It feels like vacation again
The last few days the weather has been beautiful and I've done some touristy things. I stayed in my van at the fairgrounds near Tucson again. Here are some photos and links to videos that provide glimpses into the last couple of days.
I got to feed the rainbow lorikeets at Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm. The birds pop the top off the nectar cups themselves, and then squabble over who gets what. Sometimes two can peacefully alternate plunging their tongues into the sweet liquid, and sometimes they peck each other on the top of the head or chase each other off. I'm just the tree on which all this happens.
I intended to spend two or three nights at the fairgrounds, but when I got there I learned that this weekend they're hosting a big gun show. Not something I really wanted to hang around for, so I just stayed one night. And what a night it was! The weather was beautiful, the sky clear, I could hear the birds and the breeze and then the races began! Inside my van the sound wasn't too loud, but it was really prominent outdoors: https://youtu.be/0j8wux37g1A
The next morning I was up and out early to get to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum when it opened at 7:30. I had the hummingbird aviary to myself for the first little while and took a couple of short videos. Here you can see at least three of the species they have in the aviary, none of which are the ruby-throated variety that I'm used to. I believe the three species shown in this video are the Black Chinned hummingbird, the Broad Billed hummingbird, and Anna's hummingbird. https://youtu.be/Ki_VGHnAB1M
They call it a museum, but it's almost all outdoors. There are signs scattered around reminding people that they're in a wild desert and to watch out for rattlesnakes and other wildlife. They do provide resources like restrooms, snacks, and water stations. The restrooms have free sunscreen dispensers in them. I went into the reptile exhibit right before I left (it was indoors in the shade) and was impressed with just how effective the rattlesnakes' camouflage is in the desert. Yikes! Those signs that said to be alert -- I don't know if it's possible for me to be *that* alert.
Here is a cactus I especially enjoyed looking at:
I got a bit too much sun at the desert museum and I fell into the classic midwesterner's trap -- underestimating how much water I needed to drink to compensate for the dry air and hot sun. No serious problems, but I did feel the need to leave the park before I'd seen everything. It was getting crowded and I'd been there for 4 hours, so it was time to go.
A kind person offered to take this picture of me at the labyrinth in the Desert Museum:
I was happy to see that the labyrinth was there, but I was on my way out at that point and didn't think it was in my best interest to hang out in the sun any longer than necessary.
Next I had to figure out what to do about a place to sleep. I didn't want to go back to the fairgrounds and deal with the gun show crowd, and I didn't have the mental energy to figure out creative places to spend the night. Even after an air-conditioned lunch and plenty of iced tea, I felt tired and grimy and wanted to be indoors. I had to work to find a motel room same-day on a Saturday in Tucson in the high season. Prices in the area are high and a lot of the more affordable options were already sold out. I tried to book a room online a half hour out of Tucson and the website wouldn't let me for some reason. After trying to call the hotel with no luck getting through, I got a reservation through the 800 number. When I got there I realized the problem with the website was that they were booking rooms so fast at that point that the one I'd selected wasn't available by the time I'd entered all my info. They had sold out for the night not long after I'd called the 800 number.
On the way to my eagerly anticipated motel room, much to my surprise, highway 19 in Arizona is marked with kilometers instead of miles. Not dual signs that show both miles and kilometers -- these signs only list kilometers. Exits are numbered by kilometers, and the distance markers on the side of the road are placed every two kilometers. According to Wikipedia, it's the only highway in the United States marked this way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_19 For a moment I wondered if I'd accidentally crossed into Mexico, but no -- it's just got an odd history. In case you're wondering, the speed limit signs are in mph so there's no confusion there.
Nice laundry room at the motel, so I have a full supply of clean clothes again.
What's next? TBD! 😄
I got to feed the rainbow lorikeets at Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm. The birds pop the top off the nectar cups themselves, and then squabble over who gets what. Sometimes two can peacefully alternate plunging their tongues into the sweet liquid, and sometimes they peck each other on the top of the head or chase each other off. I'm just the tree on which all this happens.
I intended to spend two or three nights at the fairgrounds, but when I got there I learned that this weekend they're hosting a big gun show. Not something I really wanted to hang around for, so I just stayed one night. And what a night it was! The weather was beautiful, the sky clear, I could hear the birds and the breeze and then the races began! Inside my van the sound wasn't too loud, but it was really prominent outdoors: https://youtu.be/0j8wux37g1A
The next morning I was up and out early to get to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum when it opened at 7:30. I had the hummingbird aviary to myself for the first little while and took a couple of short videos. Here you can see at least three of the species they have in the aviary, none of which are the ruby-throated variety that I'm used to. I believe the three species shown in this video are the Black Chinned hummingbird, the Broad Billed hummingbird, and Anna's hummingbird. https://youtu.be/Ki_VGHnAB1M
They call it a museum, but it's almost all outdoors. There are signs scattered around reminding people that they're in a wild desert and to watch out for rattlesnakes and other wildlife. They do provide resources like restrooms, snacks, and water stations. The restrooms have free sunscreen dispensers in them. I went into the reptile exhibit right before I left (it was indoors in the shade) and was impressed with just how effective the rattlesnakes' camouflage is in the desert. Yikes! Those signs that said to be alert -- I don't know if it's possible for me to be *that* alert.
Here is a cactus I especially enjoyed looking at:
I got a bit too much sun at the desert museum and I fell into the classic midwesterner's trap -- underestimating how much water I needed to drink to compensate for the dry air and hot sun. No serious problems, but I did feel the need to leave the park before I'd seen everything. It was getting crowded and I'd been there for 4 hours, so it was time to go.
A kind person offered to take this picture of me at the labyrinth in the Desert Museum:
I was happy to see that the labyrinth was there, but I was on my way out at that point and didn't think it was in my best interest to hang out in the sun any longer than necessary.
Next I had to figure out what to do about a place to sleep. I didn't want to go back to the fairgrounds and deal with the gun show crowd, and I didn't have the mental energy to figure out creative places to spend the night. Even after an air-conditioned lunch and plenty of iced tea, I felt tired and grimy and wanted to be indoors. I had to work to find a motel room same-day on a Saturday in Tucson in the high season. Prices in the area are high and a lot of the more affordable options were already sold out. I tried to book a room online a half hour out of Tucson and the website wouldn't let me for some reason. After trying to call the hotel with no luck getting through, I got a reservation through the 800 number. When I got there I realized the problem with the website was that they were booking rooms so fast at that point that the one I'd selected wasn't available by the time I'd entered all my info. They had sold out for the night not long after I'd called the 800 number.
On the way to my eagerly anticipated motel room, much to my surprise, highway 19 in Arizona is marked with kilometers instead of miles. Not dual signs that show both miles and kilometers -- these signs only list kilometers. Exits are numbered by kilometers, and the distance markers on the side of the road are placed every two kilometers. According to Wikipedia, it's the only highway in the United States marked this way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_19 For a moment I wondered if I'd accidentally crossed into Mexico, but no -- it's just got an odd history. In case you're wondering, the speed limit signs are in mph so there's no confusion there.
Nice laundry room at the motel, so I have a full supply of clean clothes again.
What's next? TBD! 😄
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