about Tucson

Tucson is situated in Southern Arizona, 60 miles from Mexico and 425 miles from San Diego on the Southern Californian coast. Tucson lies in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, which takes in Phoenix 100 miles to the North and parts of Northern Mexico. This is the only desert where the giant Saguaro cactus grows, as well as barrel cactus, ocotillo and cholla which are all seen in abundance throughout the city; as well as a huge variety of trees many which are not native to this area. It’s population of 1 million is about the same as the population of Devon, held within an area no more than 20 miles in diameter.

“Tucson, too SAHN or TOO sahn, is one of the oldest towns in the United States. Tucson was originally an Indian village called Stook-zone, meaning water at the foot of Black Mountain. Hugo O'Conor established the Tucson Presidio in 1775. August 20th, 1775 is considered Tucson's birthday. Spanish settlers arrived in the area in 1776. Tucson officially became part of the United States with the Gadsden Purchase of 1854. Tucson served as capital of the Arizona Territory from 1867 to 1877”. (taken from City of Tucson’s website at www.tucsonaz.gov)

Tucson's rich cultural heritage centres around a unique blend of Native American, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American influences. In terms of population figures, there are approximately 2/3rds Whites to the a third of Hispanic/Latinos (plus other races).

There is a lot of Spanish spoken in the City and a lot of signs and public information are bilingual, written in English and Spanish. South Tucson is really an Hispanic area where Spanish is spoken and the vast majority of the stores and business are Hispanic – good for Mexican food.

The City is laid out on a grid system, like most modern US cities, with major road intersections every mile. Roads go North - South or East – West and navigation is often via the mountain range seen ahead of you. The Tucson Mountains are in the West (similar height to Snowdon) Santa Rita range in the South, 9.453 feet and home of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, the Rincons are in the East and the Santa Catalina mountains in the North where the top of Mount Lemon 9157 feet is 1 hours drive from the city. Tucson itself has a height of 2,300 feet.

The major roads have 2, (sometimes 3) lanes in each direction, many have underused bicycle lanes. The urban population lives in between these major roads in ranch houses, like our bungalows. The urban streets are very dark at night due to the cities black sky’s policy to aid observation of the heavens.