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.
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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.
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.
.jpg)
posted by Mike and Aimee at 5:07 PM
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