The Martin Luther King holiday is approaching and I am thinking about when we flew to Tucson last year for a short break from the cold winter weather. I wish I could go there this weekend where the average high temperature is in the mid-sixties. It would be a nice reprieve from the January temperatures at home
We have gone to Tucson twice, so I will combine both trips in this post.
Tucson is a great place to have a wheelchair vacation because there are many unique things to see and do that are fully accessible. The winter months are a perfect time to go especially if you are coming from a colder climate. I grew up in a desert area and I really love its beauty and personality.
Tucson Has Unique Flora
First, let’s talk about the flora. The Sonoran Desert is an amazing place – the the giant Saguaro cactus is found nowhere else in the world. These beautiful plants grow slowly but can live up to 175 years. To show you just how large these magnificent Saguaros can grow I have included a photo of us standing by one at Picacho Peak State Park. My wife couldn’t help hugging one because these cacti deserve our admiration and respect.
If you go to Tucson you can’t miss the Saguaro. They are everywhere, are protected by law and people can’t cut them down (even on their own property). Visit Saguaro National Park to see them in their natural setting. The park is accessible and is split into two different sections – east and west – separated by the city of Tucson. We drove to both and they are an hour apart.
Saguaro National Park
Both sections of the park have similar amenities for wheelchair travelers. Each side has a visitors center. However, we didn’t stop at the one in the west because it was getting late. We experienced scenic drives and nice paved loop trails at each site that were readily accessible. I think that the density of saguaro around the paved trail on the west section might be higher, but both trails are nice. If you are short on time you could do either and have a great experience.
We were in the west section late in the afternoon, just as the sun was setting. Below are a few photos I took of the accessible areas where the paved trails are:
Jamie didn’t seem to care which side we were on. She was just as happy six years ago in the east section as she was last year in the west.
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
We visited a couple of fully accessible tourist attractions near the west section of Saguaro National Park. The Arizona-Sonara Desert Museum has a delightful hummingbird aviary. This was the first time I had seen baby hummingbirds in their nests being fed by their parents. I was in awe of their tiny nests and even tinier eggs that were the size of a tic-tac.
We saw a variety of exhibits of animals native to the Sonoran Desert along with a botanical garden with indigenous plants:
Old Tucson Studios
Just down the road from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is Old Tucson Studios – a wild west attraction with shops and entertainment. We wandered among movie sets that have been used in a
number of old films on grounds that are inviting and accessible.
Do not go here on a rainy day because so much of the walking surface is dirt. Since it does not rain much in the winter, it probably won’t be a problem.
You can see from this photo I took just after entering the park that the area is packed dirt with a few boardwalks by the shops. Wheelchair users sit in the front for the stunt shows. A replica of the Alamo is the backdrop.
Behind the main area of the attraction we walked on an unpaved road leading to some sets used in the movies filmed there. It is a dirt/packed gravel surface. My guess is that they have to keep it that way for any filming they do and it was not hard to push Jamie’s wheelchair to that area. You can’t enter any buildings in this part of the park as most of them are only facades. We thought it interesting to see what goes into making a film with the old west as its main scenery.
Mount Lemmon
One thing I love about the Tucson area is that it is not just dry desert. Bordering the north and east of the city are the Santa Catalina Mountains with Mount Lemmon (at nearly 9,200 feet) as the high point. We enjoyed a beautiful drive from downtown Tucson to Mount Lemmon that took just over an hour. The route climbs from Sonoran Desert habitat to alpine forests. There is an observatory from the University of Arizona at the top. But I can’t comment on that area because we didn’t drive that far. We saw a small ski resort, the southernmost in the United States, as well as a village with some shops and restaurants.
After I took a few photos of the ski resort we headed over to the nearby village called Summerhaven. We stopped at the general store for some snacks and there was handicapped parking in the front. Summerhaven is small and activities there are limited. At that high elevation it was probably in the 50’s so it was a pretty nice January day.
Windy Point
Driving up to Mount Lemmon we noticed a viewing area along the way. We saw a lot of cars parked in the parking lot, so on our way back down, we decided to see what the big deal was. The place is called Windy Point and, at a lower elevation, it was warmer than it was at the ski resort. We noticed some areas for wheelchairs to go. Here is a map that I made up of the area:
You can see there was ample parking and restrooms. Near the parking lot a sidewalk leads to a viewing area where you could see a large hoodoo rock formation called Hitchcock Pinnacle. You could also look southwest and see a view of the lower elevations from there. The real draw, however, was the area behind the bathrooms out on a rocky place where the view was more pronounced. We tried to get Jamie out there but, as you can see from my photo above, the surface was uneven. Still, we were able to get her out there a few hundred feet. To say we muscled our way is an understatement — it was very difficult. Use your best judgement for your circumstances and the chair you have. I wish they put a sidewalk leading out there, even if only for a short distance.
Mission San Xavier del Bac
About 15 minutes south of Tucson is Mission San Xavier del Bac, an old Catholic mission dating back to the 18th century. It is currently in the process of being restored. The grounds are accessible with sidewalks and packed gravel/dirt surfaces. It’s possible to go almost anywhere outside the building, including a bricked courtyard. We walked by a few booths set up near the entrance where you can buy a Navajo Taco. We saw other booths with more food or crafts made by some of the indigenous people.
The inside of the main building is completely level and accessible, therefore you will be able to fully enjoy the original statues and beautiful murals that come to life. The interior is not very large. I felt an appreciation for the amount of work that went into building the mission with the tools and materials they had available at the time. The architecture is beautiful as you can see:
The airport is just east of the mission. We hopped on a plane and flew home from there. Tucson is a warm break from our cold winters and we plan on returning in the future.