The AMAZING Desert Museum - Tucson's BEST attraction

We heard the Desert Museum is the best in the west, which makes you curious; but experiencing it makes you want to bring the world here... especially kids!  Clearly any child would learn beyond measure, without even knowing it amidst their fun.  It's a huge adventure with garden after garden, a zoo with natural habitats, and many inviting interactive exhibits.  You can dig for fossils, go underground to see how critters live there, or go underwater to visit beaver, otters and fish. 

I couldn't get myself out of the Earth Science section, with minerals that had me drooling and mystified by their local history. It's the first time I saw big chunks of minerals displayed as they might have looked when discovered in the country rock.  Pictured are Wulfenite and Mimetite (the yellow crystals) and Vanadanite (reddish).

The blue of course is Malachite (found near Bisbee, Arizona).  The Vanadinite was found in the  Superstition Mountains.  It's part of one of the finest collections of regional minerals and gemstones found anywhere!  But the limestone cave trumped them all with its running water, pools full of crayfish, and inviting exhibits that explain the formation of caves and the earth itself.  They made the speleothems out of a foam base, and then carved and painted it.  Most people think they are in a real cave with real decorations when they enter.  Fun.

I was excited to see how many of the cacti I could now name in the cactus garden (after my fine walk with Ed the Naturalist).  I was just admiring the displays when sure enough... despite my precautions, a cactus got me again!  By now I had even more tricks for dealing with the pointy hitchhikers (click here).  People who harvest cacti or hike around cactus plants are bound to get stung from time to time, but I still felt pricked on.

It was time to look at safer exhibits, like the giant ram that kept eyeing me.

The exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonoran Desert Region so realistically you find yourself eye-to-eye with mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, and rattle snakes. Within the Museum grounds, you get to see more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants. There are almost 2 miles of paths traversing 21 acres of beautifully alive desert.  I lost Bob in the maze.  Maybe the mountain lions got him!  The video clip shows just how vicious this pair of cougars could be.

My guess is this is a Guilded Flicker, or maybe the state bird...a cactus wren...not a woodpecker.  But then the only bird I actually know is the robin.  I need more lessons from Naturalist Ed.

If you visit this fine museum give yourself some hours to take it in and you'll be rewarded with some insight into the abundant, complex, and varied life in the area.  A careful exploration helps put this special and rich environment in a much better context... beyond consumption tourism. Photo ops are tremendous.

Read more: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Arizona/Tucson-750502/Things_To_Do-Tucson-Arizona_Sonora_Desert_Museum-BR-1.html#ixzz1kR8oxTL6

USS Midway Museum - San Diego Invasion!

We "walked the gang plank" (the left one shown above in the front)

We went to sea without leaving port!..and without checking into our resort rooms.  We stumbled straight from our long drive into the USS Midway Museum.  Having no idea what to expect, we entered a floating city and walked in the footsteps of 225,000 Midway sailors who served our country beginning in 1945.  Meticulously restored aircraft  – from World War II to Operation Desert Storm – were parked everywhere.  Paka was reliving his own pilot and Air Force days. The rest of us were stunned by the size of the ship and the tightness of the quarters. The passageways formed a disorienting maze that kept separating us from other team members.

They offered headsets to tell the story, but we didn't want to keep track of them and the grandkids as well, so we asked our son, Newel, to give us a spontaneous tour.  It was FAST....so I filmed as much as I could for later viewing.  Below is our first view inside the USS Midway (CV-41).

We had to duck everywhere we walked in the crew's quarters ....or you could count on a close encounter with a bulkhead.  Factoids The Midway was the first US warship that was unable to utilize the Panama Canal due to her size.   In 1947 she test fired a captured German V-2 rocket from her flight deck, the first such launching from a moving platform.  Below is the ship's liquid oxygen plant.  Paka loved this part because he had built such plants in Korea and knew their stories.  In 1980 the Midway collided with the Panamanian merchant ship Cactus.  The collision occurred near the liquid oxygen plant and two sailors working in the plant were killed and three were injured.   In 1990 the Midway  participated in Operation Imminent Thunder, an amphibious landing exercise in Desert Storm which involved about 1,000 U.S. Marines, 16 warships, and more than 1,100 aircraft. She became a museum in 2004.

Enlarge the Oxygen Plant by clicking on it

We quickly found out in our tour this ship had everything.  Our grandson did not enjoy the Brig, but we were fascinated by the chow hall and the officer dining room, named "The Bowling Alley".  Ten tons of food were prepared daily for the crew.  (See film clips at the end of this post.)  It was Christmas, so the ship was decorated like it probably never was before.  I should have remembered from my brothers' models of aircraft carriers that the fighters' wings would fold up, so they could pack more onto the ship.  Below Newel is standing by the TMB Avenger. 

Rarely landings on the Midway went terribly wrong.  This Corsair II caught a wicked downdraft in 1984 which resulted in a Ramp Strike.  The pilot did not survive this one, but click here for a video where a Midway pilot miraculously survived.

Arden is investigating options in case the Midway sinks.  Below is the ship's original 2-man version of a lifeboat.  It has everything, it seems, except adequate room for the overboard sailors.  No wonder this unit comes with a bailing bucket!  Just imagine yourself adrift in high seas in this little bit of a pea pod.

Paka was blown out of the refueling pit by a Phantom F-4 back in 1970

Grandma by a Desert Storm aircraft, the A-6 Intruder

Getting ready to Walk the Plank!

Watching Troy's sun set on "The Plank"
(At the end of this post is a picture of The Plank after the sun went down)

The ship was anchored by this park showcasing the "Unconditional Surrender", a 25-foot sculpture that brings to life a famous black and white image of a sailor kissing a young nurse in Times Square, New York City.   For you young kids, there was a  spontaneous eruption of joy and euphoria that swept a worn-out nation when the public announcement was finally made that World War II was over.  Zoe wanted to head on down to explore this park....and play among the weird "Elephant Trees" that were growing there.  But by the time we got our crowd down off of the ship, it was too dark to play.

Above are clips of:  Dining for officers and enlisted men and the lovely Ward Room.

Above are clips of:  Ship's Cafeteria, and our onboard Dining Experience.  Who wouldn't be famished after seeing the chipped beef in the Midway Cafeteria?  Sailors called it:  "S___ on a Shingle"

So who showed up at the Midway after us?  American Idol.  Just use the key words:  San Diego Auditions at http://www.americanidol.com/   It was great to see the Midway get so much media exposure.   It won't be too long before it's not possible to tour these giants of wars past.