Happy 30th Birthday Laura
Friday, we checked out the rest of the shows on Friday. They focused on higher end jewelry, beads, fossils and collector mineral specimens. A few interesting things to see such as the alien shaped skull carved in Labradorite.I think I may have caught a bug or ate something that didn't agree with me. That evening, I munched on bread and attempted to watch a show on Hulu.
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Happy Valentine's Day
Saturday I felt much better and we got a lot accomplished. My home looks so pretty. She's been professionally cleaned, waxed, de-oxidized, and buffed. I cleaned the inside as the team was busy outside. Afterwards we toured a flea market, not much. We were attempting to locate our first tourist stop but didn't have our map. So instead we treated ourselves to Furr's for their Valentine special and then an oil change for the Jeep.
The Photo: Just a sign along the road to the store that reads: No Trespassing, No Swimming, No Fishing. Maybe there's water in them thar weeds during typhoon season.
I located a weekly entertainment guide that listed local museums, gatherings, shows, etc. We discovered that Tucson has many interesting aspects to its culture - Native American, Mexican, MDC (cartel), Buddhism, and world interests.
Among the listings, we found that the University of Arizona has a Science Museum specializing in Minerals and Astronomy that stays open late on Saturdays to allow viewing through their telescope. YAHOO-- I couldn't ask for a better Valentine date.
The evening of February 14th is an awesome time to visit a museum - no crowds. I played with the spectograms and other hands-on displays. Lots of fun. I enjoyed all the minerals. Appe
ars we're sitting in the middle of copper mines which of course includes azurite, tourquoise and malachite. I also learned of silver, dioptase, meteorites and gold. Which didn't surprise me. I didn't realize that Southern Tucson has some of the best Wulfenite in the world - and it comes in all different colors even though the chemical make-up doesn't change.
I discovered Labradorite is just fancy feldspar from Labrador, Canada. Many, many specimens are a common mineral that has a unique characteristic and is named from the location it's mined.
The museum had an awesome opal specimen from Australia that replaced a pine cone.
And one of the first Mineral Identification books dating to the 1500's. I learned that Herbert Hoover and his wife were geologists who translated the Latin Mineral book which has become one of the foremost English mineral identification manuals in America.
We watched their planetarium program on Arizona skies. I felt much better after I learned that looking at planets & stuff through binoculars and telescopes will bounce around since earth's atmosphere is distorting the image. I always thought something was wrong with my eyes. No one else ever said anything about the image moving.
I enjoyed visiting with the astronomer the best. A volunteer manned the 16" telescope for visitors to look through. We saw Orion's sword or nebula of new stars forming and Saturn with her rings and moon - Titan. We discussed:
I didn't realize it was Clint's first time to ever see the rings of Saturn. (Oh, and due to Saturn's movements, at times Saturn's rings appear to disappear.)
All in all, my Valentine's Day was productive, enjoyable and entertaining. I hope you all had a great day full of love, wonder, and happiness.
The Photo: Just a sign along the road to the store that reads: No Trespassing, No Swimming, No Fishing. Maybe there's water in them thar weeds during typhoon season.
I located a weekly entertainment guide that listed local museums, gatherings, shows, etc. We discovered that Tucson has many interesting aspects to its culture - Native American, Mexican, MDC (cartel), Buddhism, and world interests.
Among the listings, we found that the University of Arizona has a Science Museum specializing in Minerals and Astronomy that stays open late on Saturdays to allow viewing through their telescope. YAHOO-- I couldn't ask for a better Valentine date.
The evening of February 14th is an awesome time to visit a museum - no crowds. I played with the spectograms and other hands-on displays. Lots of fun. I enjoyed all the minerals. Appe
ars we're sitting in the middle of copper mines which of course includes azurite, tourquoise and malachite. I also learned of silver, dioptase, meteorites and gold. Which didn't surprise me. I didn't realize that Southern Tucson has some of the best Wulfenite in the world - and it comes in all different colors even though the chemical make-up doesn't change.I discovered Labradorite is just fancy feldspar from Labrador, Canada. Many, many specimens are a common mineral that has a unique characteristic and is named from the location it's mined.
The museum had an awesome opal specimen from Australia that replaced a pine cone.
And one of the first Mineral Identification books dating to the 1500's. I learned that Herbert Hoover and his wife were geologists who translated the Latin Mineral book which has become one of the foremost English mineral identification manuals in America.
We watched their planetarium program on Arizona skies. I felt much better after I learned that looking at planets & stuff through binoculars and telescopes will bounce around since earth's atmosphere is distorting the image. I always thought something was wrong with my eyes. No one else ever said anything about the image moving.
I enjoyed visiting with the astronomer the best. A volunteer manned the 16" telescope for visitors to look through. We saw Orion's sword or nebula of new stars forming and Saturn with her rings and moon - Titan. We discussed:
- the age of our solar system - apx 6 billion years old compared to 12 billion years for the universe. Both our sun and our solar system is middle-aged.
- And about constellations and that none of the Southern Hemisphere ones have mythological names.
- I enjoyed listening to how the Polynesians would travel north until they hit a certain star overhead, then just head East knowing it would take them to Hawaii. They couldn't use the North Star since it's always on the horizon if you view it from the equator.
- I also found it fascinating how many tidbits of info the ancients knew about the stars but did not have the technology to see.
I didn't realize it was Clint's first time to ever see the rings of Saturn. (Oh, and due to Saturn's movements, at times Saturn's rings appear to disappear.)
All in all, my Valentine's Day was productive, enjoyable and entertaining. I hope you all had a great day full of love, wonder, and happiness.
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