January 27, 2007

January 27, 2007

Today we drove straight south towards the border with Mexico. In Nogales, AZ, we parked a block from the border and walked across to Nogales, Mexico to do some shopping. No immigration authorities were there to stop us, only a one-way revolving door. Once thru, uh-oh, we see a huge line for the return trip.

Nogales is in a very hilly area. Houses cover the hillside on the Mexican side. What looks like a border wall climbs up the hill along the edge of the houses. The US side is clear. A long line of mostly tourist shops runs the length of the valley. After an hour of browsing the stores, we head back for the crossing. We are not looking forward to standing in the return line. Fortunately it moves along and after only thirty minutes we show our passports. Most people just flash something that looks like a drivers license and are waved thru. This is totally different than flying back into the US where most people are studied and questioned. If I was an illegal immigrant, this is where I would cross. Once back in the US in Nogales, AZ we still feel like we are in Mexico.

Back in the car we head towards Tucson. Halfway along we stop and visit the Tumacacori National Historical Park. Tumacacori is the site of one of many missions that the Spanish built throughout New World to Christianize the local Indians. The church ruins and small museum are mostly uninteresting. The highlight for Aimee is the volunteer making tortillas by hand. We both enjoy tasting them as we missed lunch.

January 25, 2007

January 25, 2007

With the weather warming up we drive three hours west to a fairly isolated section of southwestern Arizona to visit Organ Pipe National Monument. Along the way we pass a steady stream of RV’s heading in the opposite direction. Aimee and I keep wondering where they are coming from. Once at the national park, a ranger suggests we take their twenty-mile scenic loop. This unpaved drive takes us up into the Ajo Mountain foothills where there is a large concentration of Organ Pipe cacti. Along the way we learn that Organ Pipes are even more rare in the US than Saguaros. Organ Pipes are very sensitive to cold and only grow within 80 miles of this park and then mostly on the southern exposures of the local mountains. Like saguaros and barrels, they are large columnar cacti too, but instead of a single shoot, they grow in a large cluster, hence the name Pipe Organ. The park is very pretty and is a cactus lover’s paradise with huge stands of organ pipes, saguaros and chollas. Part way along the driving loop, we stop to view a large natural rock arch that lies at the top of the mountain. We hike the steep rocky trail up to the backside of the arch but stop short of our goal because of lack of time. We have a long drive back.

The Mexican border is only a few miles south of the park visitors’ center. Southwestern Arizona must be a common point of illegal crossing as one hiking trail in the park was closed due to smuggling activity and we saw lots of border patrol agents on the drive back. There has to be easier ways to get in the US than walking thirty miles thru this very arid, rocky desert where every piece of vegetation has huge thorns. I would hitch a ride on one of the numerous RVs traveling thru here if they are not already doing so.

January 22, 2007

January 22, 2007

Paradise Lost: For over a week now we have had snow. I can see it out our window on top of the mountains. A safe distance to enjoy the snow. Mt. Lemmon, the tallest of the Catalinas, I have been told even has skiing. Before we leave we want to drive up and see it for ourselves.

Yesterday afternoon it clouded up and started to rain. The temperature never got too warm. Good weather to stay inside and watch the Bears win the NFC Championship. The last time Aimee and I watched a Bears Championship game, we were on one of our very first dates. She had gotten tickets and invited me to Soldier Field with her. She was in love.

Mother Nature must have enjoyed the Bears victory too for as soon as the game was over, she started her own ticker tape parade by mixing a few snowflakes in with the rain. That is the closest Tucson gets to snow. Wrong! This morning we woke up to an inch of snow. It is strange to see snow atop cacti. With the mountains to our north now completely covered with snow, it looks like we are in Aspen, deep in the Colorado Rockies. By noon though, the sun is out in force and the snow is now a memory. Paradise Regained.

Jauary 17, 2007

January 17, 2007

Aimee and I want to hike down into the Grand Canyon this spring. Halfway back out of the Grand Canyon is not the place to find we are not in good-enough shape, so we need to do some serious preparatory training. The nearby Catalina mountains have trailheads all along the range. This afternoon we decide to hike up the Ventana Canyon trail. It starts in the parking lot of the Loew’s resort, passes the golf course, and up the canyon. We pass a few really big Saguaros. One is so big its arms have arms. From what I have read it has to be well over 200 years old.

The Ventana Canyon trail is very pretty. And steep, especially when I make a wrong turn and we scramble up what looks like the trail. Good practice for the Grand Canyon! Aimee is not impressed and makes us turn around. On the way back down I see where we went wrong but by now Aimee is aggravated and we head home.

January 11, 2007

January 11, 2007

There is a lot to see and do in the Arizona area so we are thinking we need to step up our tourist activities while we are out here. Last week we stopped at the local visitor’s center and picked up a Tucson passport that gives two for one admission to most sites.

Late this morning we head north of Tucson towards Oracle and the site of Biosphere II. This facility, hidden in the desert, became famous in 1991 when it locked up four men and four women in a giant sealed terrarium for two years. The experiment was supposed to mimic a self-sufficient space station where plants were grown to supply food but more importantly keep the atmosphere in balance by converting carbon dioxide into oxygen for the crew. The facility became infamous when it was discovered that fresh air was secretly leaked into the building to reduce carbon dioxide levels.

After paying our admission, we are told to meet our guide at noon for a tour under the glass. Since it is only 11am, we have time to first watch their film (mediocre) and also peruse their exhibits on global warming (interesting). Once we meet up with our tour guide he explains during his introduction that Biosphere I is planet earth, hence the number “2” for this one. We then proceed inside the glass through an airlock for a quick walk through the five biomes within: rainforest, savanna, desert, marsh and ocean reef. As soon as we enter we are hit with high humidity which fogs up our camera lens and prevents any picture taking. So far this is just a fancy greenhouse, albeit one that can be sealed airtight. The difference lies underneath on the next part of the tour. Our guide shows us the mechanical systems for air-conditioning and water recycling. In addition, there are two giant balloons (the lungs) connected to it that allow the inside air to expand and contract with temperature change.

I have to admit my expectations today were low, so I wasn’t disappointed. I assumed this place was built to lure tourists and would be hokey, it wasn’t. The facility is actually quite impressive and well designed. Unfortunately it is now a rusting, expensive, white elephant that is barely used by a few scientists for environmental experiments. Aimee found it boring. I thought it was somewhat interesting. It needs better tour guides to make it more appealing.

January 9, 2007

January 9, 2007

We stopped at the driving range this afternoon to try to recover our golf game. The range is about a half hour away thru the middle of Tucson. On the way back while stopped at a traffic light we were rear-ended by a local fumbling for his cell phone. I detest cell phone drivers! Fortunately we weren’t hurt but my poor car that I have babied for the last few years now has a huge scar in the rear. Aimee and I frequently comment how lousy Arizona drivers are. Now we have proof.

January 6, 2007

January 6, 2007

Our return trip was done in two very long 12-hour driving days with a convenient midway stop in Amarillo. In Amarillo we decompressed by playing several competitive rounds of “Sorry” with our nephew Sean.

Back in Tucson, we are anxious to get back to our outdoor activities. After all this driving lately, we decide to stay close and visit the western half of Saguaro National Park. We head to the west side of Tucson and drive on Gates Pass road over the Tucson Mountains stopping at the turnout on the crest to take some scenic pictures. We head down towards Saguaro Park. Between Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro National, this whole area west of Tucson is undeveloped, putting us quickly in the middle of the desert surrounded by thousands of saguaro cacti. We stop at the park visitor’s center to watch their film and get some recommendations on hiking trails. We play tourist first and drive their 6-mile scenic loop. Unfortunately it is unpaved making the drive very bumpy. Along the way we stop and make the quarter-mile hike up to Signal Hill to see some Hohokam Indian petroglyphs (ancient graffiti Aimee calls it). Saguaro West is similar to East, but the concentration of saguaros is noticeably thicker here.

We decide to stretch our legs and hike the King Canyon trail up to Wasson Peak. After hiking uphill for 70 minutes on this generally uninteresting trail, we turn around before reaching the summit. We want to make it back to Gates Pass for its famous sunsets and we are running out of time. At Gates Pass we watch the sun set behind the mountains in the distance. We are disappointed. It is nothing special. Perhaps we need to come back when there are wisps of clouds or dust in the air to provide some color.

December 28, 2006

December 28, 2006

Despite visiting the St. Louis area frequently my whole adult life, playing tourist was always low priority. Aimee and I now have the time to explore. After lunch today we drive downtown and park near the Gateway Arch. I have always enjoyed standing at the base of the Arch and looking up, especially at night when the polished stainless steel legs reflect the city lights. Aimee is not nearly so enamored with it.

While taking a picture of the Arch, we see the Old Courthouse building across the street. Never having been in it, we decide to investigate. Housed in two wings are some St. Louis history exhibits run by the National Park Service. The displays are mostly worthless but they do have a short movie that I find interesting. It tells the story of how St. Louis was the gateway to the West. First in the early 1800’s as the center of the booming beaver fur trade in the new Louisiana territory and later as the jumping off point for the millions heading west to seek their fortunes. By luck we happen to walk upstairs and find some interesting exhibits on wartime social unrest, and another on the pivotal Dred Scott court case that was first tried in this building. Dred Scot was a Missouri slave who sued for his freedom because of all the time he had spent in “free” states. He initially won but lost on appeal to the Supreme Court. This surprising landmark decision in 1857 probably helped make the Civil War inevitable.

Walking back to the Arch we stop underneath and enter the Jefferson National Expansion Museum. It is mostly about Lewis and Clark’s expedition and I have seen better. Just north of the Arch is Laclede's Landing and Eads Bridge, the oldest one spanning the Mississippi River. Completed in 1874, this engineering marvel was the first major bridge built using Steel instead of Cast Iron.

December 15-27, 2006

December 15-27, 2006

This weekend we started the long drive back to the Midwest for our Christmas vacation. It is a 27-hour 1730-mile drive to Chicago that we made in four legs stopping in Amarillo, Tulsa, and St. Louis. Next year we are definitely flying.

While in Chicago, we make our required visitation to our storage units and retrieve a few more things. We need to start throwing more stuff away but we don’t yet feel like taking the time.

We spend Christmas Eve with Aimee’s family. Her cousin Katie was nice enough to host us at her apartment on Chicago’s north side. On Christmas morning we drive to Alton, IL to spend some time with my family. With five siblings and their spouses, nineteen nephews and nieces, plus a new generation just starting, our Christmas gathering probably looks like a madhouse to newcomers, but is just family to us. It is nice to catch up with the news of family and friends during the holidays. Fortunately all are in good spirit and health.