Arizona

[pajeff02]

Tripped out to Arizona last week for a family vacation. My in-laws rented a house northeast of Tucson in the Saddlebrooke complex. We flew in to Phoenix and picked up a rental car from Hertz for the week. Unfortunately, Hertz does not understand their own concept of "Rent this Exact Vehicle" and my hopes of tooling around in a CTS were dashed. We ended up with an Escalade for the week which made Sammie really happy as it is apparently her favorite vehicle. On the drive down to Tucson, which was on a Tuesday evening, we saw at least a dozen state trooper and sheriff vehicles. That is more LEO's out on the road running radar than I will see all summer here in Pennsylvania. It was like that all week out there too. On the ride in to Tucson, which was around 15 miles, we never saw less than 2 troopers running radar off in the scrub. It was nuts!

The house was really nice and the surrounding mountains made for a great backdrop. We tripped over to Mt. Lemmon twice -- 24 miles up hill to just over the 9,000 foot elevation at he peak, if I recall correctly. My in-laws road the first 14 miles on their bicycles on our second trip to it. The next day, we drove just over 4 hours to Sedona (up around Firebirdjones' stomping grounds). Incredible views of the mountains, all red rocks and just amazing formations. We took the Escalade off-roading, which got us more than a few looks from the people on the "Pink Jeep Tours", out to a formation known as Devil's Gate. On the way back to Tucson, we stopped and checked out both of the Barrett-Jackson facilities just to see what they were all about.

Other trips were to Biosphere 2, which was located just a few miles up the road from Saddlebrooke. It is an enclosed facility built in the late '80s and early 90's in which 8 scientists were sealed for 2 years. Things apparently didn't go so well and the group after them only made it about 6 months before the project was terminated. All sorts of things went wrong and they essentially spent more time just trying to maintain their food supply than performing experiments and such. It is a very interesting facility to tour, I especially liked the "lungs" -- two large domes in which an aluminum dish is suspended from the ceiling by a rubber bladder. As the air is heated and cooled in the Biosphere's glass buildings, the dish rises and falls. The scale of the thing is simply enormous! We also checked out the Arizona State Museum in Tucson and a few other smaller trips. I still need to see the Pima Air & Space Museum, the aircraft boneyard and Kitt Peak sometime.

Our rental house:




Mt. Lemmon:






Sedona:







Devil's Gate (that's my father-in-law on it):







Biosphere 2:

[RedHot99T/A]

looks like a grat trip!would love to head out there some day.if your still there keep the pics on rolling..lol

[Badass WS6]

Sounds like you guys had a blast! That's awesome!

Is the last picture where they shot Biodome, with Pauly Shore? Lol.

[TLS_Addict]

Biosphere was a horrible movie. lol

Looks like you had a good time! Nice pics.

I LOVED Arizona....Temp, Mill Ave and Arizona State was a hoot!

[Badass WS6]

Biosphere was a horrible movie. lol

Agreed. Didn't say I like it. The 'sphere picture instantly made me think of that movie. Lol.

[FinZ28]

Haven't been to Arizona in years. Definitely a different type of scenery out west. Great pics!

[Zapper2003]

You guys mean the movie Biodome?

[Badass WS6]

You guys mean the movie Biodome?

Haha! Nice catch! I said Biodome in my original post and just now noticed TLS_Addict said Biosphere. Lol.

[tatertot91]

Looks like a fun trip, i know a few people that live that way but the only place out west i've been is colorado, real different scenery from where i'm from

[Zapper2003]

Haha! Nice catch! I said Biodome in my original post and just now noticed TLS_Addict said Biosphere. Lol.

I had to ask because there was a movie called biosphere...

[az gt eater]

Hey Jeff, you painted the LEO presence between here and Tucson pretty accurately. Been that way for a long time. I am actually pretty proud of my record of driving to Tucson and back for twelve years for work hundreds of times, and NEVER being pulled over. And that includes a blast down to Douglas and back yesterday in the WS6. Tucson is halfway to Douglas from here. Tombstone is on the way. There is soo much stuff to look at here in Arizona.

[pajeff02]

Hey Jeff, you painted the LEO presence between here and Tucson pretty accurately. Been that way for a long time. I am actually pretty proud of my record of driving to Tucson and back for twelve years for work hundreds of times, and NEVER being pulled over. And that includes a blast down to Douglas and back yesterday in the WS6. Tucson is halfway to Douglas from here. Tombstone is on the way. There is soo much stuff to look at here in Arizona.

Agreed, there is a lot to see and do. I commented to my father-in-law that owning a fast car out there would be a complete waste... I'd be afraid to open it up.

[az gt eater]

Actually, it is a benefit living in a big city. A really big city. Cause if I lived in my old town, the cops would have me under their thumbs all day every day. Here, I rarely see the same cops twice, (I think). And, they won't even pull you over for 10 over, unless you are in a neighborhood or a school zone. (Which I don't mess around in.)

[5.0THIS]

Nice pics man

[pajeff02]

Thanks Mr. This. Someday, I need to visit Colorado. Our associate attorney is originally from there and hails from Curtis' hometown of Broomfield.

[5.0THIS]

Thanks Mr. This. Someday, I need to visit Colorado. Our associate attorney is originally from there and hails from Curtis' hometown of Broomfield.

Yeah. Besides warmer winter weather, Arizona doesnt have anything on Colorado

I live about 5-7 minutes from Broomfield.

[allbaugh_04]

Thought about moving there a couple years ago. Suppose I should visit again soon.

[pajeff02]

Out of curiosity... where does Arizona get its water for the masses? I read up on it and it appears they only get around 12" of rain each year in the Tucson area. We did see a few irrigation canals here and there that had water in them. However, all the streams and riverbeds were bone dry this time of year.

[allbaugh_04]

I think it's mostly ground water and the colorado river. I think Phoenix itself is on an aquifer

[pajeff02]

Some Arizona trivia... what international franchise has a green sign, where is it, and why?

It's the only one in the country.