First things first, and the most important first thing is food. Our breakfast is included with the room. We eat lunch out, then have salad and sandwich for dinner. We thought we had everything solved yesterday, until we got to the end of dinner and had nothing for desert. The hotel has a snack shop, but that’s not the kind of desert we wanted. So first thing this morning, we went to the bakery around the corner and got a couple of treats for after dinner, It was just right.

We stayed within walking distance of our hotel today. Our first stop was the Presidio, a Spanish fort. The adobe fort is long gone. But the locals dedicated a sizeable area where the fort used to be. The built a very effective re-creation. We thought we would get a docent tour, but the docent called in. That turned out to be fine. A school group of 50 or so kids was there, along with a full complement of reenactors. We got to read the “adult” posters we wanted to read, hear many if the interesting presentations, and enjoy the energy of 50 kids running around in somewhat organized outdoor activities.

For lunch, we were lucky to hear about the El Charro Cafe. This restaurant has been owned by the same family for over 100 years. They claim they invented the chimichanga when a cook accidentally dropped a burrito in the fryer. The cook cursed, but found the result was surprisingly quite tasty, They couldn’t sell a dish named after a cuss word, so they changed it slightly and came up with “chimichanga”. Best of all, the restaurant was only two blocks down the street. How could we not have chimichangas for lunch? If you look closely, you will see Danita is sitting in Senator John McCain’s chair.

In the afternoon, we visited the University of Arizona’s gem and mineral museum. This is the best such museum we have ever visited, including the Smithsonian. It is one of only three museums with a moon rock on exhibit. The moon rock doesn’t look like much, but it illustrates the level of quality of this collection.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.