Detail of San Xavier del Bac Mission
2010 miles from start to finish, Salt Lake to Nogales, and I am still making sense of everything I learned on this trip. Certain details stay with me, like this decorative element at the mission. Maybe I returned to it because I like spirals, or for the shadows it cast.
Inside/outside the Biosphere
I took the back road from Tucson to Phoenix, and had to stop to tour the Biosphere 2. They had just made it rain inside, hence the water on the glass panels. The last scientists who lived the experiment came out in 1994; the university contractors who followed on left a couple years ago. Private money continues to fund what the tour admissions won't cover, maintaining the facility to do more science someday.
Behind (actually under) the scene at the Biosphere
The technicians were trimming the rain forest when I visited, tossing large garbage cans of greenery outside the structure. Underneath the concrete floor, we saw the water recovery systems, the air shafts, and all sorts of gear employed in keeping this laboratory semi-operational.
I can't explain this one
I circled around Florence AZ on the way back to Phoenix, and I braved the ferocious dogs behind the fence to show you this. No one came out that I could ask about the scene. Which meant I didn't have to explain anything either.
