Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park

If you ever find yourself in Tucson, head to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and the Saguaro National Park.  The Park is acres of desert populated by giant Saguaro Cacti.  The Sonora desert is the only place these huge cacti grow.  They grow very slowly, only about 2 inches a year, but can grow for up to 200 years and reach heights of 60 feet.  Once they are 50+ years they often start to grow arms.  They are pretty cool to see and a whole desert vista filled with them is like nothing I had seen before. 

The Saguaro are sacred to many of the native peoples who live in the area, and it is believed that you should treat Saguaro how you treat people.  Indeed the Saguaros look almost human-like and in the evening light mystical.  

We didn't spend too much time with the Saguaros because we had spent our entire day a few miles down the road at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.  Part zoo/wildlife/nature preserve/museum, it was a wonderful spot to wander around and learn about the flora and fauna of the desert .  Did you know that Arizona has a great diversity of native bees and they are solitary bees?  What about that Harris Hawks like to bathe every day? Neither did we until we visited the museum!  The free flights with the owl and hawks was a favorite, as was the Hummingbird aviary.