There’s nothing like a 24-hour mountain bike race to test your mind and body. Here’s the scene from an Average Joe sort of racer.
Tucson
Scenes from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Here are a few fun scenes from a trip I took to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This was back in November, but I’m just getting around to it now. Except more about this very cool place soon.
A museum volunteer holds an owl.
The rocks and minerals on display are also pretty cool.
Rattlesnake!
A falcon poses during the Raptor Free Flight show.
A closer look at the falcon.
Looking west of the museum at the open desert.
Hotel Review – InnSuites Tucson Foothills
Living in Phoenix in the fall and winter is pretty sweet. I’m just now starting to forget four months of scorching, unrelenting summer heat. I can go outside without fear of dehydration!
But still, I needed a change of scenery. That lead Sarah and me to Tucson to hike a bit and check out the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum (a post on that is coming up soon). We wanted to spend the night, and I got online to find a decent place the morning we left – the day after Thanksgiving, no less!
I quickly found the InnSuites Tucson Foothills, which is owned by Best Western. The often-handy (but sometimes maddening) GoogleEarth helped me find it. I wanted a place a little farther from the University of Arizona, and a little closer to hiking trails. Here are some bits you need to know about this hotel:
1. Hiking trails are about 10 minutes away. Not bad! And it’s actually a really good system. The Pima Canyon trail can keep you occupied all day. The scenery is striking and varied.
2. The rooms all seem to have comfortable beds and decent lighting. They all appeared to be clean and well-maintained. Each room had its own region-inspired name, which was kind of funny. Ours was the Show Low Suite, or something like that.
3. Try to get a room on the second floor. The tiled floors downstairs make a racket in the morning once all the housekeeping carts depart for their rounds.
Now, this last one is the big [...]
Tucson’s Airplane Boneyard a Creepy Piece of History
There’s this really creepy, weird place down in Tucson, Ariz. Most people call it the Boneyard. The official name is the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, or AMARC. In short, it’s where airplanes go to die.
I just wrote a piece about it for Associated Content. That’s where you can get all the official-speak – how to get there, what to bring, what to see. But since this is my own blog, I want to give you a little something different, plus bigger photos!
I want you to picture thousands of acres. Then imagine rows of aircraft dating from post-WW II to practically present day. Dozens of B-52 Stratofortresses. Old Boeing 720s. Even the odd B-1B bomber! Helicopters, light transports, they’re all here baking in the sun.
This place just staggers my imagination. If this is where planes die, can you imagine how many are still flying? Can you imagine how many of these could find a second life better than being chopped up and turned into cans?
And the Boneyard is a starkly and oddly beautiful sight. If you’re riding the Fantasy Island mountain bikes trail network, the Boneyard is a backdrop for quite a bit of the ride. It makes me feel like Mad Max will soon coming roaring through the desert. No matter how many times I see it, I just wish I could spend a day walking among all these planes.
The Boneyard is a huge, impossible-to-miss piece of the military’s buying power and scope. I’m going to add a little [...]
