Tucson, Arizona -- and other interesting things

A friend I met during a Road Scholar trip several years ago told me about this RV resort in Tucson and it sounded so interesting that I had to go and spend a little time there to see if I might not actually go there for a month or more during the cold winter months. This years visit was what I call an exploratory adventure. 
The Voyager RV Resort is rated number one by at least one rating agency and it does indeed seem to be a very well run establishment. It is made up of Permanent mobile homes and casitas; these are smaller mobile homes - one bedroom, bath and kitchen/living room with a pull in carport and a covered patio where one can sit and watch the world go by. The rest of the place is  open area for those land yachts to pull in and spend weeks or months on a pad and when the weather or the mood strikes, off they go to other adventures.
In addition to the living facilities the resort offers a multitude of activities to busy oneself during the day and evening. There is an onsite restaurant and bar --with lots of meet and greet activities and football parties. Then for the physically active there is pickleball, tennis, swimming aerobics, fitness room lots of varying exercise classes. Lots of folks ride bikes here, but if you are in to that, you have to bring your own. Other activities are crafts galore, including jewelry and silversmithing, woodworking, ceramics, several discussion groups, card and domino events and pool shooting for those interested. 
It all sounded great, but since I was staying only a week I found that it was hard to enjoy the activities since most were offered on a 4 or 6 week continuing series basis. Hardly worthwhile for a person staying only one week. So, while there was a lot to be enjoyed, I somehow didn't get the full benefit of it. I did spend the week enjoying all the sites that Tucson and the surrounding area had to offer and so you will be hearing no complaints from me. My little casita was very comfortable and private and allowed me to prepare most of the meals easily in the fully furnished kitchen.

I enjoyed a visit to the Colossal Cave which is  just east of Tucson and the tour was very informative. It is one of the few caves that has a constant temperature of 70 degrees -- I found that to be unusual, since all the other ones I have visited are usually somewhere around 40 or so.

The Sonora Desert Museum is a must see stop in Tucson, if you see nothing else. It is a walkable loop botanical garden - zoo and at each turn you see something else that is just amazing. There were animals which included fox, coyote, javalina, a variety of snakes, 2 separate bird aviaries and lots of cacti. They offered tours and videos as well so one could easily spend an entire day there, but I had other ideas. I timed my visit in mid morning so that I could escape and enjoy lunch at what may be the best Mexican restaurant in Tucson. 

On my other days of exploring I went to Sabino Canyon for a tour and hiking. It was one of the highlights of trip and I also spent an afternoon hiking with friends in the Sagauro National Park West on a five mile loop trail, which was also very nice, but it seemed longer and there were moments that we all thought somewhere along the way we must have made a wrong turn and were assuredly lost. But, in fact, we were always on the trail and really appreciated finding the end. While I saw a lot while I was there, I left quite a few things for perhaps another trip --the Pima air museum, Tombstone and several other interesting places.

Here are the photos

The best Mexican Restaurant that I found while in Tucson was Cafe Poca Cosa located at 110mEast Pennington Street, Tucson, Az. i actually went there three times. The first to discover

 Here I learned that each day the menu is created not once but twice. Generally 2 or 3 chicken dishes 2 beef dishes one fish and one vegetarian. Then you may notice that the bottom of the menu has a selection that is larger that the rest. This allows you to sample three of the chefs choice on one dish. I opted for the chefs choice twice out of my three visits and each meal was superb. The food was so good that I had to stop between bites and just savor the wonderful flavors.

On my first choice I got a cod fish sample in a robust clear sauce, a shredded beef dish and the vegetarian selection of the day. They were all fabulous -- oh you also get a great salsa and chips beans that alone would make a great meal, rice and tortillas. The beer was extra. Ha!

 On my third and last visit, I stopped for lunch on the Saturday before my early morning flight out the next day. I had just finished a week of volunteering at the Bird Sanctuary near Benson and was ready for some really good food. Charlie was my waiter and the first thing he said was "how are you doing today?" me. "well, not so good my phone has no cell service. I showed it to him and he insisted that I use his phone to call ATT to fix whatever the problem was. It required me to go out of the restaurant so I could hear the technician. Well, five minutes later I was all connected and happy as a clam. That is why he is standing there telling me about the menu with his Iphone in his hand. I was really happy to have my phone back in working order. It was a really good thing too, because, little did I know at the time that when I finished my meal I would find my rental car had a flat tire and I would REALLY need a phone.

Alls well that ends well. The flat was fixed in less than an hour and I went back to my hotel one happy camper!

Delta Rivers Nature Center, Pine Bluff, Arkansas

My three day camping trip to Cane Creek State Park was cut short by some severe thunderstorms. In my younger days that might have upset me, but I had learned to always have an alternate plan b or c in my back pocket for those times when the planned schedule doesn't work out quite the way I planned.

On this trip I knew I would be passing through Pine Bluff as well as Little Rock and so, I picked some interesting places to see just in case I found myself moseying  through either of these cities. My first stop was the Delta Rivers Nature Center .  While I thought this would be one of those 'usual' nature centers, I found it to be beyond very enjoyable.  It has a nice little nature trail that loops around the property and while strolling I came eyeball to eyeball with a very tame looking deer.  She paused just long enough for me to take her picture and then high-tailed it..literally and figuratively. Since we have all seen deer before, I opted not to post the shot.

After the trail I went inside to see what they had to offer and the first thing I found was this really neat film about the delta region taken from an airplane.  What made it really special was that the seating area was built to create the feeling that the audience was actually sitting in a prop-propeller airplane and viewing the film from above.  Pretty neat.  Not 3D, but still pretty cool!

Of course they had the expected snakes...this one I think is a timber rattlesnake, big enough to make me pay attention.

OK, here is the part that I thought was the absolute best.  Just outside the nature center building but still under a roof, was this aquarium.  Not your regular sea aquarium, but one of the native species of fish that can be found here in Arkansas.  Sadly, I did not write down all the names of the unusual fish but I will include the photos I got anyway.  This alone is worth the trip to see this nature center. There were fish here that I had never seen before and I was just mesmerised by some of them.

This catfish was posing for me I think...how could I pass up a shot like that?

After being rained out at Cane Creek, driving to Pine Bluff and enjoying the nature center by the time I got to Little Rock it was time for lunch.  So I also searched for a few places that I might get a meal before I made the trip and it just so happened that I got to The Pantry just as they were opening for the day. This is a cozy little place that would be great for either lunch or dinner.  Their food is all specially prepared...I saw that they had goulash and spaetzle and decided to give it a try.  It was BEYOND fabulous!  They also had some brats and sausages on the menu under an item called street fare...so I got a brat, and a sausage sandwich to go....knowing they too would be delicious (I wasn't wrong)  AND because I was on a roll..I also got an apple strudel to go with creme angliase.  Oh boy, I was eating pretty darn good for quite a while!

It is hard to make goulash look as good as it tastes...but I gave it a try anyway! If you are in the neighborhood, stop by, you will not be disappointed.

Food Adventures on my Florida Trip

I randomly loaded the pictures from the trip and wouldn't you know it, that the most visually attractive one came up first!

This was lunch at the Treviso Restaurant at the Ringling Museum complex. After walking the compound for five hours, I want to tell you, it was fabulous! Great to sit down and then to have this feast for the eyes and belly was wonderful...


This was a wrap from the Horsin' Around Deli deli near to the ECHO farm. One of my co-workers ordered it and it sure looked good


I stopped at an Italian restaurant Primo in Sarasota, the air was filled with garlic so I knew it would be good, it was...but I was really intrigued with the plate. I think at one time I was seriously considering getting dishes similar to this...in retrospect,m I am glad I didn't.


We made a huge pot of steamed clams gotten from a local calm farmer in Cedar Key. They were the best I ever had. Maybe it was the company!


I got a reuben from the Horsin Around Deli, just FAB!

Broasted Chicken at the Island Cafe, Island Lake, Illinois

The other day after our usual bike ride the group stopped at the Island Cafe; they don't have a website so here's the pertinent information about them:
310 East State Road, Island Lake, Illinois (it is just across from Culvers) 847 526 7797 It is almost a standard diner; with all the usual food and lots of it. Why is this one different? Well, they serve Broasted Chicken. On Wednesday, they serve an all you can eat Broasted chicken meal for an incredibly affordable price. Before you go and decide that you are going to try the chicken with thoughts of ordering more...understand that this chicken is cooked to order and it takes 25 minutes to prepare. Order your seconds well before you want them so they are ready when you are. I read somewhere once that it takes 20 minutes to satisfy your appetite, so you should probably order seconds almost immediately upon receiving your first plate. Anyway, I got to thinking about Broasted chicken; which I think is fantastic. I know that it is chicken that is fried under pressure, but that is about all. I discovered it first on a road trip through Pennsylvania; and always stopped there again and again when I was driving through. Sadly, that place has since closed down, but now I have rediscovered it here at the Island cafe. Go there and see if it isn't the best and healthiest fried chicken you've aver had!

Here is some more information that you probably didn't know and may actually have you seeking out a place that serves it. Genuine Broaster Chicken begins with the finest quality chicken, carefully marinated and coated with specially formulated Broaster ingredients. Then, as each order is received, the chicken is placed inside the Broaster Company manufactured pressure fryer, designed to cook each individual piece of chicken "under pressure" in the chicken's own natural juices, limiting the absorption of cooking oil and driving the marinade deep down to the bone while searing the chicken with a golden, crispy-crunchy coating.

Broaster Recipe foods provide all of our popular seasonings, coatings, and flavorful marinades in a full line of high quality foods that are quick frozen for the delicious and distinctive taste that can only be Broaster. It is actually lower in calories and lots lower in fats than your usual fried chicken, see the claims here.

Ok enough, if you want to find a place near you, go here

Here are some shots of the meal. Oh, this diner also makes it's own bread, we got the wheat bread and it was divine!

Chicken and Dumpin soup...homemade...wonderful
All this, plus soup and dessert for less than $9.00. You cannot beat it!
Marlene is one happy camper!

Food on Board the Angelique

I would be remiss to say so much about this trip and not create a separate post about the food. You must keep in mind that the area for food preparation were very small and the cook stove was fueled with kerosene with only three settings low, medium and high...well that would certainly be a challenge for me!
Our chef seemed to outdo herself progressively, each meal seemed to be better than the last and every day we had freshly baked bread and desserts. It was quite an accomplishment in my estimation. View for yourself...

OK, I see I jumped the gun here...this is clam chowder that we had at Cappy's, a restaurant in Camden, Maine. We tried to test all possible choices so we could report to you which place actually served the best chowder in New England...but it was a task bigger than both of us. It was great where ever we had it!
This is a lobster quesadilla that we also had at Cappy's...kind of unusual
The only day we had cold cuts, and a bunch of other nibbles with freshly baked bread
rolls and herb spread to accompany our soup of the day...
Caught her making bread...
Fresh from the ovens

Ahh....brownies...don't need to say anything else
lasagna...fabulous
French toast and Canadian bacon

Salad and stir-fry chicken

Lobster Bake, Burnt island, Maine

The highlight of our sailing trip on Penobscot Bay was the lobster bake. It started with the captain picking up a huge container of live lobsters while at our stop at the Wooden Boat Store. We held them for the night in a container lashed alongside the Angelique in the seawater, then moved them to another container and hooked up a hose to keep them alive until we found the perfect spot to have our picnic.

One of the purposes of an Elderhostel program is education, so we learned a lot about lobsters. We had a naturalist, Barbara, on board to instruct and entertain about the nuances of lobster life...

Here Barbara is transferring the lobsters to a container for the sail to Burnt Island. The container had to have openings to allow fresh seawater to flow over them to keep them alive until it was time to cook.
Barbara and Bud are holding a lobster to demonstrate the parts of a lobster and where the eggs are held.
See, you need a really big tub with a lot of seawater brought to a rolling boil...


Once the water is really hot, transfer the lobsters to the pot...

Cover them with seaweed, to act as a lid and steam the contents.
Once the cooking is finished (about half an hour) the water must be drained out.
The trick here is to keep your toes out of the water!


Create a platform with the seaweed that was used as a lid just moments ago
dump the lobsters very carefully and keep them all on the seaweed platform
Get on line and grab a lobster... (I know you will find this hard to believe, but this lobster is the same one they used as a demonstration one earlier in the post) see the broken claw and same color bands?

All good things come to an end...we helped carry all the stuff back to the boats and rowed to the Angelique and continued our sail. Yes, it was very much like a piece of heaven.

The Red Parrot, Newport, Rhode Island

We made it to Newport, Rhode Island by mid-day and checked into our hotel earlier than I thought they would let us. That gave us lots of time to walk the downtown area. While my breakfast was huge and I thought I would never eat again today…we stopped at a restaurant named The Red Parrot and proceeded to indulge in the best seafood I have had in very many years. I think I have to make a bold statement here. You can ONLY get great seafood in New England. It was excellent. I cheated though; I didn’t want to have only one thing, so I ordered the crab cakes appetizer and a humongous bowl of clam chowder. It’s been at least 15 years since I was up here, so you know I a had a lot of time to make up for!

Here are the shots and I think just by looking, the taste comes smashing through! Chuck had seafood alfredo (shrimps, scallops and crabmeat) it was divine.

I think the crab claw in the middle give the whole dish a very special touch

The seafood alfredo had just the right blend of cream and cheese

Ah...clam chowder. This was worth the trip from anywhere!

Here is a shot of the restaurant, very hard to miss and right in the center of the harber area.