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

Tucson Mountain Park lures you in...YES!

The trails of the Sonoran Desert lure you in, hold you captive, and make you grateful that you came.  Nothing is more tempting to me than a clear view of a trail.  Where does it go?  What will I experience?  But I was distracted by the litter at the beginning of this trail.  True to my Mom's training, I have my own grabber (blue) to aid my compulsion to pick up garbage, especially cigarette butts and anything plastic.  Bob takes this as odd behavior, and he took the following pictures...to prove I'm wacky.  Does anyone else do this?

Ewwww... more butts.  Notice that by now the trail is forgotten...and I deposit the trash in our RV's basura.

Every mountain has Saguaro growing to its top!  The fuzzy cacti are Buckhorn Cholla, and I already had spine wounds and fine needles still paining my hands from a fall 2 days ago.  I didn't know these tricks for removal (click here) and threw away the needle-infested gloves I'd been wearing when I fell, and I wished I could throw away the pierced flesh of my hands as well.  But it's incredibly beautiful in the park.  We were excited now to find Gilbert Ray Campground.  Click here to see an excellent description (with photos) of this premium camp.  Volunteer jobs are for 3 month stints, but there were no openings...in case you were looking. 

The campground has one trail, so I happily followed it to Rattlesnake Trail, which I decided to cross because I saw Old Tucson Studios in the distance.  I knew John Wayne movies had been filmed here, so I let myself get curious.  The bright paint and kiddie rides betrayed my expectations, but it's still a fun, fun place.

On the way back to camp I got to celebrate the beauty of the area by raising my own arms with so many others in praising God's creation.  What an evocative area for the imagination and the spirit!  It certainly resonated with my eternal nature.

I found an ad posted in the bathroom of the educational group site for a walk on the Brown Mountain Trail.  I watched a film on YouTube of a crazed biker riding down this mountain trail, with hairpin turns and huge sharp shards or rock flipping up as the bike bounced over them.  But the crazy part to me would be the risk of falling into that cacti and being injected with the tiny, fine spines called glochidia. The glochidia are the most difficult cactus needles to see and remove, and will cause dermatitis if left in the skin.  (I should know.)  I took a chance the 9 o'clock walk was on and rode my bike to the trailhead in the chill of the desert morning.

Parks and Recreation Volunteer Naturalists Ed Bartlett and John Scheuring were prepared and ready to take a mob into the desert for a fabulous learning experience.  We waited together as exactly not one other person showed up.  I was not surprised, and let my new friends know they could cancel the walk...but I had a few questions about the crazy cacti I'd met on my own walk.  Ed graciously said he'd take me on the walk.  Later he said I had so many questions that the walk had taken twice as long as it usually did....but, boy, did I learn a lot!  Again my theory was verified...you learn so much more and retain it much better if you experience your learning.  Nevertheless, I was presented a gorgeous book at the conclusion of the walk to help me retain the excellent instruction I had just received.  Ed deserves the Volunteer of the Year Award!

Buckhorn Cholla standing in a Row with Rhyolite Peaks in the background.

Every Saguaro has its Story

Why grow arms at all?  So many seem tortured by the elements.  More arms equals more surface area for photosynthesis plus more places to grow flowers.  Each fruit may have 2,000 seeds!  If the Saguaro cannot reproduce itself (at least once) in its lifetime, it has failed...and that may be after putting out 40 million seeds!  Saguaro babies can grow to be as tall as I am in 35 years...if conditions are ideal.  Usually it takes 47 to 67 years to reach my height.  Adult weights are in the tons. 

 

Read more: How to Remove Cactus Prickles | eHow.com

Saguaro Cacti fill Valley of the Giants

Hey, hombre...  Necesitamos bebidas...we need lots of liquid refreshment for our trip into the desert in search of the world's largest cactus.  It's Christmas vacation, and we want to be alive to meet year 2012.

We followed a dirt road to a rusty piece of metal fence guarded by a cartoonish Mexican pirate who took $10 to let us pass.  "Dirt roads" in the area of San Felipe are really loose sand tracks, so the level of interest was high in whether we'd survive the trip.  But since Mexico chopped down the biggest cactus (17 meters high and 10 tons heavy) and shipped it to Spain in 1992 for the International Exposition, Rancho Punta Estrella has become a curiosity.  How did something so big grow here on this dry, dry Rancho?  Time....maybe 200 years of it.  How did it get to Spain?  On a Russian jumbo jet.

The natives love the fruit of the Gigantic Sahuaro.  It tastes like a fig and is juicy.  So the Papago Indians learned to dry it, make candy, marmalade, syrup and alcoholic beverages...used as "ceremonial wine".  But you have to beat the coyotes, ants and birds, who also love to feast on it.  A Saguaro produces 20 to 40 million seeds in its lifetime but is lucky to get a baby or two out of it.  Saguaros grow slowly and need the protection of a "nurse plant" such as a bush or small tree when they are young. It takes about 15 years for a young saguaro to reach one foot in height, and 40 years to reach ten feet in height. It is about then that they begin to bloom.

The gatekeeper gave us a sheet that said it took 50 years to grow as tall as our son, Newel, and 75 years before it gets arms and produces its first seeds.  So we made a game of trying to guess how old the above baby saguaros might be. 

We did some cross-country hiking, which made us water hungry, so we put in some beach combing time.  Karen was going to use her special shells to decorate picture frames...which is a great souvenir idea.

We continued our journey along the beach and got a lesson on how to quickly separate a fish from its bones.  It made us hungry enough to stop for hot chocolate and deep-fried churros.  The drink was as thick as honey and the churros were dense with well-used grease.  Within 30 minutes I was not well, but everyone else was ready to start eating all over.