was one of the few positions, at the time, that women could hold in the Air Force. (Or at least, that's what I understood him to say.)
The tour ended with a walk to the silo. Of the eight levels, you are only at level two at this point, so your view is basically the top of the missile. You look through windows into the silo and, I think, get a very limited view of the missile. (Other tours, detailed below, allow you to go into the silo.) This is a good time to mention that you can take photographs for your own personal use during the tour. I forgot mine, unfortunately, but I wouldn't have been able to get the shot anyway that I was really hoping for: a shot of the entire missile looking up.
As I mentioned, there are several other tours available. Some are at no additional charge; others are more expensive. While there is no additional charge for the Director's Tour or the Crew Tour, you do have to make reservations ahead of time. These tours, as the names suggest, are essentially the general tour but led by the museum director, a former missile combat crew commander, or former crew members. For a more in depth tour, try the Beyond the Blast Door Tour. This tour includes the crew quarters and silo in addition to the general tour destinations. The Titan Top-to-Bottom tour is the extreme tour. It lasts 4-5 hours and covers all three levels of the control center as well as all eight levels of the silo.
Other opportunities at the museum include private tours, Science Saturdays and Moonlight MADness. I really, really want to participate in the Overnight Experience where you and three friends or family members can sleep in the crew quarters. On second thought, I've yet to see the crew quarters and might change my mind. The Titan Ruins Exploration looks interesting, too. It's an opportunity to spend three hours scouring the desert for Cold War artifacts with the museum's historian.
Whatever tour I take, I will definitely be back!
Plan to arrive at the Titan Missile Museum no later than 15 minutes before the hour. The general tours begin on the hour, every hour, from 9 am until 4 pm. If you show up at 9:15, you'll be waiting for 45 minutes in the Count Ferdinand von Galen Education and Research Center, and while there are some exhibits and a small gift shop, I think you'll be hard pressed to find enough to keep you occupied for much time, especially if you have small children.The tour begins with a short movie explaining the Cold War and the role the Titan Missile program played in it. Then, you step outside for the above-ground portion of the tour. I'm not very technical, so I'm bound to get some of the details about what we saw wrong. We talked quite a bit about the security system that could detect movement above ground, we saw some fuel tanks and discussed how the missile would get to its target, and we peered through Plexiglas to the disarmed missile in the silo. At the access portal, we stopped for a few minutes to talk about the procedures each crew would go through to get into the control center. It was very interesting, but by that time, I was dying to get out of the summer heat and into the cool air underground.
It wasn't as cool, temperature-wise, as I had hoped underground, but it was still pleasant. You begin by walking down several flights of stairs. (I think I overheard one of the guides say that there were 55 steps.) If you're unable to use stairs, there is a freight elevator to take you down. During this portion of the tour, the guide spent a good deal of time discussing the structure's design and what portions would have survived a nuclear strike. I can't say that the concrete walls and 6-ton doors made me feel 100 percent safe, but supposedly, once you're in the control center, you're strike-proof.
If you have grade school-aged kids, especially girls, try to maneuver towards the front of the line as you enter the control room. There's a good chance they could be singled out, like my 10-year-old daughter was, to be the crew commander. She sat in the commander's chair as the guide talked about crew life and the inner workings of the control center. Near the end of this, he asked Kim to help him simulate a launch, which basically entailed them both turning a key at the exact time. She thought it was very cool. This particular tour guide said he liked to select girls for the task since this was one of the few positions, at the time, that women could hold in the Air Force. (Or at least, that's what I understood him to say.)The tour ended with a walk to the silo. Of the eight levels, you are only at level two at this point, so your view is basically the top of the missile. You look through windows into the silo and, I think, get a very limited view of the missile. (Other tours, detailed below, allow you to go into the silo.) This is a good time to mention that you can take photographs for your own personal use during the tour. I forgot mine, unfortunately, but I wouldn't have been able to get the shot anyway that I was really hoping for: a shot of the entire missile looking up.
As I mentioned, there are several other tours available. Some are at no additional charge; others are more expensive. While there is no additional charge for the Director's Tour or the Crew Tour, you do have to make reservations ahead of time. These tours, as the names suggest, are essentially the general tour but led by the museum director, a former missile combat crew commander, or former crew members. For a more in depth tour, try the Beyond the Blast Door Tour. This tour includes the crew quarters and silo in addition to the general tour destinations. The Titan Top-to-Bottom tour is the extreme tour. It lasts 4-5 hours and covers all three levels of the control center as well as all eight levels of the silo.
Other opportunities at the museum include private tours, Science Saturdays and Moonlight MADness. I really, really want to participate in the Overnight Experience where you and three friends or family members can sleep in the crew quarters. On second thought, I've yet to see the crew quarters and might change my mind. The Titan Ruins Exploration looks interesting, too. It's an opportunity to spend three hours scouring the desert for Cold War artifacts with the museum's historian.
Whatever tour I take, I will definitely be back!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Hilton El Conquistador
I just got back last night from Tucson where I stayed, with my husband and two girls, at the Hilton El Conquistador. Lately, this has been our hotel of choice when we visit Tucson. Here's why:
- The View: The hotel backs up to the Santa Catalina Mountains. Of course, there are some great views. To the south, I love watching the sun set over the mountains or the moon rise. To the north, there's a wonderful view of Oro Valley and, at night, its city lights. I also like that the Santa Catalinas offers a little seclusion at the hotel; Tucson is on the other side of the range.
- Location: If you're coming from Phoenix, you can't beat the El Conquistador. Exit at Tangerine Road (exit 240), well before you get into Tucson, and drive diagonally 13 miles towards the base of the mountains. Turn south at Oracle for approximately three miles and make a left at El Conquistador Way. But, what really makes the location great is the dining. If you continue south on Oracle a few miles past El Conquistador Way, you'll have your pick of excellent restaurants including some of Tucson's best, like El Charro's newest location.
- Swimming Pool: Are there better resort swimming pools? Yes. Phoenix Magazine recently highlighted Tucson's best resort pools, and El Conquistador's wasn't one of them. But, the pool has a lot going for it. For one, there are actually three pools: the main pool with a volleyball net and a basketball hoop, a shallow pool for babies and toddlers, and the water slide pool. I like the pools here because they are kid- and adult-friendly. (There's a good poolside bar that serves cocktails and grilled food.)
- Funds for Fun: This was the deciding factor for us. Sure, the pools played a big role in our decision-making process--we needed something for the girls to do--but with this summer special, the rates become unbelievable. Our junior suite was $168 (we were upgraded on eStandby...rates start at $150), and we got a $100 credit for each night of our stay to use anyway we wanted at the resort. Since we were staying two nights, we got two $100 coupons. You can use these for golf, dining, drinks by the pool, gift shop purchases, and even massages. This is a great, great deal!!
The El Conquistador does have some drawbacks. It's an older hotel, and it shows in places. For one, the carpet in our room was worn. Second, the hotel's layout in certain areas has issues (more on that later). Even so, it has some nice touches. The beds were great, there was a flat screen TV, and the air conditioning blew cold air (a little too cold according to my daughters).
One last thing: the staff here is great. I've never had bad service at the El Conquistador from anyone. They're always friendly and willing to go out of their way to help.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Re-Launch
I started this blog last January and let it slide. Beginning this week, I've decided to re-launch it with more content. Watch for upcoming posts on the Titan Missile Museum, Colossal Caverns and more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)