Great Adventure #2 ... More Signs

Having survived the last adventure ... hey, why not head out on Adventure #2 to the oldest part of Tucson. This town has had several names, depending on which Indian tribe you were speaking to.  The Tohono O'odham called it Schook-Shon, meaning at the foot of black hill.

An early Franciscan monk spelled it Tuquison and later Toixon.  In the middle 1800's, it took on the name of Took Shon.  Eventually it morphed into Tucson ... don't pronounce the C.  Whatever you call it, the old downtown area is worth a visit.

Cyndae's cousin drove down from Phoenix to visit his daughter who just finished her Masters Degree in Nutrition at the University of Arizona.  Cyndae would end her visit with me and return with him, later to drive to California.

How about we all meet up for lunch?  The daughter Lauren picked Cup Cafe at the Hotel Congress.  Built in 1918 in conjunction with the Rialto Theatre, it was named by having a contest whereupon you would win Baby Bonds.  Dorit Dinkel won and so the hotel came into being, mostly because the railroad depot is located right behind it.

I bet you are wondering just what exciting thing happened at the Hotel Congress!  Well here goes ..... in 1934, after a string of bank robberies, the John Dillinger Gang arrived in Tucson to hide out.  A fire accidentally started in the basement and burned all the way up to the third floor where the gang was staying.  

The desk clerk contacted them by phone and luckily they escaped via ladders.  Here's where it all went wrong.  At the request of the gang, the firemen retrieved their luggage, whereupon their true names were discovered and they were all arrested.  After being transferred to a jail in Indiana, John Dillinger was able to escape again, eventually leading to his demise.

On this day however, we arrived at the Cup Cafe at around 1:00.  Here's another tidbit of information you probably didn't know.  Linda Ronstadt lived here for many years.  They have even named the bus transportation center after her.  

She moved to San Francisco some years ago because she didn't like the attitudes of the children HER children were playing with.  She also thought the buildings began to look like Stalinist Russia.  

Arriving at the hotel, we found our wait would be at least an hour.  With not much else open, we got on the waiting list and headed up Fourth Avenue, the site of an annual craft/art fair every year.  I'm sorry for the terrible pictures, but all I had was my phone.  

This is the Hippie Gypsy, full of weird music and bad smelling things.  We kept on walking, but this seemed to be the recurring theme.

This amazing brightly painted spectacular example of a building is the local Goodwill Store.  At this point I'm beginning to agree with Linda Ronstadt.  

We walked along for about 30 minutes before entering a strange little market full of everything organic, weird and well .... not my cup of tea.  I didn't recognize one single brand name there.  Remember Lauren is a master of nutrition!  I'm all about eating healthy, but fermented cabbage is not my thing.

At last we headed back towards the hotel to find our table was ready, or at least WOULD be in another 20 minutes.  We did not go inside, but were seated out on the patio.  They have brunch every day with a varied menu.  

So just what do you order when you are sitting across from a 5'8" gorgeous girl who weighs 98 pounds and is a master of nutrition?  Not this ... this was NOT my plate, but the smoked brisket eggs Benedict did look absolutely amazing!!

SHE of course ordered the cauliflower and corn tacos.  I fell off the wagon with DEEP FRIED fish tacos.  That's healthy, right??

It was delicious and yes, I ate ALL three.  Cyndae had the same thing.  I promise next time I'll order the cauliflower.  

By now it's two hours past the time I needed to leave.  We quickly unpacked Cyndae's stuff and I headed out for home, almost an hour away.  Remember, we were deep in the heart again!!  It really was a fun interesting adventure to downtown.  I'm not sure I will go again if alone but I will definitely go again if I can convince someone to accompany me.

Next up ... it's time for some FOOTBALL!!  I'm running a tad bit behind.