Pima Air and Space Museum

We spent almost an entire day at the Pima Air and Space Museum. The museum itself has over 130 so aircraft on display.

Some are inside and some are outside and it was a warm sunny day.

They have one of the first two 787 planes ever built and a big collection of fighters too.

It is also next to an active air force base so we are periodically buzzed by fighters.

They have actually been flying over our campground too. Pretty cool.

Although you only get to see it from a bus you can tour "The Boneyard" where thousands of planes are stored out here in the dry desert air.

The boneyard planes include all kinds of planes from prop planes to fighter jets. Some are stored to potentially put back into service and some are for parts. Others are just there for no reason.

Here are dozens and dozens of A-10s which is primarily what flys out of the air force base next door.

 Nice old TWA plane.

Some A-10s buzzing us.

Tucson AZ and Titan Missles

Tucson was a short drive only 80 miles so we managed to get setup in a campground at the Fairgrounds for a week stay which was only $115.

We took a walk around town to see what it is like. Also a college town it had lot of youthful businesses although school was still on break.

Lots of bars and cafes and music venues. Not pictured also lots of over 55 retirement campgrounds and apartments.  It is a bit of a jumble of cultures.

Still seems like a good town.

We drove up to a peak outside the city and got a view of the entire city. It is a lot of area and there is a lot of modern shopping and sprawl which we haven't seen in a while of travelling in smaller towns.

The next day we drove out to the Titan Missle Museum which is a now disabled original Titan Missle Silo from the cold war. All the other Silos were destroyed as per treaties with the russians but they worked into the treaty to allow this one to be decommissioned and left as a museum.

They give all sorts of tours but we couldn't take the long long ones that go way down the silo because they are only given a few times a month.

Still the tour was cool.

Some Foxboro Corp instrumentation... I worked for the Foxboro company as my first job as a programmer!

A view down into the silo at the missle itself. The tour was very informative and gave a good impression of how hard it was to be stationed here (mostly because of boredom!).  They also had a good little museum to checkout while you waited for your tour.

After the tour we had a rare treat, my favorite fast food chicken sandwich... The Carl's Jr Sante Fe checken sandwich.

Sadly it is too cold to actually go to Sante Fe on this trip!

On the drive back to the campground we stopped a spanish mission and I caught some local dogs enjoying the sun,

Bisbee, AZ and Tombstone

Bisbee AZ is a town formed around a mountain full of copper mines. We are actually camping at a campground right outside the historic Queen Mine which is right in town.

Also in town was a place known for delicious baked goods so how could we skip that. It was called the High Dessert Market and Cafe we found it on Roadfood.com and cakes lived up to the reviews. This ended up being out lunch!

The weather gods are against us and we have had more snow! It hasn't snowed in Bisbee for 20 years outside of the occasional flurry. Everyone in town is excited for the snow.

To warm up we went out to a local pizza place for dinner!

Here is a picture of the town, it is basically right in the mountains and there are a few roads and lot of stairs up and down the slopes. It seems like a place a lot of city folk have weekend get-aways. I Imagine in the summer the altitude keeps the weather here very nice compared to down lower where temps would be in the 100s.

The billboard says they have the best weather!  Ha!

We took the mine tour which was cool and led by people who had actually worked in the mine back in the day.

After a few days here it was time to set off towards Tucson.

On the drive we stopped in Tombstone.

Later that morning these two had a shoot-out. I think the guy on the left bit the dust.

We ate lunch in a western Saloon and had greasy steak and cheese sandwiches.

It was fun place to stop for a few hours. If you spent more time there you could get all dressed up and walk around in period garb or get photo taken etc.

And probably watch a lot of gunshows.

Silver City and more Hot Springs

We've stopped in Silver City a supposedly Hippy town. It is a cute town with a University. It is pretty quiet as the students are still away for holidy break and so much of the town is closed too.

The town is at the border of the Gila National Forest so we took a drive in the forest to see some Cliff Dwellings.

They were pretty cool and it was a nice day out.

People didn't live here for very long, it probably took them as long to build as they spent time living here. They aren't certain why that is but it seems like a nice place to live.

The drive in was super twisty on a narror mountain road so by the time we toured the Dwellings we ate some lunch and drove around a bit more.

We ended up picking a hike to yet more riverside hot springs. These were barely developed at all except by the people using them and their own hands. The water came out over 120 degrees and was channels to serveral pools that mixed with the river to make soaking comfortable.

The hike in was short but we had to cross the river twice which ended up being a muddy and wet affair.

Totally worth it! But the hour drive home was smelly.

All in all a good day. That night we hit a local brewery for some dinner it was great. They also had live music and the benefit of being one of the only places open in town.

 Will had some work to do the next day so I spent part of the day walking Tucker all around Silver City.

I'd like to go back some day when things are more lively and more of the shops are open.

I liked their town mural!

I found a couple of old Airstreams in a back lot someplace in town.

Maybe someday I'll refurb and old Airstream for a project!

Of course I love me some good dog art!

Tucker only shows this much attention to squirrels and bunnies not TV.

T or C (Truth or Consequences) New Mexico

T or C formerly called Hot Springs, NM was renamed as part of a promotional contest for the T or C Television show. It is a bit of a sad town. It does have a great campground in the the state park so that is cool.

I liked this cool set of curtains made from old tapes. Most of the town seemed pretty closed down but some things were open. (Like the giant new Walmart!).

Near T or C is "Spaceport America" which you can go tour and we are going to see it.You leave on the tour from the T or C chamber of commerce and Spaceport visitor center.

So modern is this spaceport they have an original Radar Range in the breakroom.  I guess they were built to last because this one is still kicking.

Hmm the Spaceport tour... how to put this.. totally not worth it.  Mostly it is a bus ride to and from the Spaceport which is out in the middle or no-where. They do provice movies and commentary along the way with local history which was pretty good.

Meanwhile the guide really tries to sell you on the idea of a speaceport... as if we are a bus full of investors.

Sadly nothing much of anything is actually being done at the space center. It is a sad hole that tax payer money is falling into. Who knows maybe the 2nd space will take off... Our guide totally believes it. In reality the tour continues with a tiny museum and a tour of the fire department they have on site.

It is a holiday week but still I get the impression nothing really happens out here. In many years of existing they have done a bunch of launches. But it seems mostly tiny rockets not anything exciting.

They do have a hangar with a Virgin Galactic mockup. However everything I've ever seen about Virgin takes place at the Mojave Spaceport.

One bright spot on the ride home we get those orange crackers with peanut butter filling as a snack!

I love me some art car! Someday maybe I'll get my glue gun out and make one of my own!

At Elephant Butte State park there is a dam that created the lake we are camping on.  As a special New Years day things it is open to hike on the dam. It was a fun walk and lot of people turned out for it.

But the best part of T or C is the hot springs. They are right along the river like in Big Bend but much more developed.

We had to wait a bit as they only let about 10 people into the 4 pool complex at a time. It makes it very peaceful and relaxing.

You can also rent private pools but in the main complex you get to choose between the 4 each of which is slightly cooler than the next