Saguaros and Missiles near Tucson, Arizona

As is common for us, we visited two very different places today. The first was the Saguaro National Park and the second was the Titan II Missile Museum.

The Sonoran Desert is known for the saguaro cactus. For a desert, it has a large variety of plants and animals that have adapted to the small quantity of rain, and call this place home.

Here is a forest of saguaros. If you look closely, you can see they extend all the way up the sides of the hills.

Saguaros grow very slowly, but can have many interesting shapes. By about 50 years, they can be 7 feet tall and start to sprout arms at about 75. If they get to live to 100 they will be about 25 feet tall. Some live to 150 years or more.

The spines protect the waxy skin from the sun and drying winds and discourages animals from taking it's moisture.

The saguaro has a shallow root structure, about 3 inches below the surface, but extends as far as the cactus is tall. The many ribs expand to hold water in the spongy flesh. After heavy rains, a single cactus can absorb up to 200 gallons of water which will sustain it for up to one year.

Coyotes are one of the many inhabitants here in the National Park.

For a drastic change, we then went to the Titan II Missile Museum, south of Tucson. We arranged ahead of time for a 90 minute tour which was very interesting. These missiles played a large role during the Cold War Era, as a deterrent. They were decommissioned by the Air Force between 1982 and 1987.

Looking down the 10 stories from the top of the silo where the only remaining Titan II is housed for exhibit. The nuclear warheads these missiles carried were 200 times more powerful than the bomb that devastated Hiroshima.

The area at the top of the silo looks different than it did when active, as the museum has added vehicles for display. Concrete barriers have been put in place next to the silo doors, so as not to allow them to open more than half-way.

The double blast doors at the bottom of the stairway leading to the control room. Even though they are 6000 lbs each, they are so well balanced on the hinges that one person can close them.

Claudia as the 'Crew Commander' in the control room.

A "real" retired Crew Commander, Chuck was our very informative guide.

The long hallway between the control room and missile silo.