Southwestern RV Trip – Day 29, Saguaro NP & Inca's

The temps were a little below freezing when I got up and the predicted cool temps scared us off of our planned trip to Tubac to attend the Arts Festival and the closed road due to snow cancelled my backup plan of driving up to Mt. Lemmon.  So it was on to plan C with a drive thru the Saguaro NP and late lunch at Inca’s Peruvian Restaurant.

The Saguaro NP has a west and east portion and we chose the east because it was closer and had an eight mile loop road that was paved – I love using my Senior Pass to get in.  We stopped at the Visitors Center and snapped a few shots – the Saguero with Bev is 102 years old and they had a labeled version of each of the desert plants around the center.

I like the pictures with the Santa Catalina Mountains in the back and I assume the highest snow covered one is Mt Lemmon at 9157 feet tall.

Two of my biggest surprises have been the mountains in the area and the amount of plant life in the desert (I was expecting it to be more Sahara-like) and the many varieties – many look like they are about to bloom.

This guy was full of bird holes.

This guy didn’t know which way was up.

The classic look.

It’s a good thing the NP was established as homes have arrived at its edges.

In addition to the loop road, the park contains several hiking trails and a picnic area.  I think the Saguero must be like snowflakes with no two alike.

After the drive I could imagine that the entire Tucson area looked just like the park before the Europeans arrived.

From the National Park, we made a 25 minute drive further north and west to Inca’s Peruvian Cuisine which I had seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and wanted to try.

We arrived at our usual mid afternoon time to our preferred empty restaurant where we got outstanding service from our Peruvian born server (she was also the Maitre D’ and bartender).  She explained that the menu contained authentic Peruvian dishes but theirs were a little more tasty and that most of the ingredients were imported from Peru.

We began with some Peruvian cocktails for the girls, but Mexican was as close as I could get for beer.  Bev had a Pisco Sour Maracuya and Pat had this Pisco Sunrise.

The meal began with some highly salted roasted Peruvian corn which reminded me a little of corn nuts.  Bev ordered one of the dishes prepared for Guy Fieri when he visited: Seco de Carne Con Frejoles - 8 oz.Tender cuts of beef braised in a cilantro and Peruvian sauce. Served with canary beans and jasmine rice - 16.99

Pat had the Carapulcra - Dehydrated potato (papa seca) casserole cooked with beef chicken and pork seasoned with a blend of Peruvian spices. Served with jasmine rice - 14.99

And I had Ceviche Mixto - Fresh white fish with an assortment of seafood marinated in lime juice and Peruvian rocoto pepper. Served with yam and Peruvian corn. (Request mild or spicy) - 16.99

We all enjoyed our meals but the girls thought theirs needed salt but since there was none on the table, we decided we should eat it as served.  The Ceviche was very different than what I had got at the Sonora Market (which was swimming in a red sauce) and I’ve decided I need to learn to make it as it is very good and very healthy.  I do not recommend the Peruvian corn, other than toasted and we all decided we didn’t need to move to Peru for the food, but glad we gave it a try – it’s hard to compete with good southern USA cookin.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

2/7/19 event date