Cactus and Beer

Friday we took my brother Bob and SIL Suzie (visiting from Brecksville, Ohio, near Cleveland) to two of our favorite Tucson places: Sabino Canyon and Barrio Brewery.

Sabino Canyon is in the Santa Catalina Mountains not far from where we are staying at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. It's an oasis with lots of water, plants, beautiful mountains and thick stands of saguaros.

Then we hit the Barrio Brewery whose website describes it as "rustic chic."  That translates into a building near the railroad tracks with a rusted corrugated roof, good food, great service and really great beer.

Click on any of the photos to make them larger.

Bev took this shot from a tramcar that takes folks up the 4.5 mile-long Sabino Canyon.  Private vehicles are not allowed.

There was once a plan to dam the canyon's creek (Sabino Creek) but I read that water rights dispute and a drought put an end to the dam plans.  Thank goodness, because the resulting reservoir would have covered all the beautiful saguaros.  

Another shot from the shuttle.  A large earthquake centered in northern Mexico happened here in the late 1800s and sent huge boulders toward the bottom of the canyon.

We got off the shuttle at the top of the canyon and did a one-mile-round-trip hike to the creek where Jim and Bob peeked through some branches.

Suzie and Bob admiring and photographing the cacti.

On our way back up the one-mile-round-trip trail. There are lots of hiking trails in Sabino Canyon, plus lots of folks walk the paved canyon road.

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Bob, Suzie and Jim at Barrio Brewery.  We go there at least every couple of weeks when we are in Tucson.

After Sabino Canyon and Barrio Brewery, we walked the grounds of Tucson's Pima County Courthouse. It's the third courthouse at the same location and was completed in 1929.  It's no longer the main county courthouse but the recorder's office is there and we saw some brides and grooms -- not including the two on the right above, who have been married 42 years.

Close up of the Pima County Courthouse tile rotunda. And a saguaro to state the obvious.