Saguaro National Park...continued

Today was another beautiful day in Tucson...which meant another scooter ride. We chose Saguaro NP East District. 

 

 These are Barrel Cactus. They have curved spines, lean south, and can grow 6 feet in height.





Other cactus we saw...



Prickly Pear Cactus...they grow in 50 states...

a Chain Fruit Cholla...

...the inside of a Saguaro...

and an Ocotillo...or vine cactus...they shed small leaves during dry spells, but can grow new leaves in 5 days after getting water...

BUT...the best picture of the day is a Crested Saguaro...sometimes the growing tip occassionally produces a fan-like form in place of arms. They are somewhat rare. 

We had a nice picnic...apple, cheese and crackers, and yogart...this was our lunch-time entertainment...a great beggar!

This is a cactus wren (above)...they grow 7-9 inches long and are the largest wrens in the U.S.

I'm not sure what this bird is...very interesting curved beak though.

A male Gila Woodpecker...looking for insects.

Well, this will be my last blog...maybe...about the desert. I am quite fascinated by it as you can tell. After having lived in Georgia for 62 years and never really traveled much, I am in awe of this beautiful country. Our slide on our MH is not fixed. We are still waiting for a motor. the slide is in and covering up the TV. It has been this way since January 10. I have used some of my quiet time researching what I have seen...when I wasn't playing scrabble on the Kindle or reading.

Thanks for visiting...the Taylors had a great day...hope you did too! Please drop by again.

Saguaro National Park

 Early Saturday morning, our home got a washing and its anual wax. A great job by Xtreme Power Washing owned and operated by Jason Riker. He, along with his wife, daughter, son and friend completed the job in about 3 hours...well worth the reasonable dollars he charged...Thank you!










It was the nicest day we have had here in Tucson. A great day for a scooter ride. We headed for the Saguaro National Park via "no major highways". My first up close and personal experience with the desert and saguaro cacti....a real treat!


Saguaros are found exclusively in the Sonoran Desert. It is estimated that they live as much as 150-200 years old.









That's Joe (the above picture). He stands 6'2" tall so we figured this saguaro is about 35' tall. They are very slow growing cactus. A 10 year old plant might only be 1.5 INCHES tall ! They can grow to be 60 feet tall and weigh between 3200 - 4800 pounds.



This is me (on the left)...the saguaro is the largest cactus in the world!



I did read that a saguaro can be 75 - 100 years old before it grows its first arm.  

Saguaro National Park has two districts located on the east and west side of Tucson about 20 miles apart. The western section (Tucson Mountain) is 15 miles from the city and is smaller than the east section. We only rode through this section on Saturday since we got a late start.

The cactus is supported by 12 to 30 internal woody ribs which can be used to build roofs, fences, and parts of furniture.

The Taylors had a great week-end....hope you did as well. Thank you for your comments and for visiting our blog. Enjoy yourselves and as we say back in GA ..."y'all come back soon !"