I have vague memories of going to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum when I was a child; pretty sure we were on a field trip from my grade school. I don’t remember much but thought I’d go back and check it out. On my ride to the museum I noticed the Kitt Peak Observatory in the distance, and I had a vague memory of another grade school field trip visit. But we won’t be going up there this time around.
The desert museum is basically a sidewalk through the desert with plant labels and some exhibits along the way. The sidewalk is very useful since you don’t have to do too much navigating around the cactus, but you still need to be paying attention or you’ll get stuck! This is a Gila Monster – they are only out of their burrows from May to June.I have no idea how many humming birds are in the enclosed humming bird habitat, but it’s a bunch! They are everywhere and although none of them landed on me, they definitely weren’t afraid. I didn’t get a good picture but I highly recommend the enclosed humming bird habitat, wherever you might find one.
This is a Harris’s Hawk. It is notable for its behavior of hunting cooperatively in packs. When prey is seen the birds will dive bomb one at a time until they catch it. The prey will be left for the dominant female to feed on first. The museum has a free flight experience when the weather is cooler and I was told that it’s not unusual for the birds to see something on the desert floor and start hunting!! How cool would that be. But, the groceries are better at the museum so they always come back – so far anyway…..From the museum, I headed for the Saguaro National Park where not surprisingly you will see an abundance of saguaro cactus. I was on the lookout for nests up in the cactus. I’ve seen birds inside the cactus before but never a nest inside the arms. The Harris’s Hawk nests in the saguaro sometimes so I was hoping to show you one – nope. My photo doesn’t come close to capturing just how many saguaros there are, but saguaro cactus are prolific in this part of the state.
On my way south I was treated to several fly overs by some of the A-10 Thunderbolt‘s stationed at Davis-Monthon Air Force Base. When I hear the roar of fighter jets, I always think (sometimes out loud) – That’s the sound of freedom; and our freedom is something we all need to think about this Memorial Day weekend. Then I happened to see this F-4 Phantom flown by the Thunderbirds outside the American Legion in Corona, AZ. I think the F-4 with this particular paint scheme is is one of the best looking airplanes in the world, so I just had to share it with you. OOH – RAH That’s for you JB.Tombstone has always impressed me as an historic place but not really worth making a destination out of. Well – this time, it’s kinda on my way so we’ll see. I guess if you’re wrapped up in the history of Tombstone it would be more interesting but most everything is new in the town – not even preserved or reconstructed. Boot Hill isn’t new but there are far more people buried there than I thought.From Tombstone, I was off to Bisbee, home of the Copper Queen and Lavender Pit Mines. I’ve been to the open pit mine before and my father used to work on the two way radios in their mining equipment. It closed in 1978 but over 600,000 tons of copper came out of this mine!! One of the other things they found in the mine was turquoise – Bisbee Turquoise is among the finest turquoise in the world. I’m sure that taking turquoise was strictly forbidden, but my dad says that a few of the miners used to take it out in their lunch boxes and speculated that they must have rooms full of the stuff at home. It’s difficult to get perspective in this shot but those buildings you see at the top left side of the photo are two and three stories tall.I’m close to my hometown on these roads and although I’m not going through, want to wave to Willcox on my way by. I really enjoy the riding in this area, fresh air, friendly people, and roads with enough character to keep your attention – wonderful…..Okay – a little long winded for such a short day but this post might have to last you a couple days. I plan to be camping in the Guadalupe Mountains east of El Paso, TX and from what I’ve seen, it’s a remote campground. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
Perspective…My FAA initial hire in 1976, my instructor was former copper miner from AZ. Carl something, can’t remember his last name.
I can’t believe I’m actually learning stuff from you on this trip!! Great stuff…be safe!!!!
So much fun see pics of the places that were part of our childhood – Desert Museum, Kitt Peak Observatory, Saguaro National Monument, Cochise Stronghold, Chiricahua National Monument . . . How many kids grow up knowing that the Apache warrior Cochise is buried somewhere in the mountains in their back yard? What a great childhood we had.