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?

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.

Every year, twice a year, the 4th Avenue Street Fair merchants set up their tents all along 4th Avenue between 9th Street and University Boulevard. It has become a Tucson staple and each year and we, along with 200,000 to 350,000 other people, trek downtown to see what’s new. Parking is a bit tricky as you often find yourself parking quite a ways from actual festivities or paying as much as ten dollars to park close.

When my husband and I heard that JFK Park, located at 3700 S. Mission Road, had a lake, swimming pool, sports fields, multiple playgrounds, and a library, we were there the next day. After all, we had spent the last 10 winters huddled inside next to a heater back in Upstate New York, so it’s still kind of novel for us to be outside longer than 5 minutes in December.

Officially “A” mountain is called Sentinel Peak. It was only in 1915 that enthusiastic fans of the University of Arizona’s football team made there way to the peak of the mountain to party after a victory win. They celebrated by whitewashing a large “A” in red, white and blue at the top of the mountain, and the structure has been kept up ever since. And now, it’s considered almost a Tucson institution.

The Tucson Bonsai Society was having one of their annual shows in the Foothills Mall, so after getting up to Ina Road in the foothills, it was about a ten minute drive east to get to La Cholla Boulevard. It was a nice, quiet way to spend a Sunday morning, we found. There was plenty of information to be had on information cards next to each tree on display, and also more than just the trees, such as interesting little accent plants and grasses that were arranged to complement their bigger (in relative terms anyway) verdant cousins.

In conjunction with the Denny’s Allnighter program, Taking Back Sunday will be hosting a FREE after party at Denny’s immediately following their show Sunday night at the Rialto Theatre!

Don’t have tickets to the show? That’s okay - everyone is welcome to hit up the after party! Just head to Denny’s where the band will be on hand to sign autographs, take photos and hang out while chowing down.