Tucson
By Joe Sharkey - April 1, 2010
Tucsonans are generally too polite to say this, but they consider their city to be the anti-Phoenix.
Oh, Tucson has some sprawl, but nothing like the acre-a-day gobbling of the desert that marked Phoenix during the real estate boom that was. And sure, Tucson is hot for half the year–though if it’s 107 in Phoenix on a July day, it’s probably only around 101 in Tucson. And as outsiders never grow tired of marveling, it is in fact a dry heat. Plus, for the other six months of the year, Tucson is still usually gloriously mild. And it has an average of 350 days of sunshine a year.
The most remarkable difference between Phoenix and Tucson, however, is the ambiance. One is frenetic; the other laid-back. One has endless expanses of exotic lawn, the other has a preference for native desert landscape. Phoenix has nationally known cultural attractions, major-league baseball and NFL football. Tucson has a quieter cultural scene, rich with its entrenched Spanish heritage, and minor-league baseball. Phoenix is Orange County minus the ocean; Tucson is a very large Santa Fe. Phoenix is abuzz with traffic, and pedestrians beware. Tucsonans complain about traffic, all right, but it’s nothing like the congestion in Phoenix. A few Tucson intersections have two sets of pedestrian-crossing pushbuttons on the poles–one at waist-level for walkers and another, a few feet higher, for those on horseback.
The first thing you’ll notice about Tucson is the endless blue sky. The city and its suburbs lie on a high desert plain (about 2,500 feet in elevation) bordered by mountain ranges, notably the Catalinas and the Rincon, which loom over the northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The second noticeable thing about Tucson is the profusion of giant saguaro, the towering cacti with uplifted arms that are the icon of the American West. Tucson is bracketed on its east and west sides by the bifurcated Saguaro National Park, a monument to those magnificent cacti and the desert landscape.
The best introduction to the saguaro and splendor of other desert cacti and wildlife is Cactus Forest Drive, which winds through the Rincon foothills in the eastern section of Saguaro National Park. The loop takes about a half-hour by car, though you’ll be tempted to spend more time to stop at overlooks and take in the scenery.
A must-see in Tucson is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on the other side of town, abutting the western section of Saguaro National Park. It’s a wonderful indoor-outdoor zoo, museum and botanical garden, and among the critters on view (or just hanging around, in some cases) are rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, raptors, coyote and, of course, the most peculiar beasts of the Sonoran desert, javelinas, properly known as collared peccaries. They are gnarly, bristle-haired, tusked critters that can weigh well over 50 pounds and look like wild pigs, but are not. (They’re believed to be distantly related to hippopotami.) Javalinas aren’t usually aggressive, but if you see one or a small herd wandering in the desert scrub, don’t approach them, as they’ll bite if they feel threatened, and their teeth are sharp enough to easily tear into their favorite snack, prickly pear cacti.
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