Tucson, Scene 3

It is Sunday evening at Mumau's Alpenlite Abode. All is quiet and cool with promises of a nice warm week. We had snow Friday but it was only a few minutes of great big flakes and didn't stick. The Catalina Mountians just to the east of us have snow on the tops. It did rain most of the day so Joyce and I went into town to see how Tucsonians handle the rain. Answer: the same as every where else. We stopped to eat lunch at a neat little sandwich shop next to the University of Arizona campus. It's called the "Which Wich." You place your order by marking what you want on a small paper bag. There are about 10 varieties such as turkey, traditional, grinder, and so on. Pick the bag you want -- then mark the particular kind of sandwich, kind of bread, cheese, and condiments. Take it to the counter, pay your money and in a few minutes your sandwich is in the bag ready for you. But I digress. We saw people braving the weather in rubber boots and flipflops, in heavey coats and tee shirts, with hats, umbrellas, and bare headed.

We were in that part of town to tour the Arizona Historical Museum and the Arizona State Museum. We only saw part of the latter because we spent so much time in the former. But we'll get it another time -- maybe next year. We're thinking of coming back but more about that another time.

The explanation for this picture is that we went to Tubac this week. It is an old historic town which they have turned into a tourist trap -- err, I mean an eclectic artist community selling lots of expensive stuff and a little affordable stuff -- paintings, jewlerey, pottery, basketry, and so on. It is the site of one of the first forts (presidios) in the area. We toured the remains of the original presidio and part of that area is an old school. So scholarly Joyce sat for a quick lesson in posing for the camera.

The other big thing we did this week was go to Biosphere 2. If you can remember back to the early 1990s, there was this big thing about building a self contained, sustainable colony. The result was a huge structure (actually a series of structures) made of glass and steel -- kind of like a giant hot house. They locked 4 men and 4 women inside for two years. They had lots of problems but they made it. A second group of 8 only made 6 months before outside circumstances (politics and money!) halted that effort. The place has been sold a few times but right now the University of Arizona owns it and are conducting plant-life experiements there. It is open to the public for tours so we went. It was really interesting because I remember the news media telling about these people -- they call them biospherians. Oh, we also had a two-for-one coupon. If you ever come to Tucson, be sure to buy the Tucson Passport -- only $15 and if you go to only a couple places you have your money back. I digress again. This obviously is Joyce with part of the biospere in the background. Why Joyce all the time? Because I'm taking the pictures and the ones she takes have too many pixals to work well in this blog.

Today I went to Casas Church with Jim. Joyce P is having some high blood pressure problems so Joyce M stayed home with her. It is a good church even if it is Baptist! They have a great mission mind-set. So we get set for the week ahead. God will be present. Will he not?