Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
The Flower Fields in Carlsbad consist of over 50 acres, most of which are used to grow Tecolote Giant Ranunculus flowers. The ranunculus flowers and bulbs are then sold. The flowers create stunning bands of vibrant color that cover a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean every spring.
Sticks & bricks living, in other words being in a house again, after living on the road for over 6 years in RV parks is a welcome change. We are not done with the RV life as it has been incredibly rewarding and a great way to travel continuously during retirement. Even though a gypsy tiny living lifestyle has had it perks, it has also had numerous drawbacks.
Last Updated: May 2, 2026
Yuma, Arizona was our final overnight stop before returning to California — about a four-hour drive from Tucson, and a natural last pause before crossing the Colorado River into the California desert. Our house in San Diego had been sitting vacant for over a year while we traveled — before that it had been a rental property — and it was time to return, check on things, unload the Airstream, and begin the long list of small projects that accumulate when a house sits empty. Yuma made for a comfortable overnight before the final push west to Santee Lakes.
Last Updated: May 3, 2026
Saguaro National Park is split into two districts about 30 miles apart on either side of Tucson, Arizona — the Rincon Mountain District on the east side of the city, and the Tucson Mountain District on the west. Both protect roughly the same Sonoran Desert vegetation, but the topography, the wildlife, and the visitor experience are quite different. The Rincon side is rugged, rises to over 8,000 feet at Mica Mountain, and is one of the few places in southern Arizona where black bears, mountain lions, and coati are still genuinely present. The west district is denser with saguaros, more concentrated in volcanic ridges, and the closer of the two to the Tucson Mountains RV parks where we typically stay. After a winter that took us through Cave Creek and Tucson Mountain Park, we returned to Tucson for a longer late-winter stay — and finally made the time to visit both districts properly, plus another month of mornings at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Last Updated: May 2, 2026
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is one of those institutions that defies easy categorization. It’s part zoo, part botanical garden, part natural history museum, part art gallery, part aquarium — all woven together on 98 acres of living Sonoran Desert in the Tucson Mountain foothills, with 2 miles of walking paths that feel less like museum corridors and more like hiking trails through an extraordinarily well-curated landscape. It was founded in 1952 and has been consistently rated one of the top museums in the United States and one of the best zoos in the world. Michael has been visiting since the early 1980s and has been a member for much of that time — and this February 2023 visit reminded us exactly why.
Last Updated: May 3, 2026
The Tucson Mountains are a small but exceptional desert range west of Tucson, Arizona — one of the four mountain ranges that surround the city, alongside the Catalinas to the north, the Rincons to the east, and the Santa Ritas to the south. Each range has its own character, but the Tucson Mountains have always been our favorite — for the sheer density of saguaro forest, the network of hiking trails through Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro National Park West, the wildlife, and above all the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which Michael has been visiting and photographing since the early 1980s and where he has been a member almost every year since. From Cave Creek it’s about a two-hour drive south to Tucson, and the moment you turn west off I-10 toward the Tucson Mountains the saguaros thicken, the road climbs, and the city falls away behind you.
