The Sun and Fun
Back from a few fun-filled days in Arizona. Meandering through the gigantic gem, fossil and mineral shows alternated with road trips out to historic mining towns like Bisbee, shown above. This amazing place is built in a cleft in the mountains, with hardly a flat spot to be found. Homes perch precariously above one another, clutching somehow onto the coppery cliffs. One map I found revealed that at least 19 mines operated in the area (from about the 1880s). Copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc were the targets. One mine, which shut down in 1975, produced 3 million ounces of gold and over 8 billion pounds of copper. A serene scene from behind an Indian Reservation gas stop west of Tucson. One excursion took us to the top of a mountain range to check out Kitts Peak Observatory. It boasts the largest collection of telescopes in the world. Sadly, this little amount of snow somehow hindered the staff and normal operations there, and we found the visitor centre closed. But we were allowed ...