Three weeks in Tucson

Three weeks have gone by and we are all set to leave for home tomorrow morning.

Tucson has been a very different experience from Phoenix. The first week was spent visiting science related places rather than Art museums.

We visited the boneyard one day with a group of folks from the RV camp. No, we did not visit grandma's bones. This "boneyard" also known as the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) is located adjacent to the Davis-Monthan Air Force base. In 150 acres are kept over 250 air crafts in various stages of their life. One could say they have been retired from active duty.






Some of the parts from some of these aircrafts are sometimes refurbished and sent as replacement parts for planes that are currently in service. Some others are sold as scrap to industries that reuse the metal for various uses.
We took a guided bus tour - the only way to do it as of course they don't wish us to be wandering around this facility. It was amazing to see rows and rows of air crafts of all types sitting there in the desert heat.

We back to find the cats at dinner!!!!!!

White wine and Tuna - Yummmmmy! - who needs a fork?

We spent another interesting day visiting the Biosphere 2. Some of you may remember that in 1991-1993 six men and six women scientists were sealed up inside this place for two years to see if they could live in an artificial ecological closed system. Now scientists use the facility to conduct various types of research and the place is open to guided tours.

I was very excited to visit the Kitt Peak observatory. 

The most sacred peak for the O'odham people

The observatory is located in one of two sacred mountains in the Tohono O'odham reservation. When permission was granted to build the observatory on this mountain, it was on the condition that there should be no 

commercialization of any kind on the property and the visitor center is run by the O'odham people. They do sell some of their baskets and other art work their.

First view of one of the domes on top of the pe

Road going into nowhere?

The top of the mountain is at an elevation of about 6500 ft and the temperature is about 20 degrees cooler up there. We went up there on a day when Tucson had a high of 65 degrees. I was so glad I had taken my ear  muffs, gloves and a warm sweater. In spite of this, I developed a bad cold and sore throat that lasted well over a week.

Another view of the top

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope

The observatory is home to the world's largest solar telescope. 

We did a guided tour of the solar telescope as well as the 2.1 m telescope.

Being under the weather did not prevent me from going to the Gem, mineral, and bead show. I had known about this being one of the biggest shows and was of course so glad to be here around this time. However, i did not realize the magnitude and scale of this show. It is not one show. There are about 20 shows in 20 different venues across the city. The start and end dates of each of these shows vary between Jan 28 and FEb 13. Some are in hotels, others in a sports complex, and yet others in tents in open grounds all over the city. Fortunately they have a very well organized guide that tells you all you need to know.

Needless to say, I blew my self-set budget at the very first show I went to. Did that keep me from going back to visit some of the other shows? No way! This was an experience worth every minute and every dollar spent.

Another wonderful sunset - this one in Tucson

See you all in Raleigh!