It was a great day today with temps near 80 so I headed to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I have heard a lot of good things about the museum so I had to visit it. It isn't a museum in the normal sense. It is more of a living zoo where walk along paths in the desert and they have animal, plant and nature displays.
You get to see everything from snakes and reptiles to otters and hummingbirds. Who would have thought that there are otters and beavers in the desert. Throughout your walk they have interpretive guides to tell you about different things you see. More than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants live within the museum
One of the most interesting things to me was the hummingbird aviary. You are able to walk right inside the aviary to get up close to the hummingbirds. There were many hummingbirds scurrying here and there and I was able to view one nesting and another as it was building a nest.
Even the drive to the museum was great. The winding road took you through part of the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The narrow two lane paved road winds and dips its way past the dense desert landscape. When the road was built the land was not leveled so in places it's like riding a roller coaster as the cactus whiz by your window. Awesome!
The museum is super clean and well laid out. Most of it is handicap accessible and there are benches liberally scattered along the paths if you need to rest. This is a must see attraction and is worth driving out of your way if you are close to the area.
You can view more photos of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in the photo gallery.