December 30th
2013 – January 5th 2014
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Work days. End
of the year. Beginning of the year. Nothing special. Pleasant and
consistent weather. Blue sky and sun. Surprisingly no noise connected
to the celebration of New Year. Normal life.
Thursday. Day off. Same. Quiet and
peaceful. Nothing special – bunch of monkey business. J. went out
to do tome “fun” shopping – one third of the day – no
comment.
Friday. We were up by 5:25 am. A lot of
driving. A lot of fun. That was the plan. There was some traffic, it
was dark, and greater Phoenix was surprisingly great. Over two and
half hours to Organ Pipe National Monument.
http://www.nps.gov/orpi/index.htm
We drove and drove, the road number 85 was heading down to Mexico.
The park, actually, is just few miles from Mexican border. The
visitor's center, map, some information, some trinkets (postcards,
poster, book) and the beginning of the fun. The park has campground
but otherwise there is not much to it (unless people camp there and
do some serious back country hiking or ATV). I guess there is also
space for smuggling and other illegal activities. It was 21 miles
(mostly dirt road) long loop to drive with few hiking trails. Again,
there is no picture or text that would do a justice to the landscape
that we saw. It was pretty incredible and breathtaking. Well worth it
– it is quite far from anywhere (more less 120 miles from either
Phoenix or Tucson).
Small number of other visitors – peaceful and
enjoyable drive with many amazing views. Half way through we stopped
and took a walk (hike) – we probably got lost a bit (the trail was
following the wash but we lost the trail and walked in the wash for
quite a while). Up the hill – not too bad – again impossible to
describe the beauty of the land and its incredible magic. And again –
so much different from what I would consider desert. …. driving ….
so much driving …. Border patrol check point. Less exciting
landscape – more less flat with some brush and few cacti. Few
settlements – Arizona style sad. We were heading to Kitt Peak
National Observatory. http://www.noao.edu/kpno/
Almost three thousand feet of elevation gain. It was pretty nice
drive (12 miles). On the top we found some left over snow – it was
really surprising and funny. Small visitor center and then walk
around the complex. It was quite large. They apparently have the
largest solar telescope in the world. We could not go inside (only on
the tour, tours were over). It was still nice drive and incredible
views from the top of the mountain. Drove down. Main road. Towards
Tucson. Detour. Motel. Tired. Sleep.
Saturday.
Who does not want to tour the copper mine Saturday morning?
http://mineraldiscovery.com/
Morning coffee. No breakfast. Drive about 20 miles south to the
copper mine. Wander around (nice garden, visitor center, bunch of
trinkets) and wait for the tour. To our surprise there was about 20
people on the tour. Obviously we got some postcards, gifts, and other
trinkets. Some introduction in the visitor center and then we got on
the bus and drove closer to the mine. The driver was former paramedic
(J. talked to him a bit longer on one of the stops). The guide –
older lady – was former minister from Michigan – is not the world
really small? One stop: to view the pit (two by three miles). The
plant – some crushers and another phase called “bubbling”.
Along the way those huge haul trucks. The company is owned by big
Mexican conglomerate. Apparently (not part of the tour information)
the starting hourly pay for entry manual job is about 17 dollars. The
plant is unionized (even Arizona is right to work state). Also many
members of the same family work in the mine. We did not get really
close to the pit (into it) but it was still very interesting and
informative tour. The leftover rock is piled up and long and high
“tides” are created in the area. After the mine will be depleted
the pit will be left as it is (big hole in the ground). On the way
back to the visitor center we saw three wild mustangs grazing on the
“tides”. I guess there are still mustangs living in the “desert”
of Arizona. She also said that one summer one of the horses
discovered push button to open the door of the visitor center and
used to cool himself like that (clever horse). Getting of the bus we
got small rock as a souvenir. Back to Tucson. Downtown – smaller
park with maybe 30 homeless people. J. wanted some trinket in the
store in the area – parked, found, closed. We went to some newer
restaurant/bar nearby for a lunch. It was some type of modern
Mexican-ish cuisine. As we were waiting for our food
(breakfast/veggie tortas with potatoes) we saw a couple sit down and
leave in a minute as they were confused by the menu (and I guess not
what they expected). It was actually very good meal – and tortas
were more less sandwiches. The drive across most of the town – two
used book stores along the way. It looked like they are trying to
rebuild the downtown area (slowly). Miniatures museum.
http://www.theminitimemachine.org/
It was strange, interesting, and somewhat odd. Drove further east to
visit two cactus nurseries. The first one was smaller – fine one,
we bought one cactus and got another (value of 85 cents) free. The
other nursery was bigger and had some incredible cacti – we spent
way too much time there and left with couple of cacti, again. It was
already 4:35 pm so we decided it was time to be done for a day and
head home. Two hours and some change. Home.
Sunday.
Lazy and quiet day. Sunny. Blue sky. Monkey business. We went to get
a library card. We took a walk in the nearby Northern Mountain Park.
Not much more otherwise. It is really great winter here.
