I didn’t sleep too well our first night despite being up since 5:00 the previous morning. Nevertheless, we needed to get started on a pretty long travel day to Tucson. Before we could leave Phoenix, though, we had to visit a site dear to Jeff’s childhood.

Alice Hyatt broke down with her son Tommy while looking to start a new life and ended up at Mel’s Diner. All we were looking for was breakfast. Jeff has fond memories of watching Alice at his Granny’s house and owns every season plus the defunct series Flo. I even have an apron that says “Kiss my grits!”

We believe the real diner predates the TV show, as the interior was never redone to capitalize on its fame. It had basic diner fare, and we got omelettes and home fries. Jeff had fun with the kids’ menu and his favorite green crayon while we waited. Each of the three waitresses helped us out, and I kept thinking they were the real life Flo, Vera, and Alice. The oldest of them even had an up-do and handkerchief around her neck to add to my fantasy. And when F.S. showed a lack of manners by calling out, “Hey!” to get her attention instead of “Excuse me,” another waitress playfully called him out on it like Alice would have done.

Our itinerary had us going through the Sonora Desert National Monument and Ironwood Forest National Monument. I expected there to be visitor centers for both of these with activities, but it turned out to they were more conservation designations than destinations. This allowed us more time to spend at Saguaro National Park.

The city of Tucson splits the park into two divisions, East and West. We entered the western half and let F.S. browse the gift shop while Jeff got a stamp for our national park passport and found an ornament for our travel Christmas tree. Of course, being a nine-year-old, F.S. spent over $20.00 of his allotment in under five minutes on doodads. With my health, we couldn’t do any actual hiking, but we did the scenic loop drive and took pictures at the various pullouts. About halfway around, we stopped for a picnic lunch where F.S. inhaled his sandwich so he could get back to his tablet games. I was afraid he would be glued to a screen the entire trip, but the more we saw, the more he wanted to take pictures. I think part of that was so he could be more like us so we would like him more. It’ll be a while, I think, before he believes we like him just as he is.

There was a short nature trail that was paved and flat enough for me to walk with my cane, and F.S. ran from one view to the next, with some funny comments thrown in with all the hyperactivity. We had been discussing some “knucklehead” moves made by some national park visitors as I advised him not to touch any cacti. So when we saw a cactus that had fallen on its side by the trail, he said,”There’s a good seat — if you’re a knucklehead!”

After watching another spectacular sunset, we started through the mountains and were struck by the beauty of the lights of Tucson shining in the valley as we topped a final rise in the road. We had intended to eat at a top diner in Tucson, “Lindy’s on 4th.” However, it was in a crowded downtown college student area with zero parking. So we turned ourselves around and hit up the first In-N-Out we came upon for some pretty good but basic burgers, fries, and shakes — and came out of it much better off for saving the money.

Then it was on to our hotel for the next couple of days, the Spring Hill Suites Tucson at the Bridge, or as we came to call it, Hotel We Love. We were all amazed at how nice this place was for the price we were paying. F.S. could even watch his never-ending YouTube videos with captions while Jeff and I put on eye masks and passed out.