1/16 Saguaro National Park

We went to Saguaro National Park today. I decided to hike to the highest peak of the Tucson Mountains (about 4400 feet). It was a very long and arduous hike, but worth it for the views. At the top I could see the Catalinas, Kitt Peak, Mt. Hopkins, and the Tucson Valley. About halfway up the trail, I was tiring quickly and had to stop frequently to “take pictures” and drink some water. But I made it to the top fine and dandy. I slipped a few times coming down, sprained my left ankle, got severely sun burned (despite a generous application of sunscreen), but I mostly arrived to the vehicles in one piece. I had fun anyway.

This afternoon I vegetated in front of the tv while I tried to replenish fluids. Transformers was on the tele. Not a bad movie, though; I always get annoyed when movie plots blame aliens for our modern day technology… as if we weren’t smart or capable enough to create and invent.

Store, aloe, vitamin water, subway with friends, sleeeeeeep…

1/15 Mirror Lab and Elixir of Love

The Steward Mirror Lab was impressive. We got to see the rooms where they create large spin-cast mirrors. They were in the process of polishing a mirror for the Magellan telescope and were preparing one of the LSST mirrors for polishing. I was glad they didn’t kick me out for not having close toed shoes.

We got all dressed up and went to dinner with Art and Linda. They took us to a fabulous restaurant serving central Mexican cuisine (I think?). The restaurant changes dishes every evening, so we had a little over ten meals to choose from. I had the pollo morita y queso. It was fantastic. All of the food was fantastic… fresh… flavorful. We all shared chocolate mousse and flourless chocolate volcano cake with berries. This was the best meal I have had since I ate in Cape Town last year.

Art and Linda took us to an opera by Donizetti called Elixir of Love. The production was cheery. I thought the music had beautiful harmony and melodies. It made me feel like singing and smiling. Anything that makes me feel like that is good in my book.

Thank you again Art and Linda! :)

Adventurous

Well I have two days to cover in this posting. On tuesday we met up with our archaeological friend from the University of Arizona, Indiana Patrick we like to call him, to go out to a couple of Native American sites in the San Pedro Valley to a get an idea of where some of the pottery we saw the previous day have been retrieved. We had to drive 1.5 hours east of Tucson past the mountains to get to these places. It was rough drive once we got off the main roads and we put the 4-wd SUV's to good use on the off-road terrain. On SUV actually ended up blowing a tire on our way back. We had to get special permission to gain access to the land these sites are located on because of private ownership. On all the sites we anxiously searched for pieces of pottery and indeed we found many small fragments to our delight. It was the most peaceful place I have ever been. The scenery was astonishing and it was truly a blessing to have such an experience in it.

Wednesday we made a trek up over 8,000 feet to Mt. Hopkins to have a tour of Whipple Observatory. This observatory included the 4 VERITAS gamma-ray telescopes and MMT. All of which are impressive pieces of scientific equipment in both size and engineering. The telescopes in VERITAS are 12 meters in diameter and MMT is 6.5 metes in diameter. MMT which is located at the peak of Mt. Hopkins provided an incredible view of the valley below. We were even high enough to see across the border into Mexico. The drive to the top consists of cut out road in the mountain side about 3-4 meters wide. That in itself is excitement enough. I am just amazed at the tools we have been given that allows us to see such incredible things that these telescopes capture that we could otherwise not see. I am truly thankful for that.

1/14 MMT, Smithsonian, and Whipple

We headed south to Mt. Hopkins to visit MMT, the Smithsonian Observatory, the Veritas Array, and the Whipple Observatory. We got explore the power/computer shed for one of the Veritas gamma telescopes (four 12 meter telescopes made of about 250 hexagonal mirror sections). We also got to see the HATS looking for exoplanets.

MMT was just as impressive this time as it was when I saw it two years ago. The 6 meter mirror was completely exposed. We got to see it getting cleaned with cold CO2. I was excited to hear that they are looking for more telescope operators for MMT. It would be great to work at that telescope.

wednesday is telescope day

Today we drove up to Mt. Hopkins, where we toured the MMT Observatory. First, we visited the visitor center at the base of the mountain. There we saw some gamma ray telescopes, and we got to view the complex electronics behind one of them. Then we started driving the long, scenic road up the mountain. The MMT Observatory was at an altitude of 10,000 feet, and there was a little snow and ice near the top. The telescope had a huge primary mirror, 6.5 meters in diameter, and it was housed in a rotating building. We saw the mirror start to get cleaned with a carbon dioxide wash. Later we saw two smaller telescopes and a gamma ray telescope. We all saw our faces in the gamma ray mirrors by standing at a certain position. It was interesting to learn how the MMT was built and operated, and it was really cool driving up and down the mountains. We got some time off in the afternoon, which was nice, and we ended the day with dinner at an Irish pub where we developed our team-building skills.

1/12 and 1/13

1/12

Yesterday we visited the Desert Museum which is basically a large zoo. The museum has live flora and fauna native to the Sonoran Desert. This was my second time visiting the Desert Museum, yet I still really enjoyed it. The morning raptor flight was very entertaining and informative.

This afternoon we went to the Arizona State Museum where Dr. Patrick Lyons introduced us to ancient Native American pottery. We were able to enter an old storage area and the impressive new storage vault. It was really exciting to be able to go to these places that very few people get to go and see things up close that very few people get to see. One of my favorite pieces was a collection of blackware which was used by Ansel Adams and his family for many years. I was very interested to hear that just one small "sherd" of pottery can help date a site and place a people at the site.

Kudos to chemists and their use of chemicals to conserve and restore bones, pottery, and other pieces.

1/13

I am finally feeling better today!!!

Art and Linda Staubitz arranged for our group to travel with Dr. Lyons (aka Indiana Patrick) to the San Pedro River valley to explore ancient Native American sites. We drove for about two hours out into the desert. Very few people live in the area… ranchers mostly.

The sites were hidden among fields of cholla. The sites were just piles of rock in outlines of where ancient structures once sat. These places were falling apart, because they were never backfilled after excavation. I could still see several pieces of pottery all over the ground... nearly everywhere I walked. It was very exciting to pick up and touch something that was made hundreds of years ago.

I really enjoyed being out in the sun. It was warm and quiet and pleasant... soft breeze, peaceful, sprawling vistas, the occasional bumble of a little bee... beautiful.

We got a flat tire from a big rock. I have pictures of Dr. Arion and Dr. Lyons replacing the tire. It was comical.

Thank you Art and Linda for arranging an amazing day for us!

FLAT TIRE

Today started out with a two hour drive through the desert.  The mountains were a sight to see.  They were huge and beautiful to drive through.  Once we got to our destination we went to different ruins and found pottery that was hundreds of years old.  We learned the differences between the pottery and what group of people they belonged to.  On our way out the other car got a flat tire so we had to change the tire.  Once we hit the road for the two hour drive back everyone was pretty tired so we decided to sing every song that was on the radio.  It was pretty fun except Erin didn't know any of the songs so she just got to listen to our beautiful voices.