Trip to Tucson

[cactusjack]

Toophun and I decided today would be a great day to ride to Tucson. We left Chandler about 08:00 AM, and headed south on Hwy 87. Once we got to Florence, AZ we took the always delightful Pinal-Pioneer Parkway (Hwy 79) south to Oracle Jct. At Oracle Jct, we took Oracle Rd (Hwy 77) into Tucson. Even though temps were in the high 30's/low 40's when we left home, the day warmed up nicely. After a good lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Tucson, we rode to Mission San Xavier del Bac, a Catholic church built over 200 years ago, located about 10 miles south of Tucson on I-19, it's about 55 miles N of the border town of Nogales. The building is very ornate, with lots of carvings and paintings. The exterior walls are about 2 feet thick. Here are some photos I took of the mission:



The building sits right out in the middle of the desert and can be seen from quite a distance:


Just inside the entrance and to the left is the baptism font. The door to the baptism room is maybe 5' high.


Taken from just inside the front door, looking toward the altar:


Looking upward into the rotunda:


Some of the very ornate carvings and decorations in the chapel:


The front facade of the mission also has very ornate stone carvings:


If you are interested in seeing more pictures (48 in all), click this link: http://s951.photobucket.com/albums/a..._1/18/?start=0

One more thing I thought was interesting - I-19 runs from Tucson to the Mexican border. The mileage signs are all in meters/kilometers, not in miles.