2020 Winter Adventure

[DaGrinch]

Originally Posted by sherman12

DaGrinch, should you decide to journey to Niagara Falls, give me a shout, maybe I could point out some places in WNY state.

Will do! Always looking for input from those who "know".

[camper70]

Thank's Da Grinch wiil be getting ready to load some pics to the laptop shortly. You should make the Niagra Falls trip this summer. We were there for the first time a few years ago. It is great. They have the best Butterfly Exhibit we have ever seen on the Canadian side. You will get more bang for your buck on the Canadian side.
I will get pics from Biosphere 2 on here in a little while. We took the drive up to Mount Lemmon Ski Area today. It is about 30 miles from Tucson. We saw some amazing scenery and plenty of snow up top. The slopes are currently closed but could open back up if a big enough storm passes through. The drive up takes you from Tucson at about 2375 ft. elevation to the Ski area which is over 8,000 ft. in elevation. The actual summit of Mount Lemmon is over 9100 ft. We saw well over 50 bicyclist pedaling the mountain.These guys and girls are beasts. I was getting tired driving to the top. I will try to add those pics in the next couple days after we sort through. The DW took all the pics today with her I Phone. Guess who forgot to grab the camera.
I forgot to mention when we reached the top it was 46 degrees and it was 75 degrees in Tucson. It even flurried a little while we were there.

[camper70]

I will try to refresh everyone's mind about Biosphere 2 very briefly. The Construction started around 1984. The Biosphere originally was a sealed environment. There were 2 hand picked teams that went through years of training to be able to live in the Biosphere totally self- sufficient. The first group of eight people spent 2 years and 20 minutes inside. The 20 minutes is kind of a little side joke. The people inside were not scientists just ordinary people that were judged on their work ethics and ability to cope in a stressful environment. The second group spent six months inside. Everything they drank or ate they created themselves. The Biosphere is no longer a completely sealed unit and is used for research. The place is a great example of American ingenuity.

[camper70]

The Entrance

[camper70]

Some of the early structures. See the small glass building to the far left. This is where the first test subject spent two full days being self-sufficient.

[camper70]

Some of the main buildings used by the two research groups.


The three glass domes in the rear housed the 1/2 acre farm they raised the food on.

[camper70]

Geodesic Dome housed a thing called the Lung. It was used to stabilize the pressure inside the Biosphere. You could say it did the breathing for the buildings.

[camper70]

The Kitchen where they prepared all the meals.

[camper70]

A current project is an Aqua Ponics Garden. You will have to Google it for an explanation.

[camper70]

The next pics are the Desert Environment, The Beach Environment which is a 700,000 gallon tank and creates it's own gentle waves.

[camper70]

The glass domes which housed the 1/2 acre farm.

[camper70]

I have been to this area of Arizona at least five times in the past and never considered visiting Biosphere 2. We did it this year because we needed something different to see. It did not disappoint and was well worth the time. We took all the tours they offered and it took about three hours. I highly recommend that if you are in the Tucson area this is a must see.

[CAT-RN]

The Biosphere 2 is Very much worth a visit if you in the area. Their goal was to create a livable earths atmosphere. What they figured out was they were not as good as God.

I think it’s owned by the University of Arizona now.

They are now doing experiments in there that are aiding in ways to control erosion and many other experiments that are useful.

Russell

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by camper70

I have been to this area of Arizona at least five times in the past and never considered visiting Biosphere 2. We did it this year because we needed something different to see. It did not disappoint and was well worth the time. We took all the tours they offered and it took about three hours. I highly recommend that if you are in the Tucson area this is a must see.

Thanks for the pictures. It's been on my bucket list to go see for a long time now. I'll definitely make it there on our next trip out west.

How much longer are y'all staying out for?

[camper70]

We are heading to Silver City NM. tomorrow morning and then things are a little up in the air as we make our way back home. We are expecting to head home the first week in April. This is earlier than we would like. We have to get home and get training to work the polls before the Maryland Primary April 28.

[camper70]

I forgot to tell azfansinnc that we did eat at Mi Nidito and the food was really good. We really liked the Tortilla Soup. We waited an hour to get in. It was worth it. We were leaving about 7;45 and could not believe all the people outside waiting to get seated. Sorry I forgot to tell you. Let the jealousy begin! Thanks for the tip.

[camper70]

Here are some pics of our trip to Mount Lemmon which is 29 miles outside Tucson.We climbed from about 2400 ft. in Tucson to over 9000 ft. at the Ski Area.

[dblr]

Great pictures of the ski area but of course I would have to ski there to add another mountain to my list.

[camper70]

Views from trip up to Mount Lemmon

[camper70]

Goose Head Rock