Parque Natural Mexiquillo

3.17.2022

Art Art until You Drop

The historical town of  Tubac is chock full of intriguing art galleries and excellent dinning. Tubac was the original Spanish colonial garrison in Arizona. It was one of the stops on the Camino Real from Mexico to California. Apaches attacked the town repeatedly in the1840s, forcing the Sonoran Mexicans to abandon Tubac. In the 1930s - 1960s Tubac became an art colony.

Adrienne and Larry




Adrienne and some writer.




Whirligigs 

That is one huge dung ball






There is something for everyone here

This was cattle country at one time

Beautiful lighting 



I just love getting my art fix in Tubac

3.13.2022

Pima Air & Space Museum

Tucson's Pima Air & Space Museum has nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres. There are many docents to talk with that will share their deep knowledge of the aircraft on display

Pat, Larry, Gary, Ken, me, Adrienne 

The Wright Flyer (copy)
First in flight, first up in the museum.

The Bumblebee was built for the sole purpose of taking the recordf as the world's smallest aircraft. It had a wing span 6 feet 6 inches and a range of 20 miles. Its first flight was Jan 28, 1984 and the record held until August 1984. Adrienne thinks she can fit.

Aircraft everywhere

The two person 1953 McCulloch HUM-1 

The F-14 Tomcat 
Think Top Gun


The Pentecost E-III Hoppicopter was designed during WWII as a parachute replacement. The fatal flaw was if the paratrooper stumbled during landing he would be cut to pieces by the rotor blades

PBM Mariner

A-10 Thunderbolt, affectionately known as the Warthog.
Not the prettiest aircraft ever built, but is is extremely good at its job: killing tanks.
The entire plane was designed around its massive nose mounted 30mm rotary cannon 
capable of firing up to 4,200 rounds per minute.


Don't stand here while engine is running



B-17 heavy bomber

Period correct jeep with 50 cal machine gun

A look inside the tail gunner position. 
Kind of cramped.  


The plane on the left was Kennedy and Johnson's Air Force 1
The plane on the right was for VIPs

Convair Peacemaker Strategic  bomber

Interesting paint jobs

This Apollo command module is a mockup used by Walter Cronkite
 during his reporting of the Apollo missions.

One of only three advanced space shuttle orbiter simulators used to train NASA astronauts

Consolidated B-24J LIBERATOR

PBY Catalina



What a terrific museum. 

3.11.2022

Sabino Canyon

Sabino Canyon is a deep canyon that pushes into the Santa Catalina Mountains. The tram is very poplar way to enjoy the beauty of the canyon. You can either do a 7.4 mile round trip from the visitors center, or as most people do, ride to the top and hike down. Most people walk back down the paved road. We decide to hike down the Phoneline trail. 

The tram ride up to stop #9

Steep canyon walls

Sabino Creek has exposed a large chunk of the underlying metamorphic Gneiss


Cool pools of water bring life to the desert.

Saguaro cactus standing tall 

Deb and Kim checking out the pool.

Gary and Debra
Heading 0.7 miles up the canyon wall on a grueling trail to the Phoneline trail. 
The elevation gain was only 700 ft, but felt like 2000.

A little splash of color along the way

You can see the Phoneline trail a little over half way up the photo.
The trail continues out to the far point before winding back down the road.

Ken on flute during a break

There was a scattering of tenuous flowers

A lot more Gneiss

After the arduous struggle up the canyon wall, Phoneline seemed like a superhighway.

Debra looking good

Looking down to the tram road.
Total hike 6.5 miles