On Monday it was rainy.
Rain is a bummer for me, because it rains in my living room. I did not
want to stay in bed all day. (inside Tiny Trailer = being in bed), and I did
not want to hang out the clubhouse all day (too much cordiality required).
I drove to Ajo for a breakfast of chilequiles and thought
about my options. I decided to check out
the Tohono O’odham Cultural Center and museum in Topowa. Topowa is is about 12 miles out of Sells, and
Sell s is about 60 miles east of Why. After about 70 miles of driving ( and a
little more due to a wrong turn in Sells), I arrived at the museum. I have no pictures of this portion of the day,
because photography wasn’t allowed in the museum, and to be perfectly honest,
there wasn’t a whole lot to photograph, even if it were allowed. The museum
space is about 30-40 feet in diameter,
and has information about the tribe’s history, but very few artifacts or art.
There were some very nice baskets, and a LOT of little blue cards that said,
“This item has been removed from the collection”. I took my time, looked at
everything that there was to see, and was still done in about 20 minutes.
As I drove back to Sells, off to the east, I could see the
observatory domes of Kitt Peak, so I decided to go have a look. I was only 19
miles further, and it would help temper the disappointment I felt about driving
so far to the museum.
Kitt Peak National Observatory is awesome!! I will have to make another trip back, as I
spent so long at one of the three telescopes that the public can tour, that I
didn’t get to see the other two. . And the views of the desert floor from high
on the mountain alone are worth the drive.
Obviously not my teardrop, but a lovely (and pricey) model from Camp-Inn
Kitt Peak Visitors' Center
One of the many scopes on the peak
Big radiotelescope, part of the VLBA (Very Large Baseline Array)
Solar telescope (Photo courtesy of Robert Harding Productions...because I forgot to take one from outside)
Interesting older equipment in the solar observation room
Looking up and out of the Solar Telescope tube
Looking down the Solar Telescope tube into the mountain
