Getting Back to Tucson

Andy trying to pose like the Saguaro

 Tucson isn’t a new city for me, but I still think it deserves a posting.   It’s hard for me to recall exactly what my pre-visiting expectations were of Tucson.  I knew it was desert, hot and sunny, and a lot more laid back than Phoenix. 

I wasn’t expecting, however, the stunning mountains in Tucson that are even a little bit snow capped this time of year.  Nor was I expecting to see a wildcat walk past my bedroom window one morning.  Or javelinas and roadrunners on the golf course.  Or a coyote meandering about the street. 

I did have an expectation that there would be fantastic Mexican food, and after 7 years in the UK, that was extremely welcome.  I will never understand why the UK doesn’t have any decent Mexican food – all of the ingredients are there, but not in combination.  Tucson’s Mexican is an encyclopedia of specificity – you actually need to know your carne asada from your carne seca, your sonoran from your guadalajaran.

I wasn’t expecting, however, the arrival of the gastropub or the fantastic farm to table cuisine we’re seeing now in Tucson.  We stopped off at Union Public House recently opened off Campbell and had fantastic cocktails, french fries with a malt vinegar aioli and a gnocci with duck confit and sage butter.  The next night we went to Wilko and had more great cocktails served in vintage glassware, truffle french fries, truffle hard sausage, and an amazing mac and cheese.  If we were even a little bit worried that our foodie European days were over, we were well reassured that good eating is alive and well in the United States.

Skip and Andy drinking Cocktails at Wilko

We also went to Hub for icecream.  Oh my good dairy lord!  Andy and I shared a triple of “Sleepy Hollow” which was pumpkin and habanero (yes, pumpkin and habanero, oh my!), Bourbon Almond Brittle and Salted Caramel.  We ate and ate, and then put the leftovers in the freezer and ate and ate again the next day. 

I really like Tucson – Andy thinks it would be a great place to live if it was not so hot in summer and you removed a bit of the geriatric population.  I think it’s an amazing place – though a bit of an urban sprawl with a grid system of streets that can be a bit overwhelming as a new comer.  Sure it’s easy enough to drive these straight wide roads, but sometimes you don’t know if the place you are going is on the left or the right and you only learn too late that you should have been 5 lanes over to make that turn.  5 lanes, and I’m not even on a highway! 

One of the things I really love about Tucson is the signage.  Because of the easy climate, signs from the 60s and 70s still stand proud in front of their businesses.  It’s retro/vintage heaven.  One of our favorite places in Tucson is the Shelter cocktail lounge.  Outside it looks like a setting that would have worked brilliantly in the Big Lebowski.  Inside it only gets better – diamond wallpaper and Kennedy for President memorabilia.  You think you’re only going to get cheap American beer but then a quick conversation with the barman tells you he knows more about whiskey than most brits. 

Another great aspect of Tucson is that the city is framed by two halves of the Saguaro National Park.  I love being able to be home, and then in a National Park within a 15 minute drive.  We had been to the west side park before, but had not yet ventured to the east side.  It did not disappoint.  Even before you get to the official park you drive through rolling hills covered in these ancient plants.  I wouldn’t be the first person to say that they look like different characters on the hill – a boxer, a bowlegged cowboy, two lovers – but I might warn you that I find them irresistible to not give voices to.  There’s Joe Pesci, John Wayne and Oprah Winfrey.  Andy is thankful these voices exist only in my head. 

It is with sadness that I pack away my summer clothes for an 8 week ride into the cold north, but in the words of the Beatles, I too will get back to Tucson, Arizona,  time and time again, maybe even permanently.

“Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a loner

But he knew it couldn’t last

Jo Jo left his home in Tucson Arizona

For some California Grass

Get back, Get back

Get back to where you once belonged”