Retire In Style Blog Too: Tucson, Arizona: When you are the host and not the traveler!

Traveling is one of the great joys of my life. But it is also a lot of fun to have visitors and be able to see the place where I live through someone else eyes. That is what happened this week when my granddaughter (16 years old) and our daughter spent 6 days with us.

Before they arrived, my husband and I talked a great deal about how we would accommodate them and what we would do. Living in a small space is a challenge for visitors as well as the host. Where would they put their clothes, who would get to take a shower and when, where/what we would eat, etc? Most importantly, we talked about what we would do to provide them with a fun get away.

We had a list of things in our mind but we did not really care which our family chose. We liked to do it all.

Here in Tucson we have some things that are unique to our area. This city provided a different but wonderful desert vacation experience.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Saguaro National Parks
Santa Catalina Mountains and the road to Mt. Lemmon
Old Tucson Studios
Unique eating experiences like Wisdom (Tubac,), Congress Hotel (downtown), El Charros original location (authentic Sonoran food located in the Presidio)
University of Arizona campus.
Sam Hughes neighborhood and Arizona Inn
University of Arizona shopping area
Tubac, AZ
The Biosphere 2

The Biosphere 2 (my daughter at the right)

Tomacacori National Park

A simple Google search will give you information on each of these.

When our girls arrived, we asked them what they were looking forward to doing. They had come from the Portland metro area. I think we mentioned all the things on our list. But they wanted to...

Shop
Stay in our RV resort and lay by the pool or simply walk. Surprise!
Get their toe nails done. Summer sandals were coming out.
Visit the Biosphere 2
Shop more!

Of course there is always one more thing. Evidently, my granddaughter had eating at the In and Out fast food on her bucket list and we did not know it! I am busy creating a list for their next visit and we will be stopping at the In and Out on our way to our house from the airport. I just did not realize how important that was.

We had a wonderful week and my husband and I needed it to last longer. There was so much left to do. But then I suppose it is a good thing if they go home when the fun is not finished. Everyone goes home wanting more.

Have a wonderful day.

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