Although it has long been one of my favorite months, April is one of the more fickle months of the year, at least here in Kansas City (and certainly in my home state of North Carolina as well). One day will be gorgeous, with bright blue skies and warm breezes, and we'll don shorts and t-shirts and think winter is behind us. The flowering trees will bloom and bikes will be ridden without tights, wind jackets, or wool socks. But just when you think spring has really sprung, April fools you with a blast of winter. We've also had hail a time or two during spring rain. Ah, April...a month where anything can happen.
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Every now and then we have to take a day off from bicycling to check out some of the other things to see and do around the Tucson area. Friday we drove over to the far west side of the city (a surprisingly long drive from where we're staying in the east side) to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This combination museum, botanical garden, zoo, and aviary is the top-ranked (of 173!) attractions in Tucson by Tripadvisor. We weren't the only ones to have the same idea as the museum was quite busy, but possibly a bit less crowded than it would have been on a weekend. It was a fun, interesting, and educational way to spend a beautiful day. From the trails running all over the outside areas of the museum, there were breathtaking views to the west of the desert and mountains beyond. There were quite a few indoor exhibits, including this beautiful cave. Down in the cave, I got to try on some long-eared bat ears. Yes, I am probably the only non-child to do this, but who cares -- it was fun! Although we didn't make it to the huge gem and mineral show here in the city, there was a nice selection of gems and minerals to check out here as well. This is just one of several nice display cabinets. Back outdoors, I loved this whimsical treehouse made from mesquite logs. And of course the views were to die for. Naturally there was a large variety of different cacti to see here. Forgive me, but I didn't pay attention to the names, just enjoyed looking. There were many large enclosures with natural environments for wildlife. Some were hiding or sleeping so we couldn't get good photos, but the javelinas were moving about. This large iguana was sunning himself up high on a rock. Reminded us of the many we saw while living in Belize. There was a pair of bighorn sheep in an enclosure -- here's the nice-looking male. There were some pretty flowers in some of the different gardens, and I imagine there will be even more things in bloom later. Since we understand that it's been a very dry period here, I wonder how much prettier the plants would have been at a wetter time of year. This cactus is going to be gorgeous when it's in full bloom -- it was just starting to bud out. Some of the plants attracted hummingbirds, butterflies, and/or bees or wasps. Here we are in front of the bee garden area. Not a great shot but the best we could do with our self-timer and trying to work fast before someone else came into the garden. Of course, one of the main reasons we came to the museum was to see birds, and that we did. Cactus Wrens, the state bird of Arizona, were everywhere. There was even a nesting pair right next to the trail! In addition to many free-flying birds throughout the outdoor museum, there was a large aviary. Here are some of the birds we saw inside its gates. Probably my very favorite exhibit of the entire museum was the Hummingbird aviary. So many hummingbirds zooming around was delightful, and we saw a nesting Anna's very close up. She wasn't budging from her nest, even as people took her photo. She proved to be extremely photogenic, don't you agree? We also saw many male and female Anna's and Costa's Hummingbirds. A treat indeed! After a long time spent at the museum followed by a long drive back to the east side of town, we were ready for an easy dinner, and this takeout chicken, green chili, and tomato pizza filled the bill. Yum! Stay tuned for more Tucson adventures!
One of the things on our "must do" list for the Corpus Christi area was the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. We went primarily for the birding but discovered much, much more. Beautiful roses in full bloom (in January!!), reptiles, edible landscaping, great walking trails, an arid garden filled with different specimens of cacti, and all manner of birds ranging from the exotic parrots (in cages) to woodland and wetland dwellers. It was much better than we'd expected! But first things first: breakfast! Since we knew we had a busy day ahead, we ate breakfast at La Palma Mexican restaurant on the way. This place is very authentic, and except for the fact that English is spoken, makes us feel as if we're right back in Mexico. The reasonable prices made us feel like we were in Mexico too: for $4.25 each, we got HUGE plates of eggs rancheros, refried beans, potatoes, and delicious homemade flour tortillas. We rolled outta there with bellies full enough to last most of the day! Now, onto the gardens! First up were some beautiful, colorful tropical birds. I would much rather see them in the wild than in captivity, but they are popular in the pet trade and all these guys were donated by individuals and are safe and well taken care of here. They were all very interested in us and several said "hel-lo"! Most made quite a racket in their excitement at being visited since no one else was around -- we arrived at the gardens right at the opening time of 9 am so had it to ourselves at this point. The next area we toured was the rose garden. Absolutely stunning! I took photos of quite a few individual roses and created a slideshow below if you'd like to check these out. Next up as we strolled through the gardens was the "Sensory Garden", which includes displays to tickle all the senses. There are herbs and edible landscaping, sculptures, a huge tortoise, and a unique tree house for the kiddies built with a portion of a 400-year old oak tree. Wow! There wasn't a lot going on in the Hummingbird Garden today, though I bet most of the year it's really buzzing with life. We spent quite a bit of time along the nature trail and at the various lookout shelters along the way. And yes, we did see plenty of birds! I didn't realize this until getting home and reading the brochure, but this nature trail winds through the only native forest in Corpus Christi. I got a kick of out of the Northern Pintails, very pretty ducks that seem to spend about 75% of their time upside-down. This is how it feeds, head down and butt up, with its little legs working hard to help it hold its position. It was hard for Barry to get a shot where they weren't all upside down like this, and they just made me laugh. Here is what they look like right side up. On the way to the "Palapa Grande" for some more waterfowl viewing, there were two attractive bronze sculptures created by Kent Ullberg. The rustic palapa was pretty but not as waterproof as the ones we were used to in Belize, roofed in dried palm leaves. Good thing it wasn't raining! Next up was the "Wetlands Awareness Boardwalk", which took us to a natural wetlands area for yet more birding opportunities. Last up was the Arid Garden, which was filled with lots of cacti and other related plants that I can't even begin to tell you the names of, being an east coast gal. They're mostly sharp, thorny, and prickly, though, so I don't get too close! Wish we'd had sunnier skies as they would have looked prettier against brilliant blue. Oh well....
Although we didn't take photos, there is also a small inside area with native lizards (including a HUGE iguana who also has a large cage outdoors), turtles, and snakes. And we ran out of time and energy so didn't even make it into the butterfly or orchid houses -- hopefully another time. We could have spent most of the day here if we'd known how much there was to see. It would be great to come back at a different time of year to see hummingbirds and other summer residents.
We can definitely recommend a visit to the Botanical Gardens if you're in the Corpus Christi area. The entry fee was $7 per person with discounts for children and seniors. Well worth it! |
Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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