12:33:50 AM
Today was an awesome day if I've ever seen one. I slept in till about 11 or so and woke up to the aroma of brewing coffee. We had mexican breakfast tacos filled with eggs (cooked like omelets with dried meat, peppers, tomatoes and onions) and refried beans. It was all good. We drove about 40 miles out of Tucson to the Kitt Peak National Observatory http://www.noao.edu/kpno/ at an altitude of 7000 feet above the Arizona desert. On the way we talked about American culture and how Americans in general have a lot of resources available to them as a society (oranges available to them year round and drive through banks for example) and when for whatever reason they donÕt receive what is percieved to be the best service, product, ect. There is a lot of complaining to be done which leads to a general sense of arrogance. We also noted that America is very celebrity driven. Celebrities receive more attention than the president. Also time is money. Anyhow, located there are 14 telescopes, the largest of which has a huge 4 meter mirror (which places it about the 4th largest in the world) Telescopes aside, the view from there was awesome, you could probably see 50 miles easily. We got to go inside 3 of the buildings where the giant telescopes are housed; the Mayall 4m, the 2.1m, and the McMath Pierce Solar telescope. On our way back we passed the David-Monthan (http://www.dm.af.mil/) Airbase which houses huge fields of aircraft that can all be prepped for duty on 72 hour notice. There were, A-10 Warthogs, CP-130 Hercules, AWACS, fighter jets of all sorts as well as some larger cargo jets. On the other side of the field is located the junk yard where decommissioned aircraft are stripped down and scrapped. We stopped by at their Niece's house for a short visit and we ended up going out for supper with them later at an authentic Mexican restaurant. While waiting for a table, we met some people who had formerly hosted UWP people in Mexico. I of course understood next to nothing in this whole exchange except for the familiar theme song in Spanish. But I smiled and it was all good. For supper I had a chicken melt on a tortilla with flam (a custard type substance) and deep fried ice cream for dessert. It was all goodª
Tomorrow we are leaving for Dallas, Texas. We'll be on the road both monday and tuesday so next week will be a bit shorter. Fingers are crossed that I'll have internet access :)
The Back Yard
The Arizona desert filled with suharto cacti that can grow to 20 feet high
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico and the extreme southwest of the United States
The McMath- Pierce Solar Telescope
Infrared cameras, that just goes to prove that I really am hot!
Acres C-130 aircraft
My Tucson host family and their grand daughter
The making of flour tortillas
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