Travel Adventures in Arizona and New Mexico, Part 3: Tucson

This is my third post about our adventures traveling through Arizona and New Mexico. I recommend reading the first and second posts before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I was given media rates, complimentary admission tickets, discounts, and other benefits for some of the places we visited throughout the trip. Other attractions we toured are free to everyone, and we paid full price for the rest. This has no bearing on my reviews. Everything that I share is something I whole-heartedly recommend.

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Tucson, Arizona 

After our incredible visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, it's hard to imagine anything could be as awesome. But I'm happy to report that we absolutely loved our visit to our next destination: Saguaro National Park. Specifically, Saguaro West. 

Saguaro National Park is made up of two distinct districts, 30 miles apart, separated by the city of Tucson. The Tucson Mountain District (West) features dense saguaro forests and flatter terrain. The Rincon Mountain District (East) is more rugged, is at a higher elevation, and offers more backcountry options. One $25 pass gives you admission to both districts for seven days. The Visitor Center for Saguaro West is only 2.5 miles from Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, so it was the perfect place for us to go next. 

We watched the park film and enjoyed the exhibits at the Red Hills Visitor Center, then set off to explore the park. We did the Bajada Loop Drive and took several short hikes. We carried lots of water and put my UV-protecting umbrella (affiliate link) to good use. 

 

  

  

Saguaro National Park is absolutely stunning. I've never seen anything like it. We enjoyed every minute.  

It was such a delight to come across cacti in bloom.

We spent about three hours at Saguaro West. We could have easily spent more time there if: A) it was a cooler day; and B) we hadn't just spent five hours (most of it outdoors) at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. That said, I feel like we got a good overview of the park and experienced the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert. 

Since we had driven to Saguaro from the south, we drove back toward downtown Tucson via the north. It wasn't quite as beautiful, but it allowed us to see something new. It's amazing how quickly the landscape changes from one biome to the next. 

We went to the Fourth Avenue District, where we enjoyed the vibrant city and abundant public art. The University of Arizona is nearby and we saw many college students strolling with friends, popping into shops, or grabbing a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants and cafes in the area. Our destination? Boca. 

Boca is owned by Chef Maria Mazon. Back in September 2024, we were in the studio audience at Tournament of Champions VI when she competed against Chef Antonia Lofaso, the #1 seed who would go on to win the entire tournament. We weren't familiar with Maria Mazon before watching the competition, but were impressed with her skills and interested in trying her food. We decided that if we were ever in Tucson, we'd visit her restaurant. Since then, we've seen her compete in other Food Network competitions, so it was especially exciting to visit Boca. 

Boca is a casual restaurant, the kind of local place where everyone knows your name. It was apparent that almost everyone else there was a regular. We ordered chips and salsa, three tacos (Vampiro, Asada, and Al Pastor), and a Boca Ball to split. 

The chips came with six unique salsas. 

The food was excellent. We both enjoyed the Vampiro taco the most. The waitress talked us into dessert nachos, which sounded delicious. They were, but they were also really rich, and it ended up being too much food for us to finish. 

Towards the end of the meal, we were delighted to see Chef Maria and asked to take a photo with her. She was as nice as could be. 

After a very full day, we returned to our home away from home, the Leo Kent. We had another packed day ahead. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.