We are on the road again today, driving from Las Cruces, NM to Tucson, AZ...a distance of 275 miles. On the way, we ran into border patrol checkpoint #3 while still in New Mexico. No big deal, just a little inconvenience today.
State #7 - Arizona
It wasn't too much further before we crossed over into Arizona.
The landscape did change some as we went. We saw quite a few sandstorms which were very interesting. There were also lots of trains running along the road. We thought about little Christopher and how much he loved seeing the trains.
As we drove, Dean saw a sign for Fort Bowie National Monument. We decided we were good on time and would swing off and check it out. Big mistake...huge!! First of all, we should have known this wasn't going to turn out good when the paved road abruptly stopped after about 10 miles. First of all, there was no indication until we were already on the journey that it would be this far off the interstate. Secondly, the unpaved road became very rough and ruddy. In the middle of this desert land, there was a huge grove of pistachio trees. So we drove and drove and drove. Finally, we see a sign. When we get into the parking lot, we see the Fort Bowie National Park Services sign. Then there was the additional message of hiking mileage. There was an outside display showing photos of Fort Bowie then and now. The current photo did not show anything standing. There wasn't a visitors center, only 3 other empty cars in the parking lot. We made a quick choice to continue driving the unpaved road to get back to the interstate. What did we lose to take this chance? We only lost a little over an hour in travel time and some gas. What did we gain? We gained the knowledge to check out possible stops along the way BEFORE we begin the day's journey and some fun memories of our experience.
Space Centers/Museums #4 - PIMA Air and Space Museum
We arrived in Tucson, AZ and went straight to the PIMA Air and Space Museum. We definitely underestimated the size and extent of what this museum has to offer.
We started in the Main Hangar and spent time there, looking at the three huge rooms housing planes, helicopters, drones, bombs, flight simulators, and kid's learning area. One of our favorites in this hangar included the Starr Bumble Bee. This plane was designed for the sole purpose of taking the record of the world's smallest aircraft. It flew for the first time in 1984 and was credited in the Guiness Book of World's Records as the smallest aircraft ever flown. The Bumble Bee was inspiration for one of the characters in the movie, PLANES. Robin also enjoyed the kid's learning area as she reviewed her knowledge of pitch, roll, and yaw. The hands-on experience made it fun and easy to remember.
Next, we took a tram tour of the outside aircraft display. The museum is on 80 acres of land and these aircraft covers a large portion of the facility. Our docent/driver was a former Navy aviator so added many personal details to the details about the aircraft, Two favorites were an Air Force One and an Air Force One Half, both having flown President Kennedy and President Johnson. Another favorite was a.Navy Blue Angel. Robin had watched the team fly at Sun 'n Fun last year. Of course, another favorite was the NASA Guppy, which would fly large rocket segments too big to travel by rail. These were just a few of the hundreds and hundreds on display, each with their own story.
While we were taking the tram tour, we enjoyed watching the student pilots from Davis-Monthan Air Force base train. They mostly were flying A-10 Warthogs, but we saw a few F-16s as well. It was fun watching some of the formations they were learning. Of course, they also were very loud!
The tram tour ended at the 390th Memorial Museum. We explored the museum and learned a little of what it was and how it is honoring veterans.
Then we headed to the Space Museum building. It housed many artifacts and photos of various eras of space travel. One interesting display was a mockup of the Phoenix Lander. The real Phoenix Lander launched from Cape Canaveral in August 2007. It successfully landed in a polar region of Mars in May 2008. Mission scientists used instruments on the lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars as well as to research the history of water there. This mission was very important to Arizona because it was headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of University of Arizona under the direction of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This was the first time a public university had led a mission to Mars and had developed many of the instrument designs for the lander. While we were reading the different displays, one of the volunteers approached us and asked if we wanted to have our photo taken on the Moon. Of course, we said yes, and followed him to the education room. We took several photos with the Moon background, but especially like the one where we got to hold up the Earth.
It was time to go and we had only made a dent in what there was to see in this museum. We exchanged our tickets for two day tickets and planned to go on the "Boneyard" tour tomorrow.
We checked into our Courtyard Marriott hotel and then went to eat. We found a Texas Roadhouse and knew what it offered.
All in all, we had an interesting day full of learning and adventure. More adventure to come tomorrow.
