This morning we got up early and headed out to the Sonora Desert Museum here in Tucson. We have had several people tell us how great this museum is so we decided it was definitely something we would like to check out. It was so worth it!! I had purchased a booklet where you buy one get one free for a lot of these locations and this was one of them. We only had to pay $15 to get in for all of us. Our drive there was very scenic and we were scanning the desert to see if we could see some wildlife along the way. Didn't see anything but a couple of Squirrels...oh well we will continue to keep our eyes open, I know we will see something cool before we leave!!
The Museum opened at 7:30 and we got there at 8:00 AM. Garrett was already to go in his Shark hat and his sandals.
They had an old vintage car at the entrance to the Museum that we had to get a picture in front of. It was a pretty cool looking car!!
Welcome to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Helpful information for our day.
Before getting to the ticket counter there was a volunteer with a Falcon at the entrance. Garrett was taking in everything this volunteer was saying and thought the Falcon was pretty neat too!!
They had water fountains throughout the park where you can fill up your water bottles. Garrett has his sippy cup, and we took our backpack that has a bladder inside for water that we both drink out of. The bathrooms all had sunscreen in them as well and was very handy for Tim and I to use throughout the day for us. Was very nice that places like this think of things like that. You don't realize how quickly you can get burnt from the sun here in Arizona. Kudos to this Museum for doing that!!
Before getting to the trail we noticed another volunteer that was holding onto a Barn Owl. The talons were huge!!
I had heard about the Saguaro Cactus getting its fruit, but hadn't seen any until we were walking down the path. All kinds of animals eat this fruit from the Cactus. Very neat to see since it only happens once a year.
The desert path we were walking down.
Spoiler, Grandma Sutton you should skip this part....Another volunteer that had a snake. Yes, we both touched it and would have let Garrett but they said 3 and up for the age. They said the little ones try to grab it and hold on. Yikes, that would not be a good situation!!
Desert Loop Trail Warning sign.....
Lizards on a rock, LOL.
Will we see any Javalina's while we are here? Here is the sign saying we are coming into their location.
By the time we made it out to the trail it was 8:30. We knew the likelihood of seeing one was not very good. Luck must have been on our side today. We actually saw 3. These things are HUGE!! They are as big as Bailey our Giant Schnauzer.
The next thing we saw was the Fox. He seemed like he wanted to play.
One of the many benches they have along the trails.
The Mexican Wolf. They said it is on the Endangered Species list.
The Black Bear was putting on a show for us....
Mountain Lion, right up where we could get a good look. We thought a lot of these animals would be sleeping right now. Seems like they like to watch us as much as we like to watch them.
The Cave was next. Tim and I messing around putting on Bat ears. Wow, we can hear a lot better now!! What do you think would we make good bats??
The Prairie Dogs were having fun teasing us!!
A bird....
Even the snakes were being active. Wait, don't these animals realize this is daytime not nighttime??
Can't remember what this animal was called....
Having so much fun at the Turtle Exhibit that we woke up Garrett, oops!!
Getting ready to head to lunch :)
After lunch we headed to the Hummingbird Exhibit. They had a ton of Spider Webs inside and Tim saw a Spider in the middle of one of them. Garrett really liked watching the birds and how they could just stay in one place mid flight.
The Squirrel that was stalking us....
Garrett having fun.
Our little guy is starting to get curls in the back of his hair. I think it is so cute!! He definitely gets that from his momma and his Grandpa George Amon :)-
We finished up around 3 PM and headed back to the RV. They also have a night program that we are coming back for around 6 PM.
Garrett crawling on Tim, yes he crawled up and over with no help from his Daddy other than being caught before he lands on the floor. Garrett thinks its great fun!!
Garrett crawling on Tim, yes he crawled up and over with no help from his Daddy other than being caught before he lands on the floor. Garrett thinks its great fun!!
From 5 to 10 PM on Saturdays in the Summer the Museum has where you can come back at night. They say it is like a totally different Museum. People have their Black Lights and are shining them in the crevices to see the many Scorpions that are hiding. They also said you may see snakes and spiders along the walkways since night time is when they all come out. One of the Volunteers we spoke with said one night they had as many as 13 calls come through with snakes on the pathways. We were very excited for what we were going to see tonight!!
We missed seeing the Bighorn Sheep during the day because they were cleaning their area. We got to see them after we came back, I really liked the one with the curled horns.
The Bobcat was also hiding during the day and when we came back tonight he was finally in an area where we could take a picture of him.
So pretty at Sunset!!
Do you see the Scorpion?
Much easier with a black light!!
You never know what might be lurking on these paths. We think a pack rat crossed in front of us and there were tons of these Scorpions everywhere...We didn't see any snakes or other spiders. It was very neat to see the difference in everything. The kids were all having a great time with their black lights trying to locate the Scorpions and the Volunteers were all on hand to answer all of the questions. This was a wonderful Museum that had so much information to share. Definitely a must see if you are in the Tucson area!!