Mt. Lemmon

At Last, a Short Getaway

Published September 10, 2020 | By Clark Norton

At nearly 9,200 feet, Mt. Lemmon provides a cool respite from Tucson’s summer heat. Photo courtesy of Visit Tucson.

As baby boomers whose ages put us at risk for COVID-19, my wife and I have spent the past few months mostly hunkered down at home — a sad but prudent fate for this travel writer itching to confront his bucket list without literally kicking it.

While the fact that Tucson’s temperatures have topped 100 degrees most of the summer has made hibernation somewhat easier, the pandemic has made it difficult to escape that very heat — so that’s been kind of a wash.

But recently — as our contributing writer Robert Waite suggested in a post on this site back in the spring — I decided to take some “baby steps” and get out of town for a few days. Hence the Tucson branch of our family headed to a… Continue reading →

Posted in Arizona, Baby boomer travel, Getaways, Tucson, vacation rentals | Tagged Arizona travel, Mt. Lemmon, Summerhaven Arizona, Tucson travel, Visit Tucson | 3 Comments

Spring in Tucson: Desert in Bloom

Published March 1, 2018 | By Clark Norton

The desert in bloom viewed along Tucson’s Agua Caliente Hill trail.

We’ve finally had a touch of winter here in Tucson, where temperatures reached into the high 80s in early February and it felt like summer back east.

At the end of February, while cooling rains pelted the parched city, snow fell atop 9,147-foot Mt. Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains just north of Tucson. Mt Lemmon is the site of the southernmost ski area in the United States. (Temperatures at the summit can turn 30 degrees colder than those in the city, which sits some 7,000 feet below.)

That’s good news for Tucson hikers and anyone who values the surprisingly rich life of the desert. With refreshing spring rains, dry creek beds turn into gushing waterfalls, wildflowers bloom and hikers and picnickers flock to newly lush surroundings.

As I write in my book 100 Things to Do in Tucson Before… Continue reading →

Posted in Arizona, Baby boomer travel, Hiking, Tucson | Tagged Arizona, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, hiking in Tucson, Mt. Lemmon, Sabino Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Sonora Desert, Southwest Discoveries, Tucson, Tucson hikes | 2 Comments

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.