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.

Casa Grande and Sky Diving in Arizona

While spending time in Casa Grande, Arizona, friends Jean and Joe took us to see some of the sites. They were great tour guides. Our first stop on this day was the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. It was named by early Spanish explorers and the four walls face the points of a compass. In the "Great House" which is four stories high and 60 feet long, there is a hole in the west wall that aligns with the sun on the summer solstice. Other holes align with the moon and sun at certain times of the year. Did they follow the skies for planting and harvesting or perhaps religious reasons? There are ruins here of a large walled compound in which the house lies. These ancient people were farmers and irrigated their fields with water from the nearby Salt and Gila Rivers. The Hohokam built a series of canals for this and other compounds that have been found in the area. They also hunted animals and made use of the variety of plants found here. Archeologists have also found evidence that they traded goods with others traveling through the area

A steel and concrete canopy was built in 1932 to protect the Great House from further erosion. They are making great attempts to save the ruins by adding supports between the walls inside the structure.

Here you can see what remains of some of the other structures in the compound.

The main construction material is caliche, a concrete like mixture of calcium carbonate, sand and clay. They used 300 tons to build the Casa Grande. They piled the caliche mud in many layers which were allowed to dry. The walls are 4 feet thick at the bottom and taper towards the top. These hard working people floated and carried hundreds of logs from trees 60 miles away for floor and ceiling supports. All that remains of these are the holes in the dried caliche.

A close up look at an ocotillo sprouting new leaves. To conserve water, this plant, also known as devil's walking stick, drops all it's leaves when it is dry. Within a few days of rain, it sprouts them again.

From the ancient ruins we went to this sky diving facility. No, we didn't go for a ride, but it was fun to watch.

Here is a brave soul coming in for a landing. Looks so relaxed!

This must be someone taking their first jump, as they are strapped to an experienced diver. At least we hope so.

If you'd rather have the experience without jumping out of a plane, they have this indoor facility.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

We spent a couple of days in Las Cruces, New Mexico on our trip west. We stayed in our friends' side yard and had a great time. In the evening we played games and caught up on what we've each been doing since we stopped by a couple of years ago. We visited the White Sands National Monument and the White Sands Missile Range Museum on a windy day. Highway 70 was a pretty ride and the valley in which the Missile Range lies is very vast. This is the site where the atomic age began with the detonation of a plutonium bomb. The area is still used by all branches of the military as well as private companies for testing purposes. The road is closed for 2 hours whenever there is a test. As we approached the National Monument, we could see the wind blown sand for miles. It was different than other sand dunes we had gone to, as the sand is very white and the wind was blowing it around. It kind of looked like a blizzard from up in New York, except it was warm. It is the largest gypsum sand dune area in the world, about 300 square miles. The gypsum is carried from the nearby mountains by water run-off and it collects in a lake with no outlet. As the water evaporates it leaves the gypsum which then blows into dunes.

Our rig parked next to Paul and Stephanie's house. What wonderful hosts!

Their nicely landscaped back yard.

Looks like snow drifts, but it's really sand.

The picture is made blurry by the sand in the air.

Sand dunes all the way to the mountains.

We climbed to the top of one of the dunes.

At the Missile Range Museum, which is located inside a military base. We could take photos here, but had to make sure the mountains were the background.