For people traveling through the Sonoran desert, the heat may prove to be challenging, but relief is merely a short jaunt away. Within an hour from the center of the city, you can be up to 8000 feet in elevation, surrounded by pine trees and all the greenery you desire. A drive or bike ride up the winding Catalina Highway is great.
For skiers, Mt Lemmon is a popular ski area with quaint village nearby for food and drinks. The range to the southeast, the Rincons, is also good for camping and hiking, and there are numerous archeology sites of old Indian villages; you'll stumble across old adobe remains and ancient tools pretty often. The largest peak in the area is also in the Rincon range (Mt. Wrightson).
After wandering around the desert and avoiding the cacti, I'd recommend an awesome meal at one of these places:
Nonie (Grant Road and Tucson Blvd.) which specializes in Cajun/Creole cuisine or Maya Quetzal (4th Ave.). Mexican food is abundant, and Maya Quetzal is delicious.
4th Ave. is close to the University of Arizona, so there are numerous pubs and music venues. A good place for blues is the Boondocks (1st Ave. and Ft. Lowell) and Club Congress in the historic Hotel Congress always has some maniacal but great band playing.
A perfect margarita can always be found at The Shanty (4th Ave.), or for the more decadent traveler, go to Chuey's (River and Campbell) and sit outside with a cheap pitcher of margaritas, and watch the dust settle on the completely dry Rilluto river. It's the desert, after all.
And the most important activity of desert life: relax. There's something so calming about the Sonoran desert region that it makes you want to just sit and watch a cactus grow thorns.
CURRENT HAPPENINGS:
The folk festival will be in Tucson May 1-2. Admission is free, the music will be great (local musicians and also a couple big names) and there will be workshops, food booths, and vendors selling everything from ethnic stuff to tacky paintings.
One Saturday night of every month, the center street of downtown is closed for Downtown Saturday Night, which is basically an outdoor market with music on every corner.
There is always something to do in Tucson; check out the Tucson Weekly for details.
The best part of this time of year is the massive rain we had last week (the first moisture since December - yikes). There are hidden creeks and waterfalls once you get above 1500 feet, and right now the scenery is lovely and the water is finally flowing again.
Click here for a detailed listing of all the hikes around Tucson.
The month of May is so far quite warm and very dry, and I for one am seeking week-end road trips to higher elevations for relief.
If you are in Tucson, there are several "close" destinations (within a solid half-day drive). Sedona, a quaint but touristy town, is nestled within an awesome landscape of red-rock formations and there are friendly andeccentric folks living there or traveling through.
Also, the town of Prescott is great for a visit and has an interesting mix of conservative retirees and college forestry students, and the Prescott National forest is a gorgeous mix of desert and pine trees and is known as "high desert".
And, of course, the Grand Canyon is a must, and ideally would recommend a week-long packing trip into the canyon.
A local cultural attraction which is located a few miles south of Tucson is an old mission built when the first Jesuit missionaries arrived in the area. Although the San Xavier Mission is covered in the metaphorical blood of histories genocides, it is a beautiful display of architecture and is one of the last vestiges of the past in a quickly developing desert.
