It was a busy yet active day again. SteveT and I drove to Tuscon late in the morning for a hike, some beer, and new food. We weren't on any time restraints, but we settled to meet at 10am. That seems to be a good time for both Steve and me to get our dogs walked and our personal effects in order before driving off.
This means the usual doggie duties: walking the stay-behind front yard dogs for a few miles before I tether them up during my absence. I was up by 6am, just after sunrise, to walk Wolfie and Gretchen. Hansel and Gretchen got a block around the 'hood since Hansel was going with me and Sweetie is fine with short sniffers (slow walks to sniff her environment).
The overcast skies initially forecasted for Tucson had dissipated by the time we got into town. We started our three-mile hike in the Sweetwater Preserve at 12:15pm. A Pima County sheriff's deputy SUV was parked in the parking lot, having me wonder if the presence was to deter recent vehicular break-ins.
It was 84F as we started our desert hike, following the same route as before using sections of the following trails: Saguaro Vista, Broken Arrow, The Spine, Oxbow, Desperado, then descending back into the parking lot from the south, forming a loop . The trails are color-coded and well-marked. This three-mile route was as much as we wanted to force on our dogs. It was a short loop with only the eastern section being a little longer than before for some variety. Saguaros and chollas and barrel cactus crowd the trails here, and high-end homes dot the higher ridges.
One of these cooler days I'm going to walk the nine-mile perimeter that includes the Black Rock trail. The trails are wide and are ideal for dogs and mountain bikers, although loose rocks do litter the paths. the lack of shade trees, however, dictate this to be best an early-morning hike, or a hike for cooler, overcast skies.
The heat slowed us down. This would be an easy hour-long hike, but we took almost twice as long to finish this as we had to take shade breaks for us and the dogs.
The next thing on the agenda was stopping at the Pit for lunch, but Google Maps said the place was closed until 4pm. Had the hours changed since yesterday, when I checked? We then decided to drive toward the Pit and stop anywhere promising along the way. There are plenty of good Mexican places along the way.
That place turned out to be El Sur, a casual Mexican restaurant on 22nd Street with a dog-friendly patio. This turned out to be a very satisfying and affordable meal with fast, friendly service. A cheese quesadilla and a chicken mole platter with rice and beans was only $17 for each of us. I was so stuffed afterwards, I never ate anything else the rest of the day.
Now it was on to Borderlands Brewing, a brewpub that has creeped up on my personal list of top five breweries in Tucson because of its downtown location, dog-friendly patio and varied beer styles besides IPAs. I favor wheat beers and they brew some good ones. Borderlands has Waggin' Wednesdays every Wednesday all day. Bring your dog and get the first pint of beer half-off Dogs can even sip some Woofbeer, a beef-broth based drink flavored with carrots and other veggies. Hansel didn't care for the Woofbeer, but Trace liked it.
I had my Prickly Pear Wheat and my Mango wheat as we sat on the comfy couch. It was late afternoon and not very busy at all.
We drove east on 22nd Street as we started our drive back to Sierra Vista, but on the way we did stop at the Pit at sunset. The Pit was once a gas station, but it's now a food truck market with ten varied food trucks. What was once the little cashier and store of the gas station is now the beer store where the owner hangs out. He sells a variety of craft beer at decent prices. People sit under the old canopy to eat. Only six food trucks were open. I bought a beef schwarma from the Mediterranean truck to have for tomorrow. We stayed a bit to chat with a few people, but then drove home. We both agreed that we should stop by the Pit on future trips into Tucson.
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