Tucson, AZ

As most people who frequent Downtown know, the 4th Avenue underpass is a serious construction zone. But not to fear! Big plans for the area are underway, which include extending the trolley route and a special tile project.

Right now, Patch & Clark Design are working towards a goal of snapping the portraits of 7,000 Tucsonans. The photos will then be placed on tiles which will be used in the reconstruction of the underpass.

If you want to be a part of Tucson history, why not visit one of the photo shoots being held through February and get your photo taken?

The weather in Tucson during the winter months is so gorgeous that we usually try to spend as many days as possible outside. Growing up in Tucson I have spent quite a bit of time on 4th Avenue and in the University of Arizona area. This weekend, my husband and I took our two children down to 4th Avenue. We spent about 30 minutes in a few shops. My daughter’s favorite was Hippie Gypsy. We allowed her to pick out a shirt, which of course was tie-dyed. I looked through the incense and oils since patchouli is one of my favorite scents. We then wandered down a block or so to O’Malley’s for lunch. It was pretty empty and so our food was fast to arrive.

We recently spent some time in Tempe and got to see firsthand their new light rail system. It got me to thinking about how neat something like that would be in Tucson. I guess the closest thing we have by comparison is the Old Pueblo Trolley and truly that is not really a fair comparison. However, this past weekend my husband and I decided to take the kids downtown for a ride. Amazingly, in all the years I have lived in Tucson, it is something I have never done.

Having spent my childhood in Virginia, I didn’t learn very much about the history of other states. In fact, I don’t remember learning much of anything about Arizona history at all. So, I decided to check out the Arizona Historical Society Museum at 949 East Second Street here in Tucson to learn more about it.

After spending the last ten winters in the frozen tundra of upstate New York, I kind of miss the snow. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of sub-zero climates, but it’s kind of fun bundling up and heading out for a winter stroll when the weather isn’t so bad. Winter has its charm, so over the holidays my husband, son and I headed up to Summerhaven, Mt. Lemmon to enjoy snow and cooler weather.

My friend Nikki is a devout fan of the 1993 Tim Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas and even has a tatoos of the characters. So when she saw that the film would be screened at the historic Fox Tucson Theatre just before Christmas, she recruited me to attend the film with her. I had never seen a movie at the restored downtown venue, although I had been there for live theater, so I was excited to see what their big screen had to offer.

The movie screening was scheduled for 8:00 p.m., so we headed downtown to arrive around 7:30 p.m. to be sure to have enough time to find a parking spot near the theatre, located 17 W. Congress, just west of Stone Avenue. We fortunately found a spot in a small lot located just south of Congress off of Stone and since it was after normal business hours, their was no parking cost.

I love to read. Over the years I have acquired quite the collection of books. Our children have inherited my love of books and, over the years, buying books for my husband, the children, and myself has become expensive. The library is an obvious alternative, so I have recently found myself scouring the shelves of the different libraries within reasonable driving distance from my home for books that my husband and I would be interested in, but more importantly books that our children would enjoy. Because of the demand of certain books I have had to broaden my “library circle” and as a result have visited quite a few that I had not before attended. The most recent addition to my “circle” is the Flowing Wells Public Library.

Since having kids, I have spent many a days at a variety of parks. I am always trying to rotate where we go so that the kids don’t lose interest. One of the parks on our regular rotation is Riverfront Park. This park is located at 551 W. Lambert Road. It is just east of La Canada on the south side of the street. The park is neatly tucked back off the road, which is nice and different from a lot of parks here in Tucson.

I’m not sure how this community manages it, but from 5:30 p.m.- 10:30 p.m. each night from December 13th-27th, every single house is lit up, and each residence outdoes the other. There was one house that had an honest to goodness fountain show synchronized with Christmas carols, another that has a Christmas Story theme, and still another with a giant 20 foot Santa. And that’s just the tip of the ice berg.

I caught the tail end of the Annual Tucson Winter Street Fair a few days ago. The first part of the day was a little rained out, so I went when the sky cleared up and immediately bought a tiny African Violet plant from a woman who was closing up a pottery booth. She sold it to me for $1.00. Stores on 4th Avenue were having sales, staying open later, and welcoming traffic from the vendors that come from all over Arizona to sell art, crafts, jewelry, etc. Some stores, like High Tech Computers and Hardcore 101, had their own booth in front of their stores.