March 23, 2016

March 23, 2016

My sister Vicki and her family came into town to visit again for Spring Break.  Tucson is a wonderful escape from Chicago’s lingering winter weather.  We went with them to visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  We had a good time despite the Raptor Flight being cancelled.  The weather was unusually cool making the animals more active than normal.  Plus Spring means the cacti are starting to flower and the birds are building nests.  The facility is well staffed with dozens of volunteer docents and has lots of activities for kids.  Our youngest nephew was kept busy looking for the dozen Animal Tracking stations so he could collect every footprint stamp.  He reminds me a lot of what I was like at that age.

Aimee and I love the Desert Museum.  We would go all the time if it was a little closer to home.  Aimee loves the animals, especially the hummingbirds, and I like taking their photo.  We even made a follow-up visit on Sunday after my sister left.

Since it is my birthday, Aimee baked a cake and our niece decorated it.  I have had a telescope from a very young age, so my sister invited a local astronomer to stage a Star Party in our backyard.  Aimee and I have participated in a couple while camping at National Parks so I wasn’t expecting much.  This one was fantastic.  The guide was very knowledgeable and had a humorous patter to go with his entertaining lecture.  He set up a large 11-inch computer-controlled Schmidt-Cassegrain and had a well-planned itinerary. 

The nice thing about Star Parties is they are all different.  The sky is continually changing.  And I love these new automated telescopes and the digital cameras that can easily be attached.  They are a great leap forward especially for the photographer in me.  I may need to budget one of these for our future. 

Soon after setup, the moon made a visit quickly popping up over our mountains.  To my delight, our guide was able to take several photos with my sister's I-phone showing the hilltop trees and rocks silhouetted against the moon’s magnified surface.  We then got to see the planet Jupiter and the clearly visible red stripes on its stormy surface.  I liked the view of the Great Orion Nebula the best because those types of objects were the most difficult to see with the little shaky telescope of my youth.  What a wonderful birthday surprise!