Tucson March 2019

Arizona March 2019

The idea from this trip came from talking to some Austrians on the Kamchatka trip. They told me that each year they came from Austria to Tucson to get warm and to watch the desert bloom. I got interested in the varieties of cactus back in 2009 when the family met in Scottsdale and Mike Hillygus has been telling me about the AZ birds for a while so the trip took shape. If we are lucky winter will be over by the time we get back.

March 4- We flew from RIC to DFW and DFW to Phoenix. There we rented a car and drove to Tucson. Tucson is at about 2500 feet above sea level so close to Wintergreen in elevation.

Traffic is different out here. There are a lot more people in motion at all times of the day, there are 2 lanes entering the interstate, 2 left turn lanes at most lights, folks honk at you if you want to wait for the left turn signal in a lane that is going through too. Cars making a left onto a main road have to make a dash for it and stop in the center to wait for an opportunity to blend in, but sometimes it isn’t obvious that is what they are going to do. Lots of U turns needed to get to addresses on the other side of the street.

We found our airbnb efficiency without too much trouble (mostly just getting the pass code right for the gate- it always seems like the car I am driving is too low or too high for the keypad) and went to dinner at a place called Zinburger. Our waitress Morgan was born in Saudi Arabia but has lived here for 20 of her 25 years. She was very personable and told us her favorite places to visit.

Our condo has mostly bare lightbulbs and dark curtains on all the windows, presumably to minimize the power draw for cooling. The “bedroom” area has another set of dark curtains for sleeping. The condo seems to be purely a source of revenue for the owner, and so we noticed little touches that indicate no full time occupancy. For example a knob is missing on a closet door, entry lights are burned out, the screen on the outside breakfast area is off track, there is no stopper for the bathroom sink, the dishwasher has layers of caked something at the opening, and when I washed clothes no one had removed lint from the dryer for quite a while. There is no conditioning of the air- the condo cools at night as the temperatures get down to the 50s and heat in the day. But the TV is huge and the seating is comfortable as is the bed. Oh, and one other thing I just figured out as I write this three days into the trip- there is a faint smell of cigar smoke in the fabrics. In the evening we can hear some coyotes yipping and in the morning we hear mourning doves moaning.

March 5- One of the main things I wanted to see in this area is Biosphere 2 (Earth is Biosphere 1). B2 is a little north of Tucson, now is owned and operated by the University of Arizona, and is an active research site for environmental studies of all kinds. There are 3 acres and 7.2 mm square feet under 6500 triangles of glass and 5 sections, each being a micro environment- rain forest, ocean, savanna, fog desert, and mangrove wetlands. The whole campus is about 40 acres.

We saved $ on admission by being seniors and flashing my UofR student ID card and took the “under glass” tour so we could walk around all those microclimates.

In 1991 (I remember reading about this at the time) 8 scientists entered B2 for 2 years to study effects on them and the possibility of sustaining themselves as if on the moon or Mars. B2 was a closed system for that time and if anything went wrong they had to know how to fix it. They grew their food and even had some chickens running around. The coffee plant was so productive that they could have 1 cup of coffee every month!

I asked whether the scientists were speaking to each other at the end, and I learned they all worked together fine but had split into 2 groups of 4 each based on where they wanted the research to go. We visited their living quarters- kitchen, doctor’s office and lab, library, and living apartments. The kitchen, from 1991, looked a little like ours at home with Corian counters etc.
Here's a recent NYT article about Biosphere2 with a different take from the one we heard when we were there-  

The lost history of one of the world’s strangest science experiments
The New York Times (March 31,2019)

Another scientist group came in in 1994 for 6 months, and then Columbia U. took over until passing it on to UofA.

Climate change deniers would not like this place. As an example of the experiments they do, in the rain forest section they pumped in carbon dioxide to see the effect on plant growth at up to 900 parts per million. The plants started dying at about 700. For reference at the time of the Industrial Revolution the level was 300 ppm, and it is now 450 and escalating. Not much wiggle room.

One of the most amazing features of B2 is the “lung”. This is a separate area constructed to flex as the air pressure increased with the day time heat and expansion of air and then then decreased in the cool nights to keep the windows from blowing out when B2 was a closed system.

On the way back from B2 we stopped at El Charro for a late lunch. There we were introduced to a Mexican squash and zucchini dish called calabacitas.

Next we made a quick visit to the UofA and Tucson tourist office. UofA is on spring break (but still the traffic is plentiful). Salad from Trader Joe’s and leftover quesadilla for dinner.

March 6- The main event today was a visit to the Sonora Desert Museum which was another amazing and inspiring site. The drive there was through about 15 miles of saguaro and other kinds of cactus hills. The museum itself is mostly outside and with lots of different areas set off, an example being an agave garden. This one is also probably 40 acres. The best part of our visit was the raptor free flight in which we observed very closely (as in, if I had hair I could have felt the birds flying by me) a raven, a horned or hoot owl, and a set of about 4 or 5 Harris Hawks.

I marvel at how the trainers could get these birds to perform. We then walked along a desert trail and saw javelinas in an open contained area and a couple of coyotes about 12 feet away where I could not find a fence.

There was an enclosed hummingbird area which made me long for May in Virginia. For lunch we tried prickly pear fries- very tasty.

We then drove a few more miles to Saguaro Park West. Although there were many, many trails in the park, by this time it was about 89 degrees and we had been walking the whole time at the desert museum so we had no energy.

We took a different route back to Tucson, parked at the tourist office again, and walked into the hip 4th Avenue artsy district. I thought it was pretty run down with consignment stores, tattoo parlors, vape shops, etc. But we had a good drink and some chips at Boca. On the way back to the condo we drove into UofA just to say we saw it.

March 7- It is turning out that there are so many places to visit here that we are not able to relax by the pool or just hang out at all. We started the day with breakfast at Prep and Pastry, which was recommended by the check out guy at Trader Joe’s. It was well worth it. Our waiter there told us we came at the best time on the best day of the week. Any other time and the lot would be full and there would be a wait.

Today’s main objective was Tombstone which is about 90 miles south and east. I dragged Connie here but felt like I needed to go after watching Wyatt Earp as a child and recently reading a book about Wyatt and Doc etc.The town looks like a movie set and is a little hokey with stagecoaches for tourists and multiple places having staged gunfights. Connie said it was made for an 8 year old boy, but most of the people there were our vintage. We talked to a former marine who had just been at a Healing Waters convention (he had an HW tee shirt on). He asked me if I served and I said “sort of” and he thanked me for my service. We went to the OK Corral (what Wyatt and his brothers did there was more vigilante action than carrying out the law), the historama where we talked about OKC movies with one of the gunfight actors, Wyatt’s house and statue, Boot Hill (not named that until into the 20th century), and the Tombstone Epitaph.

The Kurt Russell movie is most favored and gets more of the story right. My Darling Clementine is forgotten but that one has the cause of the feud as cattle when it really was more  about a lawless faction and a law abiding faction (more or less). Lunch was at the Longhorn, but we passed by Big Nose Kate’s (Doc’s girl friend) and other saloons.

My original plan was to head straight back to near Tucson to see the old San Xavier mission but we called an audible and went about 65 miles through the desert around the San Pedro mountains, Sonoita, and Patagonia to reach Nogales where we saw the existing wall (20 miles or so before turning into barbed wire) and a whole lot of what seemed to be daily foot traffic back and forth along with commercial traffic.

 

Heading back to T, we stopped at the Tubac art colony to see some beautiful mesquite tables with turquoise inlays, pottery, and more. We had dinner at Seis back near the condo and near Zinburger.

March 8- Each day seems to have started off in one direction but then taken a surprise but good turn. The first activity for today was supposed to be an Audubon led bird walk at Catalina State Park, back up the road toward B2. When we got there we found out we missed the time by a half hour and to take the birding trail on our own involved fording a creek. We were not prepared for that and I don’t like sandy feet inside socks. So we took another couple of hikes around the same area.

Then we went to a place called Tohono Chul, and it turned out to be an admission free day (!). We got there right on time for a docent led walk around the grounds. TC is an estate from the 1930s that the second owner expanded to 49 acres and converted into a desert nature preserve. When the couple got older they created a non profit and left the estate to the non profit. Now it is gardens, natural desert complete with javelinas, coyotes, and bobcats (very reluctant to be seen), art galleries, and a cafe. The tour by Glen Ostrander was very informative about cactus, agaves, creosote plants, mesquite, and many more.

I even managed to spot a Cooper’s hawk and a couple of other birds. We visited a special Mexican arts sale with about 5000 rugs it seemed, took another pure desert hike and ate lunch on the grounds.

Next up was another hike at Sabine Canyon, but I thought it was a state park and forgot my national park passes. So we moved on to the 30 mile drive to Summerhaven at the top of Mount Lemmon, going from 65 degrees to 31 degrees, from 2500 feet in elevation to 8200 feet, and from cloud cover to a hail shower on a very windy road with towering loose boulders that reminded us of Bryce Canyon. At the top we found Cookie Cabin (8 inch diameter cookies) and some hot chocolate.

March 9- The first place we visited today was the San Xavier Mission south of town. This mission was established by Jesuits working directly for the king and queen of Spain in 1692 on a hill above the Santa Cruz River (dry) which had been settled by the local Tohono O’odom Indians for 4000 years. The reason for settling here for the tribe was that a local volcano had blown rock into the river bed which dammed up whatever rain fell. The sanctuary shows evidence of the Jesuits’ bosses in the lions with hands which adorn the entrance to the altar.

The Mission church is in a baroque style with lots of color to attract people and many statues and drawings to tell the Bible stories to people who can’t read. One wall painting has the Last Supper similar to Leo’s but with the devil drawn in near Judas. On the left near the altar is a reclining effigy that people visit on pilgrimages and leave medallions called “Milagros” (miracles) signifying what they are praying for.

We had Craig Reid as a docent and he actually did some of the restoration on the art work. This was a stop that I am glad we did not skip.

We next drove back downtown to walk the 2.5 mile Torquoise Trail to see some of the downtown. There are about 23 stops ranging from statues to a prayer garden named in honor of a sinner, to the old Fox Theatre and much in between. Lunch at The Hub and then back to the condo to watch Virginia beat UofL and Duke lose to UNC.

March 10- Heading home. After forgetting about DST change, I woke in a panic and rushed to the airport only to find out AZ does not change with DST.