Nancy, Paul and Sean invited us to join them on a visit to Biosphere 2. You may remember the history: they sealed 'Biospherians' inside to measure survivability in two missions between 1991 and 1994. Beyond the sculptures on the grounds you can see the glass pyramid structure where the Biospherians lived. The name Biosphere 2 was chosen because it's modeled on earth, our first biosphere.
Currently Biosphere 2 is owned and managed by the University of Arizona (UA) as a research institute. One of their current projects called Model City includes testing these high powered solar collectors to try to generate as much of their own power as possible. The solar collectors were reflecting the clouds and sky overhead.
UA now offers educational tours to help support Biosphere 2. Sean and Kristina have on headsets in order to hear the guide as we did the main tour.
We learned that within Biosphere 2 there are functioning replicas of an ocean with coral reef, a mangrove wetlands, a tropical rainforest, a savanna grassland and a fog desert. These are all used for research purposes.
It was hot inside, like being in a greenhouse. This is the coastal fog desert area.
Here we are in the tropical rainforest, which contains over 150 different species of plants.
After descending through a tunnel we toured one of the two Biosphere "lungs". The lungs are large geodesic domes in a simple and elegant design that originally prevented Biosphere 2 from exploding or imploding. Now the lungs help regulate the temperature.
The basement is known as the Technosphere and it's where all the electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems are located. Overall it was a fascinating visit.
Nancy, Sean and Paul had visited the Gem and Mineral Show, a big deal here in Tucson. The next day we decided to peek in, and we quickly overwhelmed. They even had dinosaur eggs for sale for a mere $10k.
We couldn't believe it, but we got some snow in early March.
It didn't last more than a few hours and it was beautiful while it was snowing.
We joined Indivisible Southern Arizona's protest against Trump's fake border wall national emergency in downtown Tucson.
We came to Tucson to get in shape by riding our tandem bike. Even though the weather started out cold, we had enough warm cycling clothes to go out and ride a bit right away. The fishhook barrel cactus were fruiting.
We rode a lot on The Loop, which runs alongside the banks of the arroyos. Construction of Tucson's first multi-use non-mechanized path started in 1986, and it quickly became a very popular place to walk and ride. As always we take photos of the interesting bike-related signs.
It took a long time for The Loop to actually become a loop; It was only finished in 2018. One day we rode the 87 kilometers of the full loop but several of the sections weren't that nice so once was enough. On several Saturdays we saw a tandem cycling club riding on The Loop.
This is Jack and Libby, whom we met on The Loop. They are both 88 years old and only started riding a tandem 18 years ago. We told them they were an inspiration for us!
One Saturday the local rotary club sponsored a group ride called Tour de Cookie. We talked to a family and they hoped to ride about 8 kms between cookie stops like this one.
This is the youngest rider we saw, she's six. Kristina immediately noticed her princess Barbie bike and Hello Kitty helmet.
The Loop was also a convenient way for us to get to interesting sights in Tucson. Several times we rode through Catalina State Park via The Loop.
Another day we took The Loop out towards Mission San Xavier del Bac. (While there we learned about an upcoming pow wow. We decided to come back for it, so more photos of the mission and pow wow are included below.)
One of our favorite rides via The Loop was out to Saguaro National Park. This sign was posted before a very steep descent.
We didn't see any tortoises but there were plenty of bikes, cars and pedestrians in the park.
Saguaro cactus can grow as tall as 12 meters. This giant is probably close to 150 years old and was close to the Saguaro National Park's Visitor's Center.
The Visitor's Center had this interesting tile sign showing the flora and fauna in the National Park.
As the fishhook barrel cactus began losing their fruits, we started seeing lots of this fuchia flowers called Parry’s penstemon.
Parry's penstemon is a favorite food source for hummingbirds in the Sonoran Desert.
There was also lots of desert hollyhock blooming by mid March.
Here's a closer look at the flowers.
After about a month of training we felt ready to ride partway up Mt Lemmon, the highest peak in the Santa Catalina mountain range. The Native American tribe of this area, the Tohono Oʼodham call the mountains Babad Doʼag, which means frog mountain.
The name Tucson is also from the Tohono O'odham's Cuk Ṣon, which means at the base of the black mountain. This view shows how rocky the area is and we found the geology very interesting.
We rode part way up Mt Lemmon on three different days. Each time we were glad we had brought jackets and long fingered gloves for the descents.We stopped a few times to rest and to get closer looks at the scenery like these hoodoos.
On our final ride up Mt Lemmon, the brittlebush was flowering at the base of the mountain, adding yellow to the landscape. Brittlebush is in the daisy family.
Cycling is very popular in Tucson and we saw several artworks with biking themes. We were surprised by how many artworks were made of tile here.
The Loop has some 60 works of art along the trail. This tile mosaic wall features an image reminiscent of Arizona state flag and is entitled Be Kind.
Santa Catalina State Park was unveiling this lovely tile mural by Santa Theresa Tile Works.
Here's a close up showing the blooming saguaros with hummingbirds and butterflies.
We liked the mosaic tile lizard in Tumamoc and the River of Life by artists Linda Haworth, John Lovegrove and Les Wallach.
A closer look at the on the wall revealed quotes in tile, including:
"By placing primacy on the earth and by being protective of their environment, the Hohokam forged a social and economic system that enjoyed 1,500 years of ascendency. Emil W Haury"The Hohokum lived in present day Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Chihuahua between AD1 and 1450 and Emil Haury was an anthropologist who studied them. The Hohokum were the ancestors of the Tohono Oʼodham.
The Hohokum also inspired the Joining Hands sculptures on The Loop by Chris Tanz.
She explains her piece,
"The figures come from a large Hohokum clay pot that was used in ceremonies about 1000 years ago. Joining hands, they encircle the ancient vessel, an emblem of communal life. And now they span the path of this park, which is part of a network of parks that will one day encircle the City of Tucson."Tanz is both an artist and a writer whose public artworks are all located in Arizona, her adopted home.
We rode 38 times during our stay in Tucson. Our rides took us frequently by Spoked Cathedral by Joseph Lupiani.
We were surprised to see all the metal sculptures were rusted because it felt so dry in Tucson.
"The design is reminiscent of a cathedral window, with a vegetative pattern on the lower section tying into the natural world. The star shape on top is based on the Arizona flag."
We came upon this cool sculpture and were happy to learn it was built by the Portland Wheelman. Tucson is home to many cyclists from the northern US and Canada during the winter.
Most of the sculpture is made of bike parts, and it is dedicated to bicycle safety.
Pete is at the end of the Diamondback Bridge. Constructed by artist Simon Donovan in 2002, the bridge is about 91 meters long.
This is Color Wash Pedestrian Bridge on The Loop.
Before we learned the name we called it under the waves.
This sculpture always make us smile. Tandem Batty Biker Family by Stephen Fairfield is one of three bat-themed sculptures showcasing the role of roosting bats under the bridges along The Loop. It was erected in 2016.
Tucson has mostly Mexican free-tailed bats, who are insectovores. This is Extreme Batty Bikers. We read that the artist was representing one bike doing a loop-de-loop.
In the third sculpture in the series, Batty Biker, the bat is riding a recumbent bicycle. We saw more cyclists on recumbents here in Tucson than we have anywhere else.
We also saw bat graffiti along The Loop. The Loop is open dawn to dusk and we don't like to ride at night so we didn't see any real bats.
Almost every time we rode we saw at least one roadrunner.
Part of the cuckoo family, we think they are handsome birds and it was nice that they aren't too shy.
They are popular with Arizonians. Here's a link to an interesting article about roadrunners.
And this cutie is Arizona's state bird, the cactus wren.
This mural by Joe Pagac was close to our Airbnb so we rode past it each day. If you look close you can see a Gila woodpecker in the saguaro cactus on the left. Gilas frequently nest in saguaros. We didn't see any Gila monsters here, perhaps because they spend 90% of their time in underground burrows.
Joe Pagac is a Tucson native and we saw several of his wonderful whimsical murals of desert scenes.
Greetings from Tucson features a woman with agave hair.
Our favorite Pagac mural is entitled Epic Rides Mural Tucson, AZ.
And here Kristina is posing by his latest, La Encantada.
Our new friend Nancy, a recent migrant from the Bay Area, retired and moved to Tucson in lovely home at the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains. She made a delicious Indian-inspired vegan meal and even shared the leftovers with us! Nancy has frequently gone on walking tours in Kenya's national parks so we were happy to hear about her adventures over dinner.
We have also been experimenting with vegan cooking ourselves, trying to adapt some of our favorite dishes. One day we made variations traditional Southern cuisine inspired by our trip to the Deep South: pulled jackfruit (instead of pork) with barbecue sauce, collard greens, beans, pickled onions, coleslaw and toasted brioche.
Kristina has been experimenting with making more healthy desserts by substituting almond flour and honey. She made a vegetarian version of traditional Southern banana pudding with a coconut whipped cream. Traditionally the pudding has a Nilla wafer crust and a lot more sugar.
We tried out a few local restaurants and found two favorites that serve either vegan or vegetarian cuisine. One was Zeman's for delicious Ethiopian cuisine.
Our other favorite was Tumerico for their creative vegan and vegetarian Mexican food.
Here Pete has huitlacoche tostadas and Kristina has the veggie mole. We could finish the large portions because we've been riding 5 days a week and our appetites are big.
Another time we had Tumerico's version of tacos al pastor that uses jackfruit instead of pork. Of course we tried making it too, and it's what gave us the inspiration to try jackfruit in our pulled "pork" barbecue.
And we met our new friend Nancy at Tumerico's too. She tried the jackfruit al pastor tacos and was not disappointed.
Nancy's friend Rebecca joined us too. This time Pete tried the jackfruit with a cilantro garlic sauce. It was fantastic.
We stayed in Tucson for two months. One of the great things about staying in the same location for an extended period of time is that we can scratch our puzzle itch. We used our Airbnb's sheet pans for sorting the pieces.
It was a hard puzzle but we persevered and finally completed it. The image is of Remedios Varo's painting Roulotte. We picked up the puzzle during our last trip to Mexico City.
We also picked up disc golf, as we saw several courses while riding on The Loop. During our second disc golf game we had the good fortune to play alongside John, an experienced player who was also visiting the Tucson area. He was really helpful in sharing tips, instructions, and explaining some of the etiquette of disc golf. John even gave us two discs as gifts! Pete is holding the putter he gave us.
Tucson has six disc golf courses, all of which are free of charge. Our favorite was the Santa Cruz River Park course because it was well maintained, had good signage, and had the lowest risk in terms of losing a disc.
Here Pete is completing a hole by throwing his putter into the basket. The chains help stop the flight of the disc and capture it so that it falls into the basket below. We are finding disc golf challenging and fun.
We also went to a show at the Fox Tucson Theater, a cool, restored building from 1930. After sitting empty for 25 years, it was restored and reopened in 2005 and now hosts 100 shows a year.
We saw a fantastic Cuban group named Asere! perform.
One of the dancers used the Cuban flag as a cape, bringing back memories of our trip to Cuba in 2017.
We went back to Mission San Xavier del Bac, this time with Nancy and in her car (rather than on our tandem). The blue sky made the 'white dove of the desert' even more picturesque.
Kristina and Nancy were checking out the model of the mission while Pete was taking this photo that shows the interesting ceiling. You can see above the rough-hewn beams narrow slats that are actually the dried ribs from the interior of saguaro cactuses.
The thick adobe walls meant it was cool inside.
The church, built by the Spanish Franciscans, was completed in 1797. Here's a look at the colorful interior.
We liked the Spanish lions near the altar.
This photo shows the restored ceiling.
From Spain, San Xavier del Bac passed to Mexico in 1821 and then to the US in 1854 with the Gadsden Purchase. Now the mission is located on the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation.
Behind the church we entered the pow wow grounds and made our way into the arena where the music and dancing was taking place.
The Master of Ceremonies was calling for different Native American styles of dress to parade in the arena. We think these are northern plains fancy dress.
Young men and boys were called forth to perform the Grass Dance.
This photo shows the back of several beautiful costumes.
The Tohono O'odham today are a nation of more than 24,000 people who live on four separate land bases totaling more the 2.7 million acres.
Tohono O'odham, means Desert People in the O'odham language. In researching the Tohono O'odham, we learned that their land is split between northern Mexico and southern Arizona.
It did not surprise us to learn that the Tohono O'odham oppose a border wall. They state, "There is no word for wall in O'odham." This photo gives a sense of how many Native Americans participated in the pow wow, which was billed as the largest pow wow in the US.
We were mesmerized by this man who danced with hoops.
These three men were the eldest people we saw participating in the pow wow.
The pow wow had an inclusive quality, with small children being carried in their parent's arms.
We loved the brightly colored clothing at the pow wow. And as spring came to Tucson we started seeing brightly colored wildflowers. These are desert marigolds.
The hedgehog cactuses were the first cactus we saw blooming.
With similar colors, soon after we saw a blooming purple prickly pear.
We are not sure what the name of this cactus is, but the color was so amazing we had to include it.
As we rode from our Airbnb to The Loop, we spotted this cactus with a huge flower. It is appropriately named Big Bertha. The flower only lasted a day.
The last time we rode in Saguaro National Park we were rewarded with the ocotillos blooming.
Here's a close up of the flowers.
The Loop had this charming tiles with different cactus flowers.
We were here too early to see the saguaros in bloom, but we did start to see the flower buds forming.
We spent a late afternoon at Saguaro National Park, hiking and enjoying the scenery. All the holes in this saguaro made it like a residential high-rise for birds. Saguaros are favorite nesting spots for Gila woodpeckers, gilded flickers and cactus wrens, and we saw all these birds frequently.
We spent a late afternoon at Saguaro National Park, hiking and enjoying the scenery. All the holes in this saguaro made it like a residential high-rise for birds. Saguaros are favorite nesting spots for Gila woodpeckers, gilded flickers and cactus wrens, and we saw all these birds frequently.
Although the sky looked threatening, it was pleasant to hike with the clouds and it never felt like it would rain.
As the saguaro dies, everything except the ribs deteriorate first, leaving the "bones" of the cactus visible.
We liked this photo because of the iconic shape of the saguaro that remains.
It's been a great couple of months in Tucson. Next we head up the coast of California to continue our riding adventures.
