Friday Eats + Hiking in Tucson

I’m in Tucson for a long weekend to celebrate a friend’s wedding, and I thought it would be fun to do a “Friday eats” post with a recap of one of our vacation days. It feels wonderful to be outside in temperatures above 75 degrees, especially hiking – there are so many outdoorsy options in Tucson!

We landed in Phoenix late on Wednesday night, and drove to Tucson on Thursday morning. We spent a lot of time outdoors on Thursday, including a visit to the top of Mt. Lemmon and a 4 mile hike. It’s a gorgeous, one hour drive up to Mt. Lemmon, which stands at over 9,100 feet in elevation.

It was a cloudy day, but still beautiful. We finished a loop hike, including the Aspen Trail. There was a small climb in elevation – according to my Fitbit we climbed 116 flights over 4 miles. The Aspen Trail is located just outside of the small village of Summerhaven.

On Friday morning, we were up bright and early to get ready for a long hike {my body likes to stay on central time apparently – I have been waking up naturally at 4:45 am every day}. I started with an iced coffee from the cafe at our resort. Enjoyed outdoors on our balcony. I love the cacti in the background!

I also had a yogurt parfait from the coffee shop – lightly sweetened vanilla yogurt with berries and granola. I’m usually skeptical of pre-packaged breakfasts like this, but it was really good! Especially because the yogurt was only slightly sweet.

After breakfast, we picked up K’s friend at his hotel and drove to Sabino Canyon for a long hike. The Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is located in Coronado National Forest, only a few minutes outside Tucson. After researching the best hikes in the area, we picked the Seven Falls Trail – an 8.2 mile loop that highlights a tall waterfall and natural pool. The hills were full of majestic cacti – I can’t get enough of the southwest plant life.

I snacked on several handfuls of trail mix by the waterfall before hiking the long route back.

After finishing the hike in about 3.5 hours, we were starving and ready for lunch. We went to Whole Foods for a salad bar fix – I had kale and a quinoa mix with zucchini and sesame ginger dressing. On the side: dolma, falafel, and a hard boiled egg.

I couldn’t leave without a treat: an iced almond milk latte for the road.

Plus a “Jumble Cookie” – basically walnuts and chocolate chips. The best.

After lunch, we ran a few errands and headed back to the resort to relax. I took a short nap + shower and met the rest of our friends at the pool until sunset.

We had a large group dinner on Friday night at Commoner & Co. {6960 E. Sunrise Drive} in Tucson. I highly recommend it if you’re in town – the food was delicious. We shared appetizers, and I had scallops with celery root and parmesan risotto, orange fennel salad, and pumpkin seed pesto.

Not pictured: The insanely good strawberry shortcake ice cream sandwich that we shared for dessert. My stomach regretted those bites of ice cream, but it was worth it!

I’m awake bright and early again for a hike, and the wedding festivities begin late this afternoon. Have a great Saturday!

Have you visited Tucson?