Spring Break in Arizona

Becky, Lindsey and Brandon came to Arizona to spend their Spring Break.  We picked them up at the Tucson Airport but headed to Maricopa - our home base for a few days.  The first day we went to a Seattle Mariners Spring Training Game.  It was a beautiful, warm day and we had really good seats right behind 3rd base.  I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures.  Dang!

On the second day, we had an exceptionally fun day.  We went on a hot air balloon ride - a first time experience for all of us - with Aerogelic Ballooning.  Getting up very early was the hardest part but sunrise it is the best time for weather conditions.  It's interesting to watch the whole process of unloading all the equipment from a trailer and filling the balloon.  

The day we chose was perfect - sunny and no wind. In fact, we were able to go up about 5,000 feet and the views were exceptional.  Chandler is a suburb of Phoenix so we floated over parts of town but we could also see the mountains in the outlying area.

Everyone was enjoying the awesome experience and amazing views.

 

As we landed, we descended over a new development.  We were close enough to see the pools and patios in private homes.  It was really fun to hear kids holler that there was a balloon flying over their house.  You could even see the construction workers working on new homes.  Climbing out of the basket was interesting.  Everyone worked to get the balloons and baskets back into their trailers.

The pilots were a lot of fun.  They always take up two balloons at a time and it was great to watch the other balloon as we were always within view of them.  There was a champagne breakfast for all.  The pilots gave a brief history of hot air balloons with a little bit of humor.  Celebration is complete with a toast to an awesome experience.  After this day, we moved to Tucson so we could see some sights near there.

We spent an afternoon on a tour of Biosphere 2 near Tucson.  The facility has an interesting history but the tour guide we had was too detailed for us.  Here is little information about the mission of the facility.

"Biosphere 2 was built as a research facility for two major experiments and is now open to visitors, while still housing some experiments. Biosphere 2 had two closure experiments, Missions 1 and 2, during which the structure was sealed with researchers living inside. The first, with a crew of eight people, ran for two years from 1991 to 1993. Following a six month transition period during which researchers entered the facility through airlock doors and conducted research and system engineering improvements, a second closure with a crew of seven people was conducted March 1994 – September 1994. In the course of that second mission, a dispute over management of the financial aspects of the project caused the on-site management to be locked out, and the mission itself to be ended prematurely. While its missions were not considered the greatest successes, they have inspired more ideas and ecological experiments.  Some of the ecosystems under glass that the Biosphere 2 features include:  Ocean with coral reef, tropical rain forest, savannah grassland, fog desert and mangrove wetlands."

Seeing the Kartchner Caverns is a must for everyone.  These caverns have the most beautiful displays of multi-colored limestone formations imaginable.  The caverns were discovered in 1974 but were kept secret until 1988.  The caverns are located 12 miles south of Benson, AZ.  This huge limestone cave has 13,000 feet of passages and two rooms as long as football fields.  The caverns were opened as a state park in 1999.  The temperature inside the caverns averages 68 degrees year round with the humidity at 99 percent.  Oh, we celebrated Lindsey's 15th birthday while we were together.  Homemade lasagna sounded good to the birthday girl.

Well, it's back to the Tucson Airport for the departing vacationers.  It was so much fun to have them with us for part of our trip.  Safe travels!!!