Old Tucson & A Ride up Snowy Mt. Lemmon

Tucson, AZ
Dustin's Diamond J RV Park


Since this was my brother's first time to Tucson, we did another trip to Old Tucson.  It's just s few miles from the RV park and in a beautiful setting.  If you've been in Tucson you've probably come here if you like old westerns.  They've filmed many here for 70 years.  Some include Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza and High Chaparral.   There are old west shows, musicals, tours, stunt shows and living history exhibits.

This saloon and hotel are very recognizable in many westerns.

 

They were doing some Civil War Battle recreations which were interesting.  They were using Muskets, Henry's and cannons.

 

Bombs Away!

 

The Union firing muskets.

 

This plaza and fountain can also be found in many westerns.  We see so many as Steve really loves to watch them so we try to pay attention to the locations.  It's surprising how many we recognize.

Gettin' ready for a hangin'!

 

Of course there was a gunfight which led in the bad guy falling off the roof.

 

This was one of my favorite shows growing up.

 

"The Reno", built in 1872 for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.  Many presidents and actors have been its passengers in over 100 movies.

Crooked Creek Cemetery

I've seen a few versions of this one at many cemeteries.  Always thought it was funny.

The scenery and props are very interesting.  I don't know how they got the etched look on the old tin, but it looks really cool.

The Iron Door Mine is a little cheesy, but the little kids thought it was fun.  You walk through a dark "mine" with some displays.

I had to close my eyes to walk over the bridge above.  It had flashing lights that rotated around the tunnel.  Very dizzy!

We stopped and talked with the blacksmith for a while and watched him make square nails.

We watched a couple shows and walked around for about 3 hours and had a great bbq meal there for lunch.  It's about $20 for an adult admission but with our handy dandy Tucson Pass it was 50% off!

We timed our excursions well as the slightly warmer day without wind we went to Old Tucson.  On Sunday it was colder with more wind so we took a drive up to Mt. Lemmon.  This was another trek we have not been able to do.  It was a really pretty drive up, leaving Tucson below and driving up Mt Lemmon with an elevation over 9100' at the summit.

We loved the rock formations and all the pullouts.  It was so cold and windy though we only popped out for pictures!

Some brave souls hiking much further down than we were willing to go.

 

This was the prettiest part.  A wall of frozen waterfalls!  Just gorgeous!

At one of the pull outs there was info on some of the copper that was mined around here.  I thought the above was very interesting.  Over 40 pounds of copper in a car?!

Finally a little bit of blue sky!

 

It was only 34 degrees and that didn't count the wind!

And by time we headed back down, the sky was mostly blue.

 

All in all, our two weeks here in Tucson were great!  We had mostly nice weather and did quite a bit of hiking and sightseeing.  We will have to come back next year to see the Barrett Jackson Car Show and the Pima Air & Space Museum/Boneyard.  The later requires reservations days in advance and a background clearance.

The Desert Museum & The Biosphere 2

Tucson, AZ
Dustin's Diamond J RV Park


We finally were able to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and it was very well done.  It's a combination zoo, natural history museum, botanical garden and art gallery which reflects the plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert.

 Lots of very happy Prairie Dogs playing in their habitat.

 Many birds to see.  Great Blue Heron Above.  Not sure what type of bird that is below but look at that wingspan!

  A restful spot with a great view.

 The coyotes were very active and howling for us.

 The Javelina's were also out and about. 

 The Raptor Show was pretty good too.  First the Raven flew all around.  There was a Great Horned Owl and Redtail Hawk that flew all around us as well with their trainers nearby.  

 The otters were playfully swimming and showing off.

 I've not seen a Black-Bellied Whistling Duck before.

  I think I liked the cactus, plants and flowers the most.  The shapes, colors, textures.

 

       

  

 

 

The Totem Pole cactus is my favorite.

Some early blooms.

A Crested Suguaro

  

We had lunch at one of the café's.  The drinks were good, especially the Prickly Pear Margarita.  The food was so promising, but it didn't have much flavor.

  The Big Horn Sheep were hanging out soaking up the sunshine.

 It was nap time for the wolves.

The bear was hiding inside his shelter so we didn't see him, but this squirrel was happily munching away on his lunch.

 Just these large paws were visible on the Mountain Lion who was also napping away.

 There were small reptile and salt water exhibits too. 

 Garden Eels swaying in the current. 

My and my brother, Steve.

 Afterward we took a short drive up to The Gates Pass Overlook.

 Beautiful view of the desert below.

On Sunday the storms came in and it was very rainy and windy.  We thought an indoor day at the Biosphere 2 would be a great way to stay dry. The Biosphere 2 facility serves as a laboratory for controlled scientific studies.  There are several types of tours, we too the general tour for $20.  Since we had the Tucson Passport which gave us 1/2 off admission here as well as many other Tucson attractions.  RV friend, Cori, told us about this great savings.

Just inside the door was this huge crystal display. Pretty awesome.  It was over 3 feet tall.

 

So what is the history of the Biosphere 2:

It opened in 1986 to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. There were two missions, between 1991 and 1994, where Biospherians were sealed inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability for two years.  Behind this highly public exercise was useful research that helped further ecological understanding.  The property is now run by the University of Arizona. I had heard all about this as a young kid and it fascinated me.  I was thrilled to be able to visit it.  It's a fascinating place.

 This is the ocean area that opens up to a transitional Savannah.

 The warm and humid Rainforest.

 They are running some experiments about Aquaponics in the desert. 

 After the Marsh is the Desert environment you see above. 

There is a huge agriculture area where crops were grown as well as the Lung Habitat that does all the "breathing" for the facility.  Truly an amazing thing to see.   Our first week in Tucson has been busy.