March - the month of visitors

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Visitors! - March 1-5, March 13-22, March 29-April 1

March was definitely visitors’ month for us, and it was great fun. First Heidi and Andy arrived from State College, PA. Then came our good friends Ken and Jane Fox, two just-retired school teachers from Denver whom we know from summers in Maine. And finally, we welcomed Kevin, trading western Massachusetts snow for a little Arizona sunshine. Rough weather made getting here a bit difficult for our kids, as Heidi and Andy were delayed in Atlanta by storms across the southern U.S. and arrived here at 1:00 AM (their body clocks registering 3:00 AM EST), while Kevin had a very turbulent flight as the pilots had to navigate over Oklahoma and Kansas where tornadoes were doing major damage. Fortunately, everyone arrived safely.

It was nice to have company for meals here at our rental house for the first time, but we also were on the go much of the time with our guests. The Sonoran Desert Museum, the Botanical Garden, and Sabino Canyon are three places in the area that you can’t visit too often. We also took in historic Tombstone, and nearby Bisbee, a copper mining boomtown that was once the second largest town west of the Mississippi . . . with San Francisco being the largest. With Jane and Ken, and again later with Kevin, we visited the PIMA Air & Space Museum with some interesting displays on the development of flight and an array of planes (mostly military) used through the years. Nearby is a remarkable (to put it politely) area called “the Bone Yard” where the military has parked acres and acres and acres of planes and helicopters. Some are available to be put into use, but the vast majority are old and just sitting there for spare parts and I-don’t-know-what. It is a striking visual display of a small fraction of what the military-industrial complex hath wrought and the accompanying mind-boggling levels of spending by our government.

With Heidi and Andy we toured the amazing Karchner Cavern, discovered in the 70’s by two spelunking University of Arizona students and preserved now by the state park system as a “living cave.” Stalactites, stalagmites, and other formations are still evolving inside as, even with visitors allowed, the conditions are very closely controlled. It’s open for visiting only when the bats aren’t in residence and no photographs are permitted. We went through four airlock doors and even walked through a mister to prevent lint from our clothing from getting on the rocks inside. Learning about how such caverns are formed and viewing some unusual and beautiful formations made it a very rewarding visit.

With Jane and Ken we made a trip to Vail, AZ just east of Tucson where Ken’s step-sister Sandra and her husband Ted have a working cattle ranch. We had a tour of the ranch and learned a bit about open-range cattle ranching. Their cattle graze on over 100 acres of land leased from the state. Ken and Andy also had a chance to take in a Colorado Rockies pre-season game. By the time Kevin arrived in late March most of the snow had melted on nearby Mt. Lemmon (9,000 ft.), prompting us to venture up the (very!) winding roadway to take a mountain hike in the national park and enjoy some wonderful views of Tucson and its surroundings. We were on the go quite a bit with our guests but certainly slowed down to enjoy some meals along the way. The names of some of the restaurants we visited will let you know we had fun in the process: The Barrio, The French Quarter, The Silver Saddle, Hacienda del Sol, The Old Pueblo Grill, The Cookie Jar, and Big-Nosed Kate’s Saloon.

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Photos

Pigs we are not
This curious creature wanders the desert at twilight and looks a lot like a pig, but it is a wild boar called a Javelina. We've heard they can be spotted on golf courses, but we only saw them at the Desert Museum.

Andy Wall's
newest friend. Gives you a great sense of the size of these cacti.

Kitt Peak from the Desert Museum
wonderful expanse of mountains, bajada, saguaro cacti and farmlands

Heidi & Andy in
Tombstone with one of the street characters.

Bisbee, AZ
A town quite unlike anything you've seen--high on the edge of the copper mine mountain area. This car represents a small part of the local color.

Full moon rising over the mountains
in early March.

Sabino Canyon
This was the only time we've seen roaring water while here in AZ. The dryness is remarkable, but this stream received over 6" of water in a very short period of time last July and wiped out 70% of the hardwood trees in it's path.

Tucson in the distance
from Sabino Canyon dam.

Kevin
soaking up the Arizona sunshine on Mt. Lemmon. At 9,000' there was still some snow on the northern sides of the mountain on March 31.

The Boneyard
acres and acres of retired aircraft - so many it's impossible to describe (search on the internet for more info.)

Super Guppie
an airplanes with the largest cargo volume built in the 60's -- used to transport oversized cargo such as wide-body airliner subcomponents and rocket stages.

So far away....
a spectular view of Saturn from the Flandreau Telescope at the U of Arizona! This photo was captured with Kevin's digital camera, placed on top of the telescope viewer.

Comments

[Roxy Barry]

Hi
Hey1 Good to see heidi, Andy and kevin enjoying some sun and your company. Great things you are doing!! Love from us Roxy