Record Heat in Arizona—During April Yet!

Martine and I seem to have bad luck when it comes to visiting the desert. Several years ago, we spent two weeks in New Mexico during which the mercury climbed to over 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius) on each and every day. But of course, that was June; and June in New Mexico is hot, even before the summer solstice.

But April!? The five days we spent in Arizona broke heat records for four of the days, going as high as 102° Fahrenheit (39° Celsius) on the worst of them.

The other problem we had was heavy traffic: In Arizona, we ran into two traffic jams, both on the I-10. The first was between Buckeye and Phoenix as we sought Arizona 202 to supposedly bypass the worst of the city traffic, and the second as we approached Tucson and ran into an unexplained jam south of Casa Grande. On the return trip, we spent two hours in a jam on I-10 between Palm Springs and Cabazon.

Other than these two negative notes, we had a wonderful time. The things we chose to see were eminently worth seeing, and both of us enjoyed them immensely. They were, in the order we saw them:

• The Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley
• The Pima Air & Space Museum in South Tucson
• The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum west of Tucson
• Saguaro National Park (just north of the Desert Museum)
• Mission San Xavier del Bac on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation

In the days to come, I will describe these destinations as well as some general observations about the Tucson area.