Biosphere 2

On Sept 26, 1991,

4 men & 4 women were locked inside a sealed world.

Inside that world was an entire biosphere...  a separate planet so to speak.

With 4,000 species of plant life it was a kind of Botanical Noahs Ark...

The design of the structure - which covers over 3 acres - was

to prevent as much as an atom to transfer in from outside.

The inhabitants would live work and play inside in a totally self sufficient

world that grew, &/or  recycled all its food,  air,  & water.

It was a grand experiment in not only the study of our planet and it's systems,

 but also a study of what it might be like to create self sufficient

colonies in space.

I wont go into the specifics and how it all turned out...

You can google that if you are interested, but what follows is a tour

of this amazing facility that is now a massive research station owned

by the University of Arizona.

Inside the Biosphere is a

Rain Forest

Taken from the "Savannah Grasslands" Bio Zone

looking down upon the Ocean with Coral Reef.

Below is the fog desert.

The white platform in the middle is an experiment about how

plants will grow in solid rock, and form dirt that is

currently under way.

Because the entire complex was sealed, and changes in temperature

and outside atmospheric pressure would cause the building to expand/ contract

and rupture, a way was needed to handle the changes in in pressures.

The Biosphere was designed with 2 huge "lungs"  These massive rooms have a

16 ton aluminum disc (seen on left with legs dangling) suspended

 on a doughnut of rubber.  As the air expands in the biosphere - it lifts the 

aluminum disc.  As it contracts - the disc lowers to the floor.

Below is the "Human Habitat" section of the Biosphere2

The upper knob is a library/observatory.

Below that are crews rooms, and dining facilities.

This is one of 10 crew apartments.

The first floor is a living room, up the spiral

staircase is the bedroom.

The Kitchen.  the door in the rear leads to

the food preparation/storage area.

(remember all the food was grown here)

Looking out from the kitchen is the dining area,

and beyond that the rain forest.

From the outside on the left is the building housing

the bio zones (Rain forest, Savannah, Desert, etc)

In the center the Human Habitat,

The round building on the right is one of

the two Lungs.

And of course...  the Honeymooners.

Did I mention that it snowed last night on the mountains

and rained on us?

Happy New Year Everyone!

Dinner at Ambers

With today being our anniversary, it officially marks the end of

Love Week 2012.

We celebrated the event with another special dinner out.

Before that however we took a drive up Mt. Lemmon.

Mt Lemmon is the summertime escape venue for the residents of the

Tucson Metro.

Rising to almost 9,157' it represents almost a 7,000' elevation

increase so in the summertime this can provide a welcome respite from

from the sizzling daytime temps in the valley.

Driving up the Catalina highway you immediately begin to climb

and as you do you pass thru numerous botanical life zones.

Around 3,900 we notice the end of the Saguaro Cactus.

By 4,000 most of the lower valley cacti had been replaced with the dry

scrublands you would see further north.

Around 5,000 we began to enter into pine forests and started to see snow

in the shadows and on the north facing slopes.

Unfortunately our timing (or lack thereof),

combined with our need to make our 4:30 reservations...

(yes us geezers actually ate dinner at 4:30)

We only could make it up to windy point - about the 1/2 way point on the road,

and the 6,000' mark, before we had to turn around.

Luckily for us, the view at Windy Point of the Tucson Metro,

is one of the highlights of the road.

You can see that with a view like this timing is everything...

the right light and clearer skies and you would have quite an amazing shot.

We still had not make it far enough up the mountain to get into the deep snow,

(Mt Lemmon Ski Area has 20")

But I did get a few "Snow Pictures" for you.

Windy Point was also the scene for todays Self Portrait.

Soon we had to rush down the Mountain for dinner.

Tonights venue was the Amber Polish Restaurant & Gallery.

It is a small but picturesque place with a lovely garden off of

the dining room.  Our table was located so as to overlook it.

We started off with some wine for Kate, &

a Hofbrau Heffewiessen Draught for me.

Some Potato Pancakes with apple sauce and

sour cream for a warm up.

When it was time for the main course, there was so much to choose from

and it all sounded so good that we decided to go with some sampler

dinners for a wider cross section.

For a main course Kate had a Pierogi Sampler.

The varieties were Potato & Cheese, Mushroom & Sauerkraut,

and Beef.

I went for the Polish Sampler.

It consisted of a Goblaki, which is a pork & rice stuffed cabbage roll, covered with

a sweet and sour tomato sauce.

It also had a Polish Sausage, One each of the Pierogi's,

plus Sauerkraut and Red Cabbage.

When it was time for desert, we both decided to pass.

We've been eating rather well the past week and while neither of

us have put on any poundage we decided not to push our luck.

With such delectable sweets as German Chocolate Cake, numerous types of

Crepes, European Cheese Cake, Creme Brûlée etc it was a lot

harder to pass than it sounds....   so score one for willpower.

So tomorrow we start year 23 of our marriage and it just keeps getting better.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Stay Thirsty my Friends.

The full moon blues

Today was one of those classic full moon days.

We had our phone & data T1 lines go down at the office in NY

That cripples me on the road and creates work for myself

and the staff as this infrastructure falls under my responsibility.

There were several other fires that cropped up...

One that kept me on the cell phone for 90 minutes....  ugggh!

lets just say it was a busy Full Moon Day.

Since I am in Mountain Time and that is 2 hours earlier than the office

it really allows us to put in some sightseeing time in the afternoon. 

We can usually hit the road around 2pm here as the day is

winding down there - and get 4 hours of touring in at the end of the day.

Today our plan was a late afternoon visit to the Desert Museum 

but the moon had other plans for us today.

Bad Moon...

So instead let me share a few more shots.

Our self photo yesterday as we were leaving the Air & Space Museum

Kate posing in front of a Northwest Airlines Lockheed Electra.

It was an Electra that Amelia Earhart was flying when she disappeared on

her round the world attempt in 1937.

Many of the planes had interesting Nose Art.

Is it live or is it Memorex?

Meanwhile tonight back at camp.....

I have been on a quest to try and capture a certain lighting on the Catalina Mountains.

The lighting was mentioned nostalgically by a friend from here.

I think I'm starting to zero in on the timing.

I kept looking out the window of the coach because I thought 

tonights sunset might be the one.

At a certain time the mountains seemed to look like they were starting

to get that fiery hue, so I rushed out looking for a decent place to try and get

a shot.

The shot above was my first attempt.

I thought that if I could get up on the small mound in the center of the above

photo (where the trees are lit by the sun in the center)

That I would get a better view of the mountains.

So here I am running around in shorts and a T Shirt.

Everyone in the Campground was wearing jeans and sweatshirts.

The temps were now in the mid 40's..

As the sun drops out here - the temps drop twice as fast.

So I'm running thru the woods, up the side of the hill,

trying not to run into any low lying cacti on the way..

and by the time I got to the top the light had changed and I was left with this.

I needed to be up here 15 min sooner and get about another 1000' to the other

side of the hill to wait and get a better shot.

Ok Linds....  I get it.

I now know those colors of which you spoke.

I don't think my skills will ever do yours justice but I'll

try and get some shots for you to give you that elusive taste of home.

Have a nice weekend and most importantly...

Stay thirsty my friends.

Pima Air & Space Museum

Today we went to the Pima Air & Space Museum.

It is just south of Tucson next to Davis-Monthan AFB.

It is a large (80 Acre) Collection of over 300 aircraft spanning

over 100 years of aviation history.

All this is set against the backdrop of arriving and departing Air Force

Jets silhouetted against the nearby mountains.

As a licensed pilot - I was like a kid in the candy shop.

I'd like to talk about every plane that we visited & photographed,

but I'll try to keep the list reasonably short.

I'm going to put the aircraft in a chronological order so you can

see the evolution.

First the Bombers

The B24 Liberation was a 4-engine WWII era bomber that saw action 

in every theatre by every service.  It was the most produced 

aircraft of the war.  They were retired from military service immediately

after the war but continued to see forest fire service into the 1990's.

It had a top speed of 290 mph with a 2,100 mile range.

The Boeing B29 Superfortress was introduced towards the end of WWII.

It was designed as a "Hemisphere Defense Weapon"

It's 4 piston engines developed 2,200 HP each.

It carried more bombs, higher, farther, and faster, than any

aircraft prior to its introduction and was quite advanced for its time with

features such as pressurized crew areas, electronic bomb controls

and remote control machine gun turrets.

It is most noted as being the type of aircraft that dropped

the Atomic Bombs on Japan ending WWII

It had a top speed of 358 mph with a 4,100 mile range.

Our next bomber-

The Convair B36 - was a unique aircraft in many ways.

It was the last of the piston powered bombers and bridged the gap between

the WWII era aircraft, and the jets that are now commonplace.

Even though it was technically obsolete by the time it entered service its

predecessor, the B47 did not have the ability to carry the heavy early

generation nuclear weapons of the time, so the B36 remained an important

part of our arsenal during the early days of the Cold War.

It had 6 pusher piston engines that put out over 3,000 hp each.

2 jet engines were later added at the outboard end of each wing

to reduce the takeoff roll.  With its 10 engines- "6 to turn and 4 to burn"

was the phrase its pilots used to describe its power plants.

It had a top speed of 435 mph with a 10,000 mile range.

The Boeing B47 was the first all jet bomber built anywhere in the world.

While the Air Force had issued a jet bomber requirement in 1941, it was not

until the end of the war when German Jet Engine research information became

available that the B47 was developed.

It was developed with one mission in mind...  to drop atomic bombs on the

Soviet Union.  Unlike the earlier B36 however it lacked the long-range and thus

required mid-air refueling to complete its missions.

The B47 was the aircraft featured in the book and later the movie "Fail Safe".

It had a top speed of 606 mph with a range of 4,000 miles.

Finally in the bomber category is the modern big boy of the group - The B52.

With its 8 jet engines it can carry a massive 70,000 lb bomb payload

at 635 mph for 7,100 miles.

During the liberation of Kuwait - the B52 provided many of

Saddams Republican guard their goal of a face to face with Allah.

There are still about 85 of them in service.

The fighters

The F4 Cosair is perhaps one of the most recognizable fighters of WWII

It was a carrier based attack fighter that was produced thru 1952 seeing duty

in Korea as well.

You might remember this aircraft from the show about Pappy Boyington

and the "Black Sheep" squadron.

Its speed was over 400 mph.

Another recognizable fighter was the P51 Mustang.

The Mustang was arguably the finest fighter of WWII.

It was first produced at the request of the British Government whose

requirements stipulated that a prototype be ready in 120 days!

So - in the pre-computer days of slide rules and mathematics using paper

and pencil - the finest aircraft of the war was designed in 4 months!

It was a land based fighter that saw action in the European & Pacific Theatre.

It had a top speed around 440 mph.

Bring on Tom Cruise & Top Gun.

You might recognize the aircraft below from that movie.

The F14 Tomcat was a carrier based attack craft that was retired from

Naval Service in 2006.

It had a top speed over 1,500 mph!

Other Aircraft

The C47 is the military version of the DC3.

This aircraft probably deserves as much credit for our victory in WWII

as any.  It was used for cargo transport, carrying troops, paratroopers, towing

gliders...  you name it.

After the war it saw service with the airlines as a commercial airliner.

There are many still in service today in various roles around the world.

The baby below is one of the Bells of the Ball.

The SR71 Blackbird was the last of the aircraft designed & built by

the Secretive Lockheed Skunkworks.

The first one was built in 1964, but even today it is hard to overstate

the technological achievements represented by this aircraft.

Built as a spy plane to replace the U2, the SR71 still holds numerous records.

Worlds Absolute Speed Record  2,193 mph

Record for Sustained Altitude  85,069 ft.

NY to London  1 hr 55 minutes.

LA to Wash DC  1 hr 4 minutes.

This is one Beautiful Bird.

The VC118/Douglas DC6 saw service as a commercial airliner.

This one below was Eisenhowers, then JFK's Air Force One until

Kennedy replaced it with a jet - the 707.

Around the same time - the Lockheed Constellation was providing

comfort and safety for the traveling public.

The "Connie" used the same engines as the B29.

Here is Kate doing the job that she did at Northwest.

Look at the line of this Aircraft.

Designed with sliderules.

The Boeing 707 ushered in the era of Jet Travel.

I traveled on a PanAm 707 to Europe when I was a kid.

This one served to transport VIP's

Last but not least - the Cessna 150.

This 2 seat monster is the first plane that I ever flew myself.

It has 100 HP, a blistering top speed of 125 mph

and about a 740 mile range. 

If you've made it this far...  congratulations.  You must like planes!

As we left the Museum, the skies to the north had darkened and you could

see that precipitation of some type was falling.

On the way home we drove thru some showers as the temps dropped into

the mid 40's.  

Soon we got some glimpses of new snow on the peaks above.

It was an interesting & informative day.

I hope you've enjoyed visiting the Museum with us.

Looking Back

After Breakfast we took the doods on multiple laps of the campground.

I peg it about 4 1/2 miles.

A tired Doodle is a happy owner.

After work today - about 2pm local - 4pm eastern, we went on a

pilgrimage of sorts.

Tucson holds a special place in Kates heart.

Her Brother went to college here at U of A,

Her Uncle Phil & Aunt Rose lived here.

I've heard many colorful stories about Uncle Phil & Aunt Rose.

Kate always speaks of them with a special twinkle.  They sound

as if they were a special kind of people.

One particularly interesting story of uncle Phil however is that he was

Joe Bonanno's Chauffer for many years.

For those of you not up on your Sicilian Pop Culture - Joe Bonanno was one of

the 5 bosses (Godfathers) of the NY Mafia Crime Families.

His leadership spanned almost 40 years from the 

early 1930's to the late 60's.

The character of Vito Corleone in The Godfather - although a composite

 of many - was largely based upon Joe Bonanno's life.

Joe eventually was able to do the unimaginable...

He retired ALIVE - to Tucson.

I do not believe that any Godfather did that before or since.

The agreement however was that once he retired - he stayed retired.

If he broke that oath - he would be immediately killed.

Kate once had dinner at Uncle Phils house with Joe and his wife.

Of course Kate has an interesting story to tell of that night, but the bottom

line is that they were warm and pleasant people.

Today we went in search of Uncle Phil & Aunt Roses Graves.

We located them in the Holy Hope Cemetery.

Which is incidentally the same Cemetery in which Joe was laid to rest.

Joe has the biggest grave marker in the cemetery.

After visiting Joe we went in search of Uncle Phil & Rose.

We had called the Cemetery earlier and had a location...

We just needed to find it.

And we did.

Kate left some flowers on the grave and spent some time

saying whatever Kate says to the dearly departed.

Our next stop was a little lighter, but still about the past.

We drove 10 miles south of Tucson to the

Mission San Xavier del Bac.

In the early days of the southwest - this area was still "owned" by Spain/Mexico.

The Spanish Kings would send the missionaries - Jesuit, and later Franciscans

among the indigenous people to spread the word.  The reason for doing this was

more about pacification of the locals than enlightenment.

The mission was founded in 1692 by Eusebio Francisco Kino, 

a Jesuit missionary who was also the founder of the Spanish missions 

in the Sonoran Desert chain. 

 He often visited and preached in the area. 

The original mission was built about two miles away and was subject

to numerous Apache attacks who finally destroyed it in about 1770. 

Charles III of Spain - who distrusted the Jesuits, banned them from all 

Spanish lands in the Americas in 1767. From this time on, San Xavier mission was led

 by the more pliable and "reliable" Franciscans. 

The present building was constructed under the direction of 

Franciscan Fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz. 

mostly using native labor from 1783-1797.

Unlike the other Spanish missions in Arizona, 

San Xavier is still actively served by Franciscans, and still serves 

the Native community by which it was built.

Having been constructed by the Spanish - It is interesting to see the

Moorish influence in the Architecture on a building located in the US.

If you recall my blogs from Spain last year - you would see similar

architectural elements on the buildings there such as the Alhambra.

This courtyard in the back led to green farm fields 

with the desert mountains beyond.

Finally our self-portrait.

We managed to squeeze in a lot after putting in a full workday.

Like I say - plenty of time to rest when you're dead.

No disrespect ......  capeesh?