Over The Bridges and Through The Woods To Tucson's Snake Bridge We Go: One of the best family bike rides in Tucson!

Tucson is listed as one of the friendliest bicycling communities in the state of Arizona! The city has many bike paths that will take you from downtown all the way out east toward Houghton Road and beyond.

I've riden on many of the paths and fared well - but I am not ready to take my 8 year old out and "mix it up "with traffic not to mention all the starting and stopping at traffic lights we'd come across!

Last weekend, we decided to try out the City of Tucson's Aviation Parkway Bike Route which goes from Craycroft Road all the way to downtown Tucson, Arizona! It was fantastic and I highly recommend it to everyone wanting to go on a wonderful family bike ride!

Just drive down to Golf Links and Craycroft Road and leave your car at the city park (where the kids can play after the ride!). The bike path begins right there, just south of the first baseball field - jump on the paved path and start heading west!

Not only will the kids love being able to race ahead of you - you will be comfortable letting them go because there are no cars and you can see them way ahead of you.

You'll come across a few places where you will have dismount and walk your bikes across a street using the pedestrian walkway - but by then, the kids will welcome a little break!

Mostly what you will see along the way are cool bridges -- you'll get to ride on a wooden bridge, an artistic, brick paved bridge and you'll pass the Stars and Stripes bridge.

But the best ever is that you and the kids get to ride through the most famous Tucson bridge of all -

Tucson's Rattlesnake Bridge -

where no car has ever been or ever will be - and it's also the bridge that takes you right into downtown Tucson!

Here is Tucson's Snake Bride slithering across Broadway Street....

..and the rattlesnake tail -- the point you enter to cross the bridge! Below is my husband and daughter coming out of the mouth!

All along the paved path, including out of the snake mouth, there are plenty of places to sit and rest along with lots of trees and shrubs that provide shade and scenery. But you might want to save your break and take it just out of the snake mouth because the kids will want to ride in and out of the snake - over and over and over again!

If you get hungry, downtown Tucson is host to many sandwich shops, including Bison and Witches, or the Eclectic Cafe and The Chocolate Iguana, a coffee/pastry shop. Otherwise, turn around and cycle back in the same direction you came because you can always have a picnic lunch at the park at the end of the ride!

Round-trip, riding to the Tucson Snake is about 12 miles - it's flat, the road is paved, it's the easiest and safest family bike ride I've experienced! We are going back for a second ride this weekend - hope to see you there!

Copyright Gabrielle (Kamahele) Rhind, protected by COPYSCAPE 2008. If you want to reprint parts of this - just email me for my permission rhindohana@msn.com . Buying or selling Tucson Real Estate? Click info@gabriellerhind.com and let me know how I can help you!