Arizona Desert Museum

(This blog post is mainly about the desert museum we went to but several other things happened too.)

Animals are a big part of our lives. They are part of our source for food (deer,cow), a constant and reliable companion when times are tough (dog, cat, shark...okay maybe not that one), and the frequent toy in literature, (Wind to the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, Charlotte's Web) among many other things animals are used for. But several of us live our lives in cities and such, and only see cows and deer occasionally for years at a time, the only animals that our eyes are open to our squirrels and domestic pets. Not many people see a coyote, a prairie dog, tons of butterflies, or otters and rams. Although some are lucky to go to a zoo where they experience these exotic creatures, few our spectacle to the wildlife of the desert animals, the ones in the Southwest and in the are of the country where the water is scarce, the dust is high in altitude, and creatures are forced to adapt to survive in this harsh place. Those are the cool animals, the ones that even when all the odds were against them evolved into great death-fighters that made them reproduce their species. Not just the ones that look amazing, but the ones that are amazing. The ones at Arizona Desert Museum. We would see a lot of those really cool animals on Tuesday, February 21st. Now to the blog.

A lot of stuff happened before the museum, however. My bed was flattening to a pulp every night, as we took all the sheet and undergrowth off of it and tried to rub our hands and find a hole. We turned it over with all the air in, zipped it out and took off the gold underneath, and only had this underneath the sheet material, to which we couldn't find the spot. It might of been from the toenails of the dogs which caused the mattress's handicap, or it might of been a pencil or something that had been poked through. The bed had held me up in good sturdy form and hadn't been a bother for 7 months, so why was it bailing out now? So many problems had aroused on the second half, the hot water coming off, the camera breaking, bike stolen, you name it, it happened to us on the second half of the trip. Well, after flattening the mattress and getting all the air up, we turned it over and over, the bulky thing, and made it go into the back of the jeep and closed the door. We would go to a Camping World and try to find a perfect match, and just get another mattress and use that one. If we could find the spot, then Dad could fix it without any trouble, but that wasn't the case. After getting ready and putting only a white tee on on this hot day, we set out in the jeep.

Dad later came up with the assumption that from pushing the mattress in and the air not being totally out we had popped a hole in it, and told me that I should really wait 'til it's all out until I push it in and put the cushions on it. We came to the more commercial section of Tucson, where the city kind of was, and where there were a lot of stores, up the hill on the highway with some dealerships, and R.V. stores. Arizona is an R.V. loving place. Yesterday we had traversed into the desert area that was all old and had cool stuff in it, and the day before we also did that. We would go to Camping World, then drive to Desert Museum, and when done with that would go to Sabina Canyon, which Mom had said was really really cool when we went with our grandparents, however I hadn't remembered that (even though I had remembered everything else) and I wanted to go there today. We might go to the Airplane Graveyard tomorrow, but we had to do the 'A' Mountain too. Ex Savor, a Spanish mission, was also in the limelight of places we might go to. On the road we saw the Camping World sign and some buildings, and many R.V.'s. We came and parked where many fifth wheels and trailers were. We plan to get a smaller and more roomy motor home after the trip to go on smaller trips in, and Rebecca has really gotten a hobby into looking at different fifth wheels online and making maps of her new room and the room she'll have at the cabin at the lake. She likes those three activities.

We got out and saw this building with a concrete floored patio porch and some posters and a nice white sign with blue letters. Walking in, we saw the counter on our right and several rows of mechanical stuff for R.V.'s and campers, grills, shirts, drills, metal parts, even board games. We asked for the mattresses and then walked toward it, going down the middle part of the two sections and carpeted floor. It was kind of a little store, not that big but not small. We looked around awhile as Dad pondered between the double and queen sized mattresses, and I looked at a few board games and a camping log, and one of the boardgames we had played on New Year's Eve with the Gould's. So it was cool to see it again.

Dad and I picked his choice up and took it to the counter, where we went through the routine paying process. We walked it out to the car and then put it in the back, as Rebecca implored to go into some fifth wheels t see the kind of brand we wanted for the next one. You see, I don't like to plan way in advance even when we haven't even begun to finish this trip, but she does like to do that, I guess. Mom and Dad took the bait, even though we needed to get to the desert museum and then go to Sabina Canyon and if that wasn't open go to the Airplane Graveyard. We went through many though, the ones with the area up top in the area above the truck bed, queen beds, big showers and closets, and an "entertainment center" with spinney chairs and a kitchen to the right and a T.V. and desk. Rebecca said the closet space could be in part for her barbies and that I could use the desk to both blog and read. Why does she eternally associate me with those two activities? I don't know if you know this or not but I love soccer, football, movie-making and many other activities besides reading and writing. But oh well, I'm done lecturing. We saw everything from a Montana to a Excel, Escalade, Fleetwood, Keystone, and many, many more. It wasn't my favorite activity, but oh well.

We got in the jeep again and drove. I managed to read a little bit of A Tramp Abroad as we broke for the highway and then went uphill, hugging the mountain and looking at more of the beautiful Saguaros. We had seen a movie, gone to a national park and had a picnic amid all of those beautiful plants, and would continue to see the iconic symbol of Tucson and the Arizona West throughout the day. We went on a road, well maintained, up the hill and into the parking lot, to the left, of a building with wood or something else that had benches, podiums, and a security gate with tickets and a building section going up to a restroom. The parking lot was bigger than you'd ever imagine, stretching to the right for a long time. I didn't bring a jacket and put on a lot of sunscreen, thinking that it probably wouldn't be that cold. Mom went back for something, and I forget what it was, as we went on and saw bobcats on the pictures of the posters and fliers. Here's the highlights of the time we went before, or what I remember the best from our previous time there:

1. A giant globe with volcano videos and several other planets

2. A lady, between two areas with shaded roofs and a porch, at the top of a sidewalk, talked about a hawk as a hawk was perched on her hand. I was really fascinated with this and asked many, many questions. A lady asked who was the person who was asking all the questions and I blushed. I wished to recreate both these experiences.

3. A lady up in a covered little porch area had two bones and asked us what they were. We didn't know as she asked if we were in the area and we said no. They were javelina bones.

4.I sat on a cactus. Man did that hurt. I did NOT want to recreate that one.

5. I saw a lot of reptiles and saw a Gila Monster in a show, and a butterfly room. Those two I wanted to see again also.

6. All kinds of animals that were stuffed and hunted, but it might of been at a different museum that we saw this.

That's about it. As we walked over and saw the interesting Pueblo architecture with sandstone walls, looking wood from a distance, a guy in a Safari looking outfit with red skin and short hair and an Australian accent gave us a map. We looked at it as we sat down. We could do the loop around the whole property first and then meander as we liked. Waiting on the benches, we waited for Mom as we talked to Ben the safari dude. Mom came as I looked at the rough paper map with the bobcat on it, and walked up a hill with to the left of us some trees and plants, very pretty, with identification cards, and to the right the parking lot. We went to the restroom and then came back down. We were now ready to start off. We went up to those little ticket boxes, and then got the tickets as we entered the park. What would we see first? Do the loop or see the stuff inside, all the insects and snakes and stuff? Well, time would certainly tell. At first on the right we stayed at a little bench as we waited for Mom to get done going to the restroom. We talked to the same guy from New Hampshire, and it was incidental that we had seen the nice man again. I had shed my shirt and jacket, me thinking it was going to be cold, and tied it around my waist. We stopped talking to him as he said he wanted to catch a lady talking about a hawk. My first thing I wanted to do was about to become a reality. I was so glad and so ready to go up there. How lucky we were to see him again and learn this valuable info!

I asked Dad if I could go listen to it, as we saw on the map that this was the only one of the day and I explained that I had done it the previous visit and wished to do so once more. Rebecca and I walked up to a building which had a porch with stone and concrete, and another restroom on the right side. There was a lady with a table, with brown bushy hair, and she was on a curved circular ledge that was looking out into the desert, with the sun shining and it's rays on all of the desert dirt and shrub that was out there. She was wearing a glove that a huge bird was perched on, the red hawk. It's graceful flight had always intrigued me to learn more about this bird of prey after seeing it at the Desert Museum the first time. It was my favorite bird from then on after. The sharp silver talons glowed in the sun as it frequently spread it's wings, but it's claws still attached to the white leather gloves, protecting the lady. It had brown and red feathers which were vertical and long. I looked at this imposing creature with widened eyes, as the lady told about this marvelous descendant of the dinosaurs. It was amazing as it tried to fly but did not, as it pecked at it's chest with a firm braveness, and yawned every now and then. This was a beautiful animal indeed!

I asked questions as I had done the previous time, and I thought maybe this was the same lady, perhaps. However this time she was not as nice and didn't say I had many good questions; perhaps it was because I was older and it was expected of me to be engaged and ask questions, unlike my younger counterpart self. Well, I asked what area they stayed in, and she said that they stuck to the skies and occasionally made rest at a cactus and then also tried to stick in the mountain area. Also, she said that (after I had asked the question of what do they eat and how to they find it) she said mainly squirrels, mice, stuff like that. They have really good eyes and can see a dot down on the ground from hundreds upon hundreds of feet up. The wingspan was so and so (I'm not good with remembering numbers) and she also told us that the talons didn't hurt her and that the bird was perfectly trained and would never do anything to hurt her. Although it did try to. Dad texted saying that Mom was there and where were we, to which I told him as Rebecca sat on some rock. We then thanked the lady and left. 1 memory down, 4 to go.

We walked over as Mom walked toward us, and she told us to keep going, for we were going to continue on the tour and see some of the other wildlife the place had to offer. I video-taped the rich in bareness desert (see what I did there?) and then we walked to the right at a view past the big building and at a rectangular place with a stone wall, as I looked out and read a panel about some of the environment. I learned a lot more there in that single panel about cacti then I did in the whole of the Saguaro National Park, which has the name of the Tucson cactus right in the park's name. Stupid.

Mom and Dad told me to hurry up,and I did. This museum, outside (which is really awesome for a museum to be outside) was fairly big and we needed to speed up. Then we saw the second thing that I had really remembered from our first time there. It was the door down to the globe, with a little door out of the sandstone rock that was there. We walked down, but came from a different way than where the globe was, seeing all this cave stuff and brown and black charcoal looking rock out of the walls, and later a lady informed me this wasn't a real cave but a recreation of a real cave in Arizona that still stands. There were lighted museum panels on the side and little holes with different stuff about tites and mites in them, and also bat stuff and different things of that matter. Dad and I walked in to the dark place and saw to the left among lighted panels a little opening in the cave fake stalactites. I really loved this place and was excited to go around in it, enjoying science about caves and the earth. It was good because that was what we had been learning this year at Crabapple so I was kinda on track, based on how many caves we had been to and how many fault lines and volcanoes we would go to in the future. I asked Dad if I could go up the really small staircase.

He said yeah and I thanked him, and said I loved him and would miss him dearly if I stayed up there and became a bat kid. Me, in my not the skinniest person state, had a little trouble getting up there and the terrain was not the best, but I managed fine. I had to go along the left wall and then came into an intersection of sorts, with a little hole on the left that a person could sit in if they wanted to, and a very pretty yellow fake tite on the right behind glass. A girl came up and uttered a curse word called "FREAKIN!" and I told her not to say that word. She didn't care as I let her pass and then I went on down, through some uneasy terrain as I emerged down at another section, having gone quite a long way and to the right of the huge space that the adults walked in. It had been really dark and I was glad Dad had given me a flashlight and I had lighted my way in what could have been the darkest section of Edgar Allen Poe's brain. It was as black as a phone screen after months of inactivity. I turned twisty corners and came up into a circular area with many panels of how caves form and one about a bat and one about something to do with ice temperature. A lady was at a small table with a plastic box. She was on the left as I exited the little chamber I had come from, feeling like someone in an odd Frank L. Baum novel (the man who made all the Oz books, 14 in all) as I came over from an unknown entrance.

She had in there among some leaves and other articles a... tantrala, a spider. The fat hairy one with the large black and white legs and the two tweezer like fangs out of their eight eyed head, such a ghastly creature to be spectacle to! But, I kept calm and did not start screaming like a girl and run down the cave and then hide behind my mom, although if I had no shame I would've very well done so. I asked some questions like if it bit people and she said yes but it had no venom really. I nodded as Rebecca came up and said that we had to go down and that Mom and Dad were already outside, and she also asked if I thought the tarantula was scary, to which I replied no in front of the blonde haired big lady. I was a little though. We walked away as I was desperately trying to read all the things, about how different chemicals froze the mites and tites and different things of that nature, you know. The bats hearing and how they are blind was very interesting, and it was just another example of creatures that had adapted and were a good invention of God. I was pulled further down into another circular area where I again tried to look at some cool stuff, and then came down the hallway with the rock on the left and the museum area on the right. I showed Rebecca that cool chamber thing after asking the parents if I could do so. She took the flashlight.

After we came back down, I tried to read a little things as we went down in the last circular room with the rock walls and panels all around,to the other side and to continue the loop. Even though I wanted to go fast to get to Sabina Canyon, I wished to learn also, and did so to learn about different gases in the air and sinkholes, as I then looked up and smiled as wide as the Mississippi River. It was the blue globe attached to the black wire on all sides, and to my left was a movie showing lava spewing up and black molten rock, some solid, some oozing, and all totally an epic show of God's destruction-makers. There was a timeline of glass panels, starting at the entrance of light with no door and going around to the right and all of the animal artifacts and little planets around...once I was done looking at this I had done two down, 3 to go. But Rebecca said I had to go along and see the rest of the museum. I went up this concrete slant out the door with lines and dates saying all the eras before we were born and made, and then turned right outside, my eyes blinking, as I always do when I come out of a cave or dark place. They were sitting on a bench and I managed to urge them to allow me a few minutes as I ran back down. I only had a limited amount of time, so I started reading urgently and quickly.

I shook my head at the scientist and whoever was making the panels firm belief in the Big Bang, but it did make sense as the museum explained it. However, I do not believe in that stuff. All the comet hitting another star and bursting into millions of pieces and then throwing a fragment right where junk rotated another star, and then that chunk of rock being developed into a living breathing green world with all that stuff...well let's say it was a little far fetched. Then these huge reptiles come around, and we know they really did, and the museum described a little the Jurassic Period, the Triassic Period, and the Creat...wordIcan'tspell Period, furnishing all different sorts of dinosaurs. It then talked about wholly mammoths and the ice age which hurt everybody pretty bad, almost as bad as the Great Depression.(I know you think an ice age is worse than a stock market crash and people out of work, but everybody suffered in the Great Depression, whereas in the Ice Age they either died immediately or struggled for survival.) After that was the developing of mammals and such, to which I was kind of shown to at the Smithsonian at the Natural History. I saw a holy mammoth! bone which was cool. Well, I ran up after looking at the globe and then looked at the periods as Mom and Dad got off the bench and pushed forward. I thanked them that they had let me do that.

We turned left, now out in the desert with the dirt path and a fence going up on our left side, as we went down and then around and then uphill once more. We had been walking for quite a long time, and only seeing exotic plants and different Latin names on all different fauna and foliage. Then I saw a covered patio with little tiki wooden beams and a lady there. I looked up at the beautiful sky as I saw some more panels telling about coyotes! That they could survive in many habitats, and even go into dumpsters, and their acute hearing and seeing was also told about.

There was the big net with many of the green faded brush in circles all around and a rock and dirt all around. After turning the corner and talking to a lady about coyotes and "Call of the Wild," to which she said was a really good novel. I had purchased a copy at Books-A-Million in Mississippi. Anyway, I looked at a few coyote bones, still trying to SNIFF out(see what I did there) the creature but not finding it. We were turning left as I wondered if the coyote could come out and try to kill us, but that was controversial to the woman's firm belief that coyotes were harmless, so I didn't worry much. I read some more things, still looking for that javelina thing, but not really finding it. Well, as we passed down my wanting of seeing a real coyote was realized. Down in the brush, a lady, grey short hair and skinny and small, told me to look for a coyote, one of the great disguises and blenders of one's environment. Mom then saw it and pointed, and we brought down the lady from the one porch to see it. The four of us, three female adults and one curious boy child, looked anxiously to see this new discovery. There was a grey and dirt coated animal fur with yellow eyes facing right at us. It was very tired-looking as it laid down as any dog does, and I was shocked to determine this was nothing more than a big dog with big ears... well maybe smarter and more powerful than a dog. But another example of a wonderful creature nonetheless.

After talking we dispersed and walked on. I had now seen a hawk and also a coyote. We came into a shrub filled area with some benches where Dad and Rebecca were sitting, and the curious Rebecca wanted to go see the thing so I went and showed her, annoying at having spent the time there we could've spent reading more panels to get closer to Sabina. There was a green panel that had some paw prints furnished by ink and pieces of paper. There was a white-bearded man who was in that same trademark safari suit every employee we had seen was in. Rebecca and I went into an alcove where a panel told that through the brush, shrub, and big rocks and dead trees was a spot javelinas liked. A few places before that and on this small bridge were similar signs. The man told us that if we crossed a little bridge and looked underneath a drained tree we could see some javelinas basking in the sun. Frantically we went over there to see the spectacle, and I brushed up on some things I had learned the day before about javelinas not being piccaries and such. On a little mound higher than us we could see the assumingly peaceful and quiet animals. But I had learned just then that they were very competitive, unlike piccaries who are very sociable, or it might be the other way around... no matter.

I had had fun spotting these animals and the fun continued. They had pig big noses, little eyes with hair on the top and sides of it, brown and the fur sticking right into the sides of it. They are short, stout, and fat, as they were beside each other and snored as heavy as a fat hobo named Joe on the streets of Chicago with a coffee cup and dimes in it... or maybe we didn't need that description.

Moving on to the right, we also went down the path towards more of those cacti. We had barely even started, actually, and had to go a lot longer to accomplish the whole loop. There were deer, mountain lions, wolves, rams, even an otter that were still to the mix. I was really excited to see what lay ahead. With Dad leading, we turned and came forward where some trees were and either side were panels telling about the environment of the area or some kind of plant. Various things. Then we came to a fence of some kind, a railing separating us from the precious wildlife, and we saw some little trees and a brook going by, with many panels telling us of…wolves! Another desert animal that had adapted to the strange habitat, and another one which we would love seeing! We tried to site them, with cameras ready to shoot them, and I, even though wasn’t the guy who was the MOST interested in plants and animals (I’m more into human history and planes and movie stuff, but oh well) was really crazed that wolves were about to be seen. I really was enjoying and liking seeing real desert animals and reading about their different traits and such.

The wolves were hidden under the trees, but at the same time there were some in a corner. They slirked under the tree and by a river that was artificial, of course, because this wasn’t a real environment for any of the animals. They were grey, slim, and furry, with all the marks of being canine, the long tail, four skinny but deadly legs and paws, and the pointy ears that were daggers and long snout, and large eyes as distant and as black as the milky way. I have always been fascinated with the creature, and read a book about it that was basically “The Call of the Wild” story but under a different name, and had the dog with a wolf pack. I hated it however, as I read it a little in Maine. Wolves are cool because they run in packs, and have titles or rank like in an army, of Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Girls at my school pretended to be werewolves and placed those ranks among those in the “pack.” 

Wolves are also awesome because of their quickness, slyness, agility, and power when they strike a lone or weak animal, be it smaller than the others or a wounded one, and then they eat whatever creature was the unlucky prey. They get mates by howling at the moon, and then also can find the same howl if their spouse is separated from a long way away. Even though they can be vicious animals, they are really stellar creatures and do cool stuff. Sadly, however, they are dying out as more people hunt them, and that’s what a man said on the curvy corner where a horseshoe figure was, and another railing where another animal was, and I’ll get to that later. He was a docent or walking encyclopedia as they are called, and was at a small table with pictures, graphs, and many papers. He stressed that no one should shoot or kill wolves unless they have to, and he said they were going fewer by the day. Kind of sad, really.

I talked to them a little and he said Arizona wolves were reddish and told me many more things. Very interesting guy. I looked at some pelts and touched them, knowing I could never touch a real live wolf and liked it’s feel.

Then in the curved area was another tree, and in here was a deer. The prey of the beloved wolf. For some reason there are tons and tons of cow and deer, and I don’t quite know why there is so much of prey, animals really easy to kill and used for food that their predators could eat and there is so little of cheetahs and wolves, predators that can fight very hard instead of just prancing away. The deer was under a tree, hopefully separated by it’s ruthless predator. It was a doe with a white little bushy part on it’s butt, and nice little ears that were medium brown, the whole color and texture of the beast. It had very skinny and long legs also. There’s no real reason to describe it however, because nearly everyone has seen deer. I will do it anyway though.

Dad told us to go on, and I read some things about it before telling him, passing by on my left side a little bird cage. Right after the whole cave globe thing we had seen a few of these little flying things, like a green large parrot with a feather going up on the back of it’s head as an Indian wears, as it had green streaks and black background, going around on the branches. Rebecca talked to a girl her age, blonde and small, about the bird as the girl said that there was supposed to be some really cool stuff ahead, and that they were doing the loop too but had already done that part that was the whole globe thing earlier, and had started from a specific part of the museum, but I do not remember which one.

There was also the back of a mountain lion that we also saw that could be seen at a different place!

Mom told us to speed up, because on the previous time we had stayed inside too much and hadn’t seen much of outside. Sure, we were outside at the moment but we might miss some of the spectacles inside the place.

Well, we continued left as we had done before, now with many benches and different plants of such. There was still more. As I slowly read all of the panels Rebecca pulled me now to another section, saying the best was yet to come up. It was just a rock wall, beige in tinted color like Gila Cliff Dwellings, little bumpy parts. So what was here? I was about to be shown. It was large and agile mountain lions, little ears and round faces with big sharp teeth, and small tails with beige fur and a long strong appearance. They were a sort of cat that flourished in the desert, eating different things they can find and pouncing upon their meals, crouching in the undergrowth and both climbing up all those tall mountains. They're cool animals. We looked at some in the holes, and I was shaking my head at the really cool creatures as some of them stood by the dirt and looked like any cat or dog, curling up so and licking their paws like they were so innocent, the same wild cats who had both killed rats, rabbits, and even squirrels on a regular basis. I learned about them a little, and was very fascinated as Eve, the girl who was friends now with Rebecca, talked a little about how they were in the mountains outside of Tucson and to watch out for them.

We walked on, and now came down a hill on level ground again. We were surrounded by brick ledge all around earlier and so now were very lower. Mom and Dad wanted us to stay on the loop, but there was a sign that said it went to prairie dogs, and, although we had already seen them in South Dakota, we wished to catch site of them once more. There were many more trees and compact foliage around the little trail, unlike the openness of us seeing all the cacti and the horizon earlier. Dad let Rebecca and I follow Eve under a pavilion as we saw some vertical panels and glass display cases showing moles and fungi, the underground story of what happens underground. Funny. Then you had a fence and a glass door that separated spectators from the funny creatures on the other side, with their holes and columns and all the furry little guys on their back feet, fat and little, tall and plump. They scurried around and popped up and down, and then pawed the glass as marks were made up. Eve and Rebecca laughed, and Rebecca tried to stay longer to look at 'em. But we had to continue longer to be able to go Sabina Canyon, which closed only at 5 and maybe go to A Mountain if we had time. Would we make it?

We followed Mom as Dad was lost sight of. He continued to go very quickly, passing by many of the panels. Well, we were on high ground again, and looked down at some water with lili pads and other things, rock on all sides. Were these the beaver and otter that were so advertised? I had totally remembered it from the previous time, as I had for the javelina too. Oh and the globe and the hawk. I hadn't seen the bones but that had been at a hill and then a flatter part, where a circular building was also. We wouldn't go there, but that might be where the stuffed animals were, maybe. Well, the thing I saw when I turned around would be a lot cooler than anything before.

Rams! Four of them! The horns came out of the ear area and then around, like a trumpet that Joshua in the Bible would blow. They were large brown animals, very sturdy and a few of them females, with no horns and just looking like white baggy sheep. They were on a rock wall with not that much room for the ledge, and a hole to the right where they would disappear. Cameras flashed as they actually JUMPED to the next ledge up higher, even with their extra weight from the horns and their big hooves, they were very quick and agile. It was just another one of the cool animals that made up Arizona's rich and unique desert environment, how they camouflage on the cold mountains and then come down at night to find some vegetation or kill an animal, where the predators weren't about and they were sleeping. Isn't that so cool? All animals in the desert are really awesome and adaptive, and they make up the league that Mr. Monkey made up, called the AAA. Yes, the Awesome Adaptive Animals. What did you think Triple A stood for?

But they really were spectacular creatures, the females having long white hair on their sides and very fat, with a beard underneath a face that had slick horns going backgrounds. THIS was the female? The men looked more attractive, Mom noted. Well, there on the right side was a railing and a concrete long area with a building and big brown roof, which was a restroom. The big brown roof with all the columns, square, supporting it, had a man with a table and some of the rams' horns, and he had white hair and was bearded. I touched the little gullies and callouses of the horn, and even picked up the bulky thing. Very big and heavy, but it was really cool to touch it and then also learn about the goats a little more. After we thanked the docent and continued on, I wondered where in the world Dad was, and why he had sped up as he sometimes did. Well, there was a stairway going down into the rock floor to the left where more forest was, like a subway in New York City. This said that there was the water portion down there, with all the otters and fish. I had been excited for a lot of things, the agile cool rams that had jumped around and had gone into the cave, one by one. I wondered where it had gone. But I had been excited for a lot of things and now wanted to see the aquatic animals, which I really like for some reason and find cool. Only a paragraph or two away....

It was a dimly lit area with rock walls and rock floor, with different areas of pure area, not a circular or square room, but one that spun around and was like a maze, an underground one, but only a small area and one room. Right on my right when I came down the stairs was a glass square box, no light in there with a step up and cushioned platform, with a little hole where kids could just pretend and play. There was a little circular white button that you could press which showed you some animal, and I didn't know which one it was before I did it. I pressed it and found a burrow where no animal seemed to be hiding, but as I looked to the right I saw a little beaver that was black and furry and up in his little hole. The rest of this room was easy, with the back wall paneled with a lot of museum stuff and glass tanks, some large and some little, that had exotic fish of different colors, shapes, and sizes, blue and yellow, with all different designs. Some of them had big feather looking gills and stripes, others were more orange, large and plain. Then, there was an underwater look at the pond we had seen earlier, separated by a large glass plate that went almost the whole room. This was really cool and I had remembered it clearly from our last visit. It was awesome to see these animals' underwater habitat without having to put on a tank and goggles and be in the murky mess. We were about to see another Thermos aquaticus.

In case you didn't know, which you probably didn't, TA is Latin for "hot water loving creature" or something like that, and usually it refers to bacteria that thrived in thermal features of Yellowstone National Park. But in this pretense, I am breaking several biologists rules, and I break rules a lot, by saying their also otters and beavers. Oh well, sometimes it's okay to bend and twist the status quo. This blog and the Internet have given me several opportunities to do that. Well, let's get back to the blog.

Then you had a little glass hole Rebecca looked through as she stood up on a platform, with a light and no animal. Where was the animal?

SPLASH!

Our first sign of the otter came when a brown slim creature with a black flat tail sprawled in front, making white bubbles in the environment as it twirled around in the PH7 or H2O.(two words for water.) Cameras flashed as we all gasped as the otter would do when needing to come up for air. This was so awesome to see the animal in action. We followed it around as some people we had just been talking to came down, but sadly too late. The otter, as quick as it had came, quickly swam out and onto the lili-padded shore. It was fun while it lasted.

I read some graphs about fish migration and several other things involving are gilled friends that we usually end up eating at Red Lobster, before we walked out via another staircase and then resumed our tour. We WOULD make it to Sabina Canyon before the day was done and there wasn't left to see here. Something about birds and bees....not that thing you think I'm referring too, and then a section on reptiles. The only part I was supremely interested in would have to be the birds, having already seen reptiles at other places and thinking they were very creepy, and bees I wasn't a fan of. The birds sounded fun however. We followed the trail some more, and saw more Latin names addressed to plants as we came to an intersection. You could go down one area and see some nice roses, and then you could also go into something that looked interesting, called the Garden Labyrinth. In the beginning it had been downhill and cacti on the trail, and only now was it uphill and rich vegetation that made it look very pretty. I looked at this "Garden Labyrinth" reading the sign that talked about how mazes had been used for such a long time and the whole story of Minos and his pet Minotaur and Theseus, which you can read about by either a History teacher or WWW. Your choice.

What's cool was it was a puzzle developed by a contributor to the museum supposed to make the person take their time and think, and I looked at it with a raised eyebrow. It was a round and round circle that was green with a gravel path and a few openings, and I did it actually in a really longer time than I thought. Rebecca and Mom were on the nature path, and I turned right instead of left where the end of this thing was. They told me that they had seen a lot of beautiful different flora and fauna though along the way. We went in the leafy forest, as you could say, before seeing a sign saying Bird Avery and a round building with brown wood and chirping sounds inside. We turned right down to a path where too large double swing glass doors were. This was going to be awesome. In the threshold, we turned right as some Indian people came out. The next sounds we heard were worth remembering.

There was everything from the voice of a parrot, , to the KAA of a crow, to the distant and almost silent hum of a humming bird. Low lying branches had plenty of birds on them, as they flew around the room. The green parrot was really awesome, I thought, and as I video taped it we tried to make it talk... but it would not. Oh well. There was a fence inside here so no bird would get out, and a rubber door consisting it of rubber coming down in vertical pieces, like how you go through and you break through some stuff? Well I wondered what that was for as I looked around at little blue jays, having just read a part in A Tramp Abroad where Mark Twain showed a story of them, and also looked at a fat and pompous robin sing out some notes, the gentle tints in the brown and red and the very long beak. They kill worms, feed babies, and then somehow die, by cat, by car, by plane, by giant monkey hanging onto a building...it's sad on how many ways birds can die, really. Rebecca, as we went around, showed me humming birds hiding in the branches of a tree, the small little thumb sized bird with it's nice colors of blue and back vibrating it's little wings as it makes a hum every so peaceful and silent. We looked at it as I stood where two trees were and tried to look for one. It whizzed past me at a tremendous speed, and I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I felt the wind that had blown away to get out of the way of the bird. It was hilarious.

Rebecca was really interested with the small creatures, a lot actually. She smiled and tried to get one on her finger, but none would dare to try the little girl's skin. I asked a docent half way out of the little aveary what was the difference between a mockingbird and a humming bird and she told me HB was a lot littler and hummed while MB's mocked other people's voices and just sang, and were fairly large and grey. I asked her that because I had read To Kill A MockingbirdSo I wondered what it looked like and all. Thanking the lady, I asked two further questions after we had talked about birds and how interesting they are while Rebecca took valuable time we could've spent at Sabina by trying to find a humming bird on her finger. She had also shaved off time at the camping world too. But, on the other hand, I had taken a long time to go all these places too. Dad was the only one who was speeding up. Anyway, I asked the lady what a docent was(like a tour guide or information person who volunteers and receives no money) and why they had that door. It was so that the birds couldn't get out, because the only way they could was by a person lifting them all, which the sign said not to. Hmm. Well, that's that.

As it was turning on 3:30, she informed me that it's takes 30 minutes from here to get to Sabina, and then you have to get the tickets, there's a movie and tiny museum, and the tour's pretty long in itself. We COULD make it but it would be very slim. She said she did docent work there too so if I came tomorrow she would be there. We exited the beautiful birds in the avery, and I called Dad as he checked the hours and asked him if we could go. We sped up, seeing all the plants for seconds, going to the left toward the building again and not going down the trail to the right which took us to the bees. We came up to the adobe brick as we entered the door to the gift shop by tables and under a patio roof. Inside was a lot of different souvenir stuff, including tees and jewelry and coffee mugs. Dad was at a little coffee place to the right, and I gotta lemonade to cool down the Arizona heat. We ate outside, and Dad said we could in fact go there at 8, him and I, if we got ready, but there was a hike involved so... I just said we didn't need to go. I just didn't remember it from the last time we had been there so I wanted to see it and write it down in the blog, this time around, but I could always do it a different time. Sigh.

Some girls sat by us and a man, old, didn't know where to sit as they were all full and so we offered a seat to him and started several conversations. He later left. I left my drink and went up to the left and higher up part of the gift shop, where some wild west history books were and some Native American and Mexican traditions were. DRAW! FAMOUS GUNFIGHTS OF THE AMERICAN WEST! was one that looked interesting to me. I returned down as Dad told us to go to the restroom, that it was a long drive back. We walked up to where the hawk had been, up stairs, and peeked into the reptiles and insect dimly lit hall with display cases, and looked at some centipedes and snakes and lizards...okay then Rebecca and I moved back down. We came to everybody and then left the facility, in the jeep. I asked Dad if we still had enough daylight to see A Mountain, and he replied yes. So, we drove off in the direction of the mountain, and came up to the giant A fixed to the side of a very large hill. The two / and \ made up the red part, with colored rock, and then the middle part where the second line was --- red. Then some air, like the red in between. The triangle part of the A was blue. We prepared to ride the jeep up the mountain.

The rode consisted of a dirt track going around and around the mountain, seeing some good saguaros and the glittering town as we went up and up. There was a little metal railing. And a metal placard I had remembered from the first time we had come up with our grandparents. We had taken a picture there. Well, we were ready to scale this puppy, Rebecca and I were. It was to be the last amount of pyhsical exertion upon my shoes. I had my phone on my holster, a white tee shirt, and my video camera and a hat. As Mom and Dad stayed in the car, Rebecca and I went up the right \ and there were several circular rocks that were all painted red, and a few names carved into them and pieces of bottles and trash. Pop would later tell me that as a student at Arizona University, he had to go up there and paint over the rocks and clean it up, because he was a freshman. It was a funny story I would think about later as I reflected the climb. We crawled and tried to find footing as we slowly went on. The middle part was dirt and a big wall where you had to climb up that, so we didn't go there until later when we were coming down. It wasn't too hard and wasn't too long of a climb, but I'm glad we had the additional exercise. We paused at the white --- and caught our breath.

Then we resumed. The final section was actually pretty little and took no time at all, move, breath, step, breath, balance, fall, it was all a pattern of getting up. Even in late afternoon the sun still beat down on us, and I looked to my left where a train track and some silent carts were, down in the valley of the Old Pueblo. The paint was really bad here and chipping off, and I ran up and reached the top first, because it WAS my mountain, A Mountain, for Andrew. I had been determined to climb it and get up there first.

"Uhh, Andrew, sweetie, it's NOT your Mountain. It belongs to the University of Arizona."

"Mom! Don't tell them that!"

None of you heard that exchange, did you? (Awkward pause.) Okay, well, as I saying there was a lot of boulders and stuff with people's names on them, and a lot of trash and McDonald's meals. Oh, and what a view! Rebecca and I waved to Mom and Dad, taking pictures, doing video, and I also took some pictures that I voxed to a girl named Alyssa who I know. The brown buff mountains surrounding the area, the vast open desert plain with cylinder cacti off in the distance, the little houses and abode style brick that charted the landscape, and all in the middle the glittering skyscrapers that were rectangular, hotels and one a football stadium, all in a bunch. Closer was Arizona dirt that blew by, and only a few little houses. It was truly a beautiful view, and I loved to be up there and say that I had seen Tucson from an Aeriel shot. Such a beautiful and awesome town. All the good restaurants and pretty downtown, the wonderful senior community, Old Tucson where they made all the famous cowboy westerns, and the museum and other things. I love that town now, because of all the cool and interesting stuff they have there. Not as much as my grandpa loves it though. The Old Pueblo is always in his heart.

:)

We made the trip down after a large family consisting of many tan girls came up, and a little chihuahua barked at us as Rebecca tried to lean to the left and not get bitten by the little rascal. We slid down and then ran and stayed in the middle dirt, jumping and everything. Then we got in the car as the sunset came down.

Our bodies were hungry. We found the same place that was very packed two nights before, called The Hub. Parking on the street and putting some quarters in the machine, I talked to Alyssa on Voxer and Dad told me to shut the annoying sounds coming from it. Voxer has where it's like a walkie talkie and you can say your voice into it and then press a button and they instantly get the message, or you can do text. It's cool because it's the best of both texting and calling. On the app store you can probably find it if your interested.

The Hub was an ice creamery with a wooden ceiling and awesome metal shafts and stuff, and then white flat couches along the wall with people sitting down at them. It was very sheik and stylish as we were led from two black shirted girls at a white podium to sit down at the left section which had a full service bar. The parents got two drinks as I played some games on my phone, not reading because of the dark lights. We were led to a back booth, and a nice blonde waiter served us. Good guy. His name was Trent, I think. We all had good meals, salad and chicken and mac'n'cheese. I had an ice cream, congratulating myself on all that I had walked that day. I hadn't had one in a very long time. After the great meal we came back to our very loud R.V. park site. How many more nights with all this noise?

We went to sleep, me with my bed out. It had been a great day of seeing all those awesome wildlife at the Arizona Desert Museum, and climbing A Mountain and seeing the view was also fun. The food was good at The Hub. Although we didn't go to Sabina Canyon, it was a wonderful day.

Let me end on a serious note...for once. We need to really cherish and protect our wildlife, be it whatever kind it is. Hunting it and not taking care of animals if we see one is not the human way. We need to preserve habitats and try to help the polar bears up at the North Pole and try more efficient ways of energy, not impacting the habitats of creatures in a negative way. Try to not litter; the trash could go into an animal's stomach. Be careful on rarely used roads and try to never kill an animal. We need to preserve our companions on this planet by not killing off species and destroying predators; it would be good to just let life take's it's tole. Well, thank you for listening to my little speech. I'm sorry I'm now lecturing, but I just thought that this message needed saying or repeating.---

The Blogger.