Today we departed Patagonia and made our way to Tucson but not before driving through Nogales, a fascinating town that is split in half by the Mexican-American border. It was interesting to see a physical wall separating the two sides and reading about how it used to flourish as a bilingual town where going over the border was as simple as walking across the street.

Our second stop was the Mission of San Cayetano de Tumacácori, a National Park Historic Site. It was founded in 1691 and is being excavated and restored as a part of the National Park Service system. We ate delicious fresh tortillas with beans and salsa and visited the mission church and gardens before continuing on to Tucson. 

Once in Tucson, we stopped for lunch at a cool place called Mercado San Agustin (MSA) Annex with lots of different options, enjoying sushi, yogurt, coffee, and more outside in the gorgeous weather. After lunch we went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, seeing everything from cacti to hummingbirds. It was fun walking around the outdoor museum, encountering an art exhibit of desert paintings, an aviary and a hummingbird enclosure, an aquarium and reptile zoo, and even sections about bees or butterflies on the way.

We drove to Phoenix later that afternoon, checking into the hotel before enjoying dressing up for a delicious (and quite fancy) dinner at the Golden Pineapple. We might have gone to bed late but we are ready and excited for our last full day in the Southwest!

Love from Phoenix,
Michaela (and the rest of the Southwest group)