Telegraph Station

Old Tucson Movie Studio

Rio Lobo River

Little train station

Tucson, AZ: High clouds this morning. Mike left early for the GMC dealer and I sat outside reading for a while. It actually started sprinkling and continued for an hour or so. The local news has been talking about the “monsoon season” which should start shortly. I thought—monsoon? We’re in the desert. But I guess the arroyos and washes and dried up creek beds will be full shortly. I think we leave before that and head north. When Mike came back we decided to go to “Old Tucson” which I thought was an old, historic part of Tucson, but it’s actually a movie set. It was built in 1939 for the movie “Arizona” and they wanted an authentic Tucson at about the mid-1800s. Hundreds of westerns have been made here since. All the Rio Lobo John Wayne movies, Judge Roy Bean, and the last two seasons of Little House on the Prairie were filmed here plus hundreds of others.. It’s in the middle of the desert—only about 10 miles from where we’re staying—and has beautiful mountains all around. After touring that we went and picked up a few groceries and put those away and sat outside enjoying the afternoon. The wind really picked up and blew pretty good for a while. It felt good and the clouds kept it cooler than normal. Think it hit 95 today. Very light dinner tonight since we both had ice cream cones at Old Tucson.