What's Better Than Family?

 What's Better Than Family? More Family!

Tucson gave us a number of superb and interesting memories. Kyle, Courtney, and Coen met us for Saguaro National Park, and my cousins, Linda and her daughter Tracy, joined us for good food, a lot of catching-up time, and a visit to the Pima Air and Space Museum with the younger Van Vleets.

The fam at Pima. 
I had not seen Linda since 2009. 
LOTS of catching up to do!

As we drove south from the Sedona area, which was kind of a bust - only one trail we could walk with Trooper - we began seeing Saguaro cacti along the interstate near Phoenix. These cacti were incredible! I was told the Arizonans pronounce the name of this plant with the Spanish pronunciation: suh-WHAH-row. So I had to get the hard G sound out of my head.

Trooper photo-bombed my picture!

Due to the government shutdown the visitors center at Saguaro National Park was closed. However, a really nice and informative employee with a bathroom key stopped by and helped us out. He told us which trails Trooper could enjoy with us, and the must-see areas. There was a garden near the center with a large variety of cacti. My favorite was the Teddy Bear Cholla cactus. 

I may be a teddy bear, but no hugging, please.

Dave liked the flowers on this hedgehog cactus.
Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Barrel Cactus at the visitors center

This confused cactus made me think of the MASH signpost.

How many thorns per nodule?

One-armed bandit

Although the ridges appeared to be parallel vertical stripes
there were inserts between the ridges.

OK, enough cacti. Let's get to the food! We had a fabulous lunch at Wildflower in Oro Valley (north Tucson) and for dinner met the Wall of Heat at Tucson Tamales.

Are you brave enough?

Unfortunately, in the taste tester area, which was divided into Mild, Medium, Hot, Extra Hot, and Killer, one of the sauces was misplaced and Linda got more than she bargained for. I tried Tio Marcos mild, and it was really good with a lot of flavor and not too much heat. I need to find it in a supermarket and bring a couple jars home.

The next day Kyle suggested we visit the Pima Air and Space Museum. What a wonderful choice! We walked through a hanger filled with aircraft, some hanging from the ceiling. We saw an older Blue Angels F-11 Tiger, a one-man helicopter with a Porsche engine, a replica of the Wright Brother's Kitty Hawk plane, and a Huey helicopter, to name a few. Each plane had a placard with the plane's details: wingspan, length, height, etc. But we had fun comparing the Maximum Speed statistic for the various planes. (The Tiger's Max speed: 750 mph). In addition to the stats, a brief history of some of the aircraft was included, such as wartime service, refurbished date, etc. 

Rick, this is what you can do with your spare car parts.
Check out the Gyrodyne Rotorcycle!
Max speed: 78 mph

In addition to the aircraft there was an entire wall dedicated to women in flight. Sally Ride was featured, of course, as the first American woman in space, but there were so many more. Although watching launches is fun, I know I take space flight for granted, as I had never heard of many of the women represented. 

There were four other hangers which we didn't see, because there was so much to see in Hanger 1! (and Linda and I were still catching up...) But my favorite aircraft in Hanger 1 were the F-14 Tomcat (think Top Gun), the F-4 Phantom, and the SR 71 Blackbird with a top speed of over 2200 mph! Oh, and the Starr Bumble Bee, with a wingspan of only 6' 6" and a range of 20 miles. She was built for the purpose of holding the record for the smallest airplane.

We took a tram tour of the aircraft located outside - this area contained bombers, trainers, tankers, NASA aircraft, US Air Force fighters, several Air Force One planes from the Kennedy and Johnson era, and the Freedom One plane that brought back the 52 American hostages from Iran in 1981. Ten years later POWs from Desert Storm returned home in the same plane. My favorite plane in the outside area was the Super Guppy, which was built with cannibalized parts from other planes.

NASA used the Super Guppy to move sections of the Saturn V rocket.

Our final stop was a hanger-turned-museum dedicated to the men of the 390th Bomb Group who flew the B-17 Flying Fortress in WWII. The last B-17 ever flown by the military was featured, and a ladder was provided so we could see inside the plane. The bombardiers' tight quarters, the pilot and copilot's chairs (did not look comfortable at all) and all the exposed wiring along the inside skin of the plane. The guide explained how the bombs were fastened inside, and showed how an airman would have to walk a narrow catwalk over the open bomb bay doors, carrying oxygen to breathe, and kick the bombs free if they got stuck. 

I went upstairs to take a photo from the balcony and discovered hundreds of old photos of crews who manned these massive planes. Included with all the crew photos, but in a separate section of the display, were the crew photos documenting the 58% of men who did not return to base after a mission. Sobering.

The B-17 Flying Fortress.
You can see someone on the yellow ladder looking into the aircraft. 

Dave and I have been listening to an audiobook on our travel days called, The Women with Silver Wings, about the first women to fly planes in WWII - the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Many of the stories included in the book came to life for us at Pima Air and Space Museum, including that of a WASP's husband, George, who flew a B-17, and was hit by German anti-aircraft fire. It was years before she knew what had actually happened to her husband, how six men parachuted to safety, and what happened once the plane crashed in France near Paris. I won't spoil the rest of that segment of the book for you, but let's just say her husband's picture, with his crew, is on the wall at the 390th Bomb Group museum.

A model of the B-17 in the balcony area. 
Behind it you can see some of the crew pictures on the wall.

We wrapped up our time in Tucson eating dinner at El Charro, an iconic restaurant founded in 1922. What fabulous food! I devoured a carne asada enchilada with green sauce and Sonoran rice - a reddish color - really savory. (The sangria was especially nice, Janice.) So every pound I hiked off this trip came flying back with our Tucson foodie frenzy. But it was so worth it. 

My overall favorite part of Tucson? Family there sharing it with me.