Blogs from Tucson, Arizona, United States, North America - page 25

Many people think we're crazy, but we love Tucson! It's a hard thing to explain, so we're going to do it photo essay style. We have included some of our favorite hikes, drives, and U of A sport activities. We also did another Stone's Bigger Bang concert in Phoenix. Ron rated it at number 4 of the 4 we saw. I put it at number 3. The next night we went to the Suns and the Mavs game. It was really close and lots of fun. The rest of our time here has been spent with friends , visiting favorite restaurants, and shopping in all the hot spots. These were our days in the life that is Tucson!! Friday, Nov. 17 we head back east to Indiana. We will be there until Nov. 28 and then ... read more

Greetings from Tucson! And Yes, I'm in Tucson...not Nogales right now. It's been a crazy couple days since I arrived here in Arizona on Tuesday. U.S. Coordinator at Compañeros en Misión, Sue Thomas, greeted me at Tucson International Airport and immediately we headed to lunch to meet my Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) Tucson site coordinator, Brandon, and another one of the other YAVs, Maren. It was great finally being able to put a face with Brandon's voice, since we'd been in communication for so many months in order to make this all possible! We squared away some details for the next year of my life, especially the retreats and special events that I'll be participating in with the YAVs. We're (Dave, Sue, Dr. Pazos, Brandon, and I) all committed to finding a nice balance between Compañeros ... read more

Ever been to the Sonoran Desert? You know, those funny looking cacti with arms that stick out all over the place? Ever so expressive... This trip to Tucson was part of a larger 10 state road trip that Scott and I embarked on this summer. We drove here from Boulder, CO and visited places like the Desert Museum and camped at Mesa Verde. My absolute favorite thing growing in this part of the world is the barrel cactus. It blooms these miniature pineapple-looking fruits and has bright flowers. Someone mentioned that if you took a machete to it in the middle it would gush water everywhere - apparently it has a good water cylinder in its body. We started our Mata Ortiz pottery collection on this trip. If you've never heard of Mata Ortiz, it's an ... read more

did some cool things here in tucson besides being worked hard by the udall foundation, my scholarship foundation. i went to the biosphere 2, which is a crazy concept. trying to replicate the earth in a building that is completely sealed off from the earth. of course it failed when people tried to live in it because you can never replicate all the wonderful interdependencies of the natural world. ironically, they ran out of oxygen because 'the co2 levels were too high. hmmm. and they didnt even use the plants from the different "ecosystems" for food and medicine. they brought in meds and used chemical intensive agriculture. like that will work on mars. then i went with the udall group to the desert "museum" which is really a zoo. i felt bad for the bear and ... read more

We went to Biosphere 2 just a little way out of Tucson. Many of you will remember this failed science experiment from the 1990s, where 8 people were housed in a huge structure completely cut off from earth. The goal was to make them completely self sufficient inside a ‘biosphere’ that mimicked earth (for example they had their own ‘ocean’ and ‘desert’). It was to be a step closer to life in space. To cut a long scientific story short the project failed - twice, it has been a research centre and is now a tourist spot. It was fascinating to hear about all the work that went into it. While in Tucson we also went to a little Mexican restaurant called Mi Nidito which President Clinton had visited. They proudly displayed photos of him and ... read more