March 6 Friday Tucson

San Xavier del Bac Mission was founded before 1700 with the structure being completed between 1783-97. It is considered an impressive example of spanish mission architecture. We arrived here in time to catch a tour which was highly informative. The church is still functioning and is being restored on an ongoing basis.

Continuing south we headed to see the Titan Missile Museum. Seeing a real missile (even though its' nuclear warhead has been dismantled) is mind blowing because of its size and launch implications. The tour guide took us into the control room and through the launch sequence and the  showed us the missile.  Outside are the first and second stage rockets and in addition you can see the silo door and look into silo to get a top down missile view. On top of one of the rockets was a mother bird guarding her eggs. She just watched the tourists stroll by. 

After lunch we headed downtown Tucson to see the Old Pima County courthouse which was built in 1927. The pretty tiled dome is a downtown landmark.

More walking ensued followed by a drive around the Historic El Presidio district (it was not very special). This was the end of our sight seeing for today.
Our motel was behind the Silver Saddle steakhouse so we decided to walk over for dinner. We have watched this place fill up for the past two nights and figured that was a good recommendation. We had a light dinner there and then walked home to our room.