My partner and I took this past Thursday and Friday (2/11-2/12/2021) off from work and did a road trip of southern Arizona, and we spent 2 nights in Tucson, a city we've never been to before. We enjoyed ourselves. I've been wanting to go there since 2019, when I found out that Tucson is the first US city to be named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, and only one of 2 cities in the US with that distinction (the other being San Antonio, TX); I thought to myself 'OK I HAVE to go to Tucson now' because I LOVE food. I think Tucson is an underrated city. Actually, to take it a step further, I think Tucson is an
unappreciated city. It has a charm and character to it that I feel Phoenix lacks (no offense to people from Phoenix).
So, here are some pics...
A bridge near our hotel.
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This streetcar stop was right on the corner from our hotel.
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Downtown Tucson
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Historic 4th Avenue District
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While in Tucson, we ate at three restaurants that are certified by the City of Tucson as official Tucson UNESCO Restaurants of Gastronomy.
Our first.
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These ladies were GEMS. :sly::uhh::sly:
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For a cocktail, I had the Pineapple Express.
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Here it is. It was pretty good. I actually had two of them...
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Tucson has a big authentic Sonoran cuisine scene, so I thought I'd go that route. This is cesina with a flour tortilla for an appetizer. Flour tortillas are huge in Sonoran culture.
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And of course you can put different salsas on your cesina.
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I got two different kinds of tacos; to be honest with you I don't remember what I got. :P At this point I was already working on my 3rd cocktail.
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This is my 4th cocktail. On the menu it's called Raspado de Mezcal. It was really really good.
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Me in the restroom. I was feeling really good.
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Riding the streetcar to...
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...West University Neigborhood
The West University area is, well, immediately west of the University of Arizona.
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Western Gate of the University of Arizona.
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After walking around, we thought we'd get some tea.
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These guys' outfits made me chuckle. What's with the stretch pants and wallabees combo?
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Back to the hotel...
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Uh, is *he* getting on the streetcar too?
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Breakfast burrito from our 2nd certified Restaurant of Gastronomy. It was pretty yummy.
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Barrio Viejo
This is my favorite area of Tucson.
El Tiradito, or the Wishing Shrine.
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Barrio Viejo was much bigger than it is now, but basically half of the neighborhood was demolished to create the Tucson Convention Center; in fact, like other American cities, much of old Tucson was destroyed for so-called urban renewal projects in the 1960s and 1970s; freeway construction also destroyed old neighborhoods. It's a shame, too; Barrio Viejo's built environment is unique to American cities; it basically looks like it could be in Sonora, Mexico. But of course these adobe structures weren't valued back then; it's kind of like an ethnic cleansing of sorts, architecturally... plus, this neighborhood was full of low-income Mexican-Americans. Visiting it now, it's a mix of deteriorating abandoned adobe structures, and refurbished ones, and ones that are in the process of being refurbished/restored. As result, there's a bit of gentrification going on. Some years ago, actress Diane Keaton bought a 19th Century adobe and fixed it up, using some non-historic features, and last year she was selling it for a couple million dollars or something like that.
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The adobe house that Diane Keaton bought and refurbished. I don't know if she owns it anymore.
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What it looked like in 2008, per Google Street View.
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What it looked like in 2015, per Google Street View. Here you can actually see the adobe bricks.
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Looks like they kept this part of the adobe bricks exposed.
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Can you tell I like Barrio Viejo or what?
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Mission San Xavier del Bac
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Again, you see some funny outfits in this part of the US.
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Saguaro National Park
Saguaros. And ancient petroglyphs, which my partner and I are really into.
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We noticed that we see a lot more American cars in Arizona than we do in LA.
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Our third certified Restaurant of Gastronomy. Lunch time.
I love when Mexican restaurants serve real chips they fried themselves versus the bagged stuff.
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Cocktail.
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I had a chile relleno.
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My partner had the Mexican migas.
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2nd cocktail.
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I totally recommend a visit to Tucson. :)