Oro Valley and Surrounding Areas, Arizona
(Mom stuff, hanging out and sightseeing)
January 7, 2017 - February 28, 2017
Took the opportunity to see some of the local sights around Tucson during this period of time. Our good friend Helen came down to spend about 3 1/2 weeks in her motorhome which she had stored down here for the winter. That was really fun for us and the three of us struck out to see some of the sights.
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| Helen in her new "cowgirl" hat! |
We first went to Patagonia Lake State Park where we spent 2 nights. It's south of Tucson in a ranching area.
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| 2 views of Patagonia Lake |
The Lake and campground were both very pleasant, not that we spent much time there. We drove over to the tourist town of Tubac (via Nogales) the first day and spent the day perusing the many shops there. You could easily spend a lot of money there. The shops and galleries have really wonderful, really expensive items. We didn't take many pictures for some reason - probably to enthralled with all the wonderful art.
If money were no object (dream on) I could easily have bought quite a lot of artwork of all descriptions - painting, metal work, baskets, clay items, etc. It was fun to see it all. The second day we drove to the town of Patagonia where we also went through some galleries, etc. It's much less touristy but still fun.
As we drove back to Tucson we stopped at Tumacacori National Historic Park and toured the mission grounds. The original settlement (Pima Indian village) dates back to the early 1600's. In the late 1600's a Spanish Jesuit priest founded a mission there. It had a tumultuous history; Indian attacks, Franciscan monks replacing Jesuits, more Indian attacks, and finally Mexico forcing all Spanish settlers out of the area. The mission was finally closed at the end of the Mexican-American war in 1848. We had a young and enthusiastic tour guide who pointed out many interesting features including the Moorish influence from Spain.
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| Garden view from the Gift Shop |
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| Front of the church. |
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| Inside the church |
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| Side view of the church looking west towards the mountains. |
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| Indian dwelling |
One day we took a short drove north to Oracle to see Biosphere 2. It's an enormous facility as you can see from this picture from their website.
The original experiment was a 2 year (1991-1993), closed system stay by 8 scientists who grew their own food while conducting scientific studies in order to determine what it would take to support human life in outer space. Originally it had a rainforest, an ocean with coral reef, mangrove wetland, savanna grassland, fog desert, agricultural system, human habitat, and a massive infrastructure to keep it running.
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| 2 views of the rainforest |
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| the ocean |
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| the desert |
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| the savannah |
Among the problems they encountered was the huge amount of time it took to maintain the equipment needed to keep everything running. They also discovered that the concrete used in the infrastructure was off-gassing large amounts of CO2 which was affecting their oxygen supply. All their pollinating insects died while pest species flourished. It can't have been what they had hoped for. A second try was made in 1994 but it lasted less than 7 months. The site is currently owned by the Univ. of Arizona and used to conduct science experiments on how to preserve earth. We enjoyed the tour and were especially struck by the complexity, variety and size of the equipment they had to maintain.
We drove up to Florence to visit St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. As you drive along highway 79 between Oracle Junction and Florence there is not much in the way of scenery - mostly low growing scrub and cactus species with an occasional saguaro. You would never imagine that something so beautiful could be forged out of this desert wilderness. There is absolutely no indication from the highway that the monastery even exists - but drive about a mile down a side road and you are in an oasis of beauty. If you arrive prepared, you'll have brought your own clothing to cover up everything but your face. For women that means long skirts (to the ground), long sleeve tops with no open necks, and a scarf to cover your head. Never fear, they are prepared for those who don't have their own clothing with a large assortment of skirts, blouses, scarves, etc. in any size you can imagine. The result is simply ..... I'm not sure exactly what to call it!
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| Laura and Helen - in their finest monastery garb |
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| Helen and Doreen looking their best for the visit |
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| Is this a monk, a monster or Doreen's shadow? |
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| Pictures of the monastery grounds |
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| Interior Pictures from several of the buildings. |
The old mining town of Bisbee beckoned us to visit. It's a very fun town, touristy but not overdone. We wandered the streets, shops and restaurants and spent a very enjoyable day there.
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| The town is much cuter than these pictures would indicate! |
We also went to see Colossal cave which is just SE of Tucson. We missed the turn sign to the cave then spent half an hour meandering around, as directed by our GPS, until we finally got back on track. Love the GPS but sometimes she has a laugh at our expense. The cave as been dry for about 10,000 years so it's no longer growing stalagtites and stalagmites. It's also been heavily damaged through the years by people wanting a piece of of cave. Still - it was interesting to see.
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| View from the trail to the cave's entrance. |
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| We took a lot of pictures in the cave but most of them ended up in the trash! |
That about does it for January and February. The weather has been off again on again. Quite a bit of rain which promises to lead to a very pretty desert bloom this year. The temperatures have mostly been very pleasant to a bit cool - but way warmer than we'd be experiencing at home. Overall, the Tucson area has lots to recommend it.
