Saturday, February 24, 2024 and our “Uber” driver, Abigail picks us up promptly at 10:00 AM to transport us to Eppley Airfield for the beginning of our spring trek to the great Southwest. Our Southwest Airlines flight to Denver departed and arrived on time. We lunched on a Caesar Salad and a Ham and Swiss sandwich plus a pair of cans of Pinot Noir for the princely sum of $68.00, this from a stand-up sandwich purveyor. We found our way to our gate and sat at a computer hook-up station / desk to eat our meal. Surprisingly good food, with one of the best ham and Swiss sandwiches ever encountered. (Topped off with a huge Rice Krispy & marshmallow treat for dessert.)
The flight to Tucson was delayed due to late arrival of the equipment, but we landed safely in Tucson at 5:45, met by our host Tom. Our bags arrived on time and intact and we spent the next 45 minute drive catching up enjoying the sights as we headed for home in the suburb of Oro Valley. Kevin and Liam the Scotty Terrier met us at their home and we rested on the patio, looking at the Catalina mountain range, enjoying a dirty martini and dined on a taco bowl dish Kevin had been preparing in his Ninja pot. We notified Abby that we had arrived safely. Darcy was on a flight returning from Denver after a drive out from Omaha with her friend Erin and her son Sam. Ed & Meg were also in Arizona, Scottsdale, and were busy touring the Biltmore Hotel and enjoying a cocktail in this Frank Lloyd Wright designed structure. We will meet them in Burbank next weekend.
Sunday morning we awoke fairly refreshed and enjoyed a breakfast buffet of pastry, chopped fruit, cereal, juice, toast and jam and the all important coffee. The morning was beautiful, the mountains gleamed and we sat on the deck admiring the day. There is a huge bicycle road race occurring here in Oro Valley today.
The traffic is diverted and there are hundreds of bikers racing around a 4 mile stretch of the town. We walked about a block up to the highway area of the race and watched the pelotons racing by and then, later in the afternoon, watched the professional racers as they tore around the route at a torrid pace. This event began at 8:00 this morning and went to 4:00 in the afternoon. Exciting to watch although it was quite a disruption to traffic and caused us a bit of circumnavigation when we returned later in the afternoon.
Shortly after the noon hour, we hopped in the car and headed out for our day’s adventure. We drove to the nearby town of Oracle to Biosphere 2. This 3.14 acre facility was originally a ranch, then a hotel conference center and in 1984 construction began for the Biosphere as a simulation for exploring human living possibilities in space.
The original 8 Biospherians were locked into the facility for a two year period, raising their own food, cooking and living together to test the possibility and life activities away from Earth. After the initial two year period, a second set of 7 Biosherians entered the facility for and additional period. The facility is now owned by the University of Arizona and continues into research of life science. There are five Biomes under glass at the facilit. These biomes, ocean, mangrove wetlands, tropical rainforest, savannah grasslands and fog desert, are all huge structures under glass similar to enormous greenhouses.The walking tour takes approximately 90 minutes and is truly amazing.
Biosphere 2 is meant to replicate Biosphere 1 (Earth) and is undertaking all kinds of research that is fascinating and basic to life. As an example, There are three huge, under glass “hillsides” that are constructed on steel frameworks under glass. These are each approximately 33 feet wide and 100 feet long, at a 10º slope and will be planted with a variety of plants and grasslands. The object is to find how water is purified as it percolates through various layers of growth and soil. There are nearly 1,000 sensors in each area of soil, and, as it is all under glass, the temperature, humidity, and sunlight can be controlled and measured.
The object is to find the effect of each input on the plants and the resulting water that percolates through the soils. To me, as a building guy, two of the most interesting structures were the Lung buildings. Since all the structures are sealed under glass, the temperature and humidity combine to continually change the pressure inside the structures. If not properly vented the structures could explode or crush under the atmospheric changes. These huge lungs are designed to breathe via huge floating aluminium floors that rise and lower as to maintain an even pressure with in the building structures. The facility is open from 9:00 to 4:00 every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tickets are $27.00 for adults, $25,00 for seniors and $15.00 for those 17 and under. There are a limited number of tickets available for each day and hour so are best purchased in advance from Biosphere 2.org. Anyone planning a visit to Tucson should add this to their agenda - it is not to be missed.
We returned to the house for the rest of the afternoon for cocktails and visiting. We snaked on cheese, crackers, and some cookies and ice cream. As we were still in travelling mode and under the influence of toile changes, we retired at 10:00 having enjoyed our first day of learning about our world and resting by the pool with cocktails and good friends and hosts.
