March 28, 2007

March 28, 2007

Tucson has three pro baseball teams in town this month for Spring Training. This is the last week for Cactus League play so we went this afternoon to watch the White Sox host the Arizona Diamondbacks. I assumed we would have no problem getting a ticket at the gate for an afternoon game. Most people work during the day, right? As we pulled in the parking lot for Tucson Electric Park and saw the big crowd, I got a little worried. We had just got in line at the ticket counter when I thought I overheard somebody mumble, “Sold out”. Thankfully I had my lucky charm with me, because a guy taps me on the shoulder at that moment and asks me if I would like two free tickets in the front row. Uh, Sure! And he hands them to me. We go in the stadium, get some lunch, and find our seats, front row, first base, near the Sox dugout. We have to wait in the aisle for a few minutes because several of the Sox players are signing autographs for the kids in front of our seats.

After the crowd disperses, we settle in to watch the Sox lose 8-0. They really looked bad. (no wonder they are dead last in the Cactus League) But what a great place to watch pro baseball. The stadium is small and intimate, everybody is relaxed, the weather is sunny, and the beer is half the price of Wrigley.

March 18, 2007

March 18, 2007

On Thursday Aimee and I played golf. It is common to see A-10 Thunderbolts circling in the air, practicing take-offs and landings at the nearby Air Force base. As military jets go, the A-10’s are pretty slow and quiet. So we were pretty astounded when my golf swing was interrupted by a group of loud jets buzzing the golf course. I looked up to see the Navy’s Blue Angels flying in formation. They entertained us for almost an hour, oftentimes barely above the treetops. Having seen the Blue Angels practice in Chicago I knew Tucson must be having an air show this weekend.

 
On Sunday morning we drive to a local shopping mall where we pick up the air show shuttle bus that takes us onto Davis-Monthan Air Force base. On the way thru the base, we see field after field full of military airplanes. Davis-Monthan is the graveyard for all the military’s excess war birds. They don’t rust here in the desert. They are all mothballed waiting I guess for WWIII to break out. Unfortunately there are enough airplanes here to carry us through to WWIV.

Once thru the base security we walk to the flight line. All along the runway under canopies are a large assortment of restored and active military jets and helicopters. Many of them are open so you can sit in the cockpit. Unfortunately Aimee tells me I am too old to stand in line with the other kids for my chance.

While we are perusing the planes, the air show has started. We watch a couple barnstormer planes do pirouettes in the sky. Aimee and I both really enjoy watching the Army’s Golden Knight parachuting team perform. The Air force’s rescue team does a mock training drill. One of the local A-10 Thunderbolts demonstrates a live strafing run down the side of the runway.

We stick around the whole afternoon and watch the finale of the show, the Blue Angels. It was actually more fun though to watch them buzz around the golf course. They were more out of place there.

In all Davis-Monthan was a great place to watch the air show. It was not crowded, the transportation was great and the pilots and planes were all very accessible. Many of the pilots were strolling around the grounds with us. Aimee and I both think that the military must be relaxing entry standards as the pilots were looking very young.

March 9, 2007

March 9, 2007

Today seems like cleanup day for the Tucson sights we haven’t had time to visit yet. We start with the Pima Air and Space Museum. We have driven by it many times on our way to the airport and places south. It is hard to miss with the hundreds of airplanes sitting on the desert site. We arrive midmorning for our stroll among the planes. Neither Aimee nor I are major airplane buffs so we have a hard time getting into this place. What amazes me most is the sheer number of different kinds of planes our country has built over the years. The most interesting plane for us is Kennedy and Johnson’s presidential plane that we can walk thru. It is not nearly as spacious, plush or modern as I am sure the present Boeing 747 Air Force One is. The museum also has a handful of small hangars with a few beautifully restored WWII aircraft that we can peak our nose into. The museum doesn’t thrill us but at least we get some exercise walking around the large property.

We next stop at the San Xavier del Bac mission on the southern outskirts of Tucson. Like Tumacacori we visited a month ago, it is a restored mission to the Indians from the early days of Spanish colonization. Unfortunately, if you have seen one mission, you have seen them all.

Still looking for that hidden gem, we drive a little further south to take the Asarco mine tour. Copper mining is big business in Arizona, especially with the current record price for the metal. On a drive south from Tucson, you can see the large tailing piles accumulating along the west side of the interstate. As soon as we get there a tour is leaving so we sign up and jump on board the bus. The retired geologist giving the tour drives us up the hillside to a gallery overlooking the huge strip mine operation. It is pretty uninteresting as there is no activity within view today and the pit looks like any other large quarry. We are not allowed to visit the milling plant that is crushing and concentrating the copper ore. Also some of the more interesting downstream processes of smelting and purification are done at other locations. Aimee is bored; she was hoping to see some of the wild horses that roam the property.

March 7, 2007

March 7, 2007

Since we live so close to the Sabino Canyon Rec. area we decide to go there for a vigorous walk instead of riding the stationary bike in our gym. The park has a shuttle-only paved road that extends four miles up the canyon. The upper sections had been closed because of flood damage and rockslides caused by one of the summer monsoons last August. We walk up the road to survey the damage. On the way we encounter some volunteers teaching panning skills. I have to give it a try. They hand me a gold pan with a shovel full of gravel. I swirl it in the stream. After picking out the larger stones and swirling some more, I can see the gravel separating into two layers. I tilt the pan to let the lighter tan-colored sand on top wash away. I am left with a bunch of dark sand.

One of the volunteers stirs it with his plastic coated magnet picking up a bunch of black gravel. As a chemist I know this is black Magnetite, a form of Iron Oxide. I am just surprised to find so much of it in the gravel. I am left with a bunch of dark red gravel in the pan. No gold flakes! But the volunteer tells me the rest is mostly garnets and hands me a jeweler’s loupe to prove it. When Aimee hears I found gemstones, she comes running to see. Unfortunately they are all nowhere near big enough for a ring. Just the size to make garnet sandpaper! Panning is a lot easier than I thought. Since we will be heading north thru the California gold fields this summer, I need to get myself a pan.

February 28-March 4, 2007

February 28-March 4, 2007

I flew to St. Louis, MO today and met up with some of my relatives. The next morning we drove en masse down to the Mountain Home, AR area. A dozen of us have been going down there a couple times a year to trout fish in the Norfork River. This river is a just a small tributary of the more famous White River but it holds the Arkansas records for rainbow and brown trout. The trout section below the Norfork Lake dam is only seven miles long and we know all the best fishing spots.

Unfortunately, the area has had considerable precipitation this year and the lake level is the highest we have ever seen. This means that the Army Corps of Engineers is going to generate electricity non-stop making wading in the river impossible. We are forced to rent boats and try to catch fish while we drift quickly by our favorite honey holes. I much prefer wading down this scenic river. The fishing is very slow but I catch enough fish on the second day to reclaim my “trout god” status. The temperature is also cold and windy, so cold on Saturday that I stay out only two hours. Hopefully we will have better luck next time.

February 25, 2007

February 25, 2007
I have always wanted to go to a Hot Air Balloon Festival, especially the big one held every October in Albuquerque, NM. We got lucky today. We happened to be in Phoenix anyway this weekend, visiting college buddies, and Aimee told me that a local suburb was holding a rally on Sunday morning. We got up early and headed to Fountain Hills, a community nestled in the hills east of Phoenix. Once there we find Fountain Park, a large grassy valley surrounding a small lake with what used to be the worlds tallest fountain in the middle. We are a little late and by the time we arrive a couple balloons are already in the air. There are fifteen and each one is lifting off in turn skittering first across the surface of the lake. It is pretty neat seeing lots of large colorful balloons in the air against the frosty blue Arizona sky.

February 23, 2007

February 23, 2007

Our friends wanted to see some of the attractions in Tucson so we picked two for today. We started out south of Tucson touring the Titan II Missile Historic Site. In the small lobby museum we learn a little of the history of the Cold War, the ideological and economic struggle between the US and Russia. The Titan IIs were Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, ICBMs, deployed in 1962 as a nuclear deterrent to real war thru a program of mutually assured destruction. Tucson was one of three sites in the US that had Titans. All were destroyed by peace treaty in the eighties except one silo here that was preserved as an historical artifact.

After seeing a short movie in the “briefing room”, we don hardhats and tour the grounds. On the surface we are able to peer down a half-open silo and see a 103 ft missile waiting to be unleashed. Like a missile crew on a 24-hour shift, we then descend down 55 stairs thru two secure blast doors to the original command center. There we learn the top-secret activation protocol, launch codes, keys and all. One of our friends pushes “the” button. Fortunately this old missile is a dud and the world is still safe when we return to the surface.

After lunching on the University of Arizona campus, we next head to the Colossal Caverns. On the way it begins to rain and the temperature drops precipitously to 45F. After shivering for 30 minutes, we begin our guided tour. Oddly the cave is 72F and dry. It feels great. We sure picked the right day to spend underground. Coincidentally we learn that Colossal also has a Cold War connection. It once served as a bomb shelter for the local population.