Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
When our day began the sky was overcast looking very much as if we might get rain. I walked around the RV park finding my way to the front of the park where the park sign is located. I had to get a picture of the sign after being told that it was a good indicator of the funkiness of this particular RV campground. The sign is simple enough, however, it has letters that are a bit in disarray.

Tina and Kevin picked us up at the RV campground to head out for our trip to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. As Kevin navigated through Tucson I noticed that we were on a street with our last name. As we rode along Kevin and Tina pointed out various attractions and landmarks. It wasn't very long until we entered the parking area at the desert museum.

Kevin dropped the women off at the park entrance while he and I went up to the parking area to find a place to park his car. When we were walking down the hill to where the women were, I noticed several solar panels. It looked as if the panels were used to provide power for the parking lot lights. Unfortunately, several of the panels had been placed where plants had matured and cast shadows across the panels.

Solar panels shaded from direct sunlight

The first stop after entering the museum was at a covered area where a docent was holding a barn owl and taking questions from the group listening to her tell about this beautiful animal. We were told that the barn owl, in captivity, can live two to three times as long as the life expectancy in the wild. This is due to the fact that an owl in captivity is protected from its natural predators.

A beautiful bird of prey — a barn owl

From the barn owl talk we walked out on the path that would take us through the native desert environment and to the habitat displays of indigenous animals. These displays are set up to show the animals in a setting very much like that of their wild habitats; this makes the museum part zoo as well as part botanical garden.

As we walked on the paths, that took us to the various attractions, we were surrounded by Sonoran desert flora and fauna. I find it to be much more interesting when I can view a scene up close rather than from a distance while speeding by in a vehicle. For example: up close I found that there often is a whole little eco-system formed around a large saguaro cactus.

As the trail was winding downhill, we entered a cave environment where we would see examples of the formations that are found in the darkness of caves. Some ice-icicle shapes — stalactites — looked bazaar while others were beautiful crystal formations. We also saw some of the wildlife that called the cave home.

Our small group enters a cave environment

Once we emerged into the sunlight again we would be presented with a display of rusted mining equipment and dinosaur fossils. There was information about how the fossils had been found in the area. The largest fossil in the display was that of the bones of a sonorasaurus leg. Another display explains how a dinosaur died and how this left the bones in the position they were found.

The path began to climb slightly as we approached the living area of a big cat often called a cougar or mountain lion. Our viewpoint was through a glass window that gave us an up-close view of the napping big cat. As I brought my camera up to the glass to take a photo of the slumbering animal, it raised its head and turned toward me providing an opportunity to get a great profile picture. We then took the path down the hill to the front of the cougar's habitat where the big cat could be seen from afar where it was lying on a rock outcropping.

A fine specimen of an American cougar — this is NOT a telephoto picture

American cougar as viewed from the front side of its living area

Below the cougar enclosure, separated by a large rock wall, is an area containing white-tail deer. As we walked the paths we saw bobcats, an ocelot, a desert tortoise, a sleeping gray fox and a black bear. The bear was taking a nap in its rocky enclosure.

Proceeding on down the main path, we passed many plants native to the Sonoran desert including saguaro cactus, several types of yucca, barrel cacti and Joshua trees. We found our way to a covered observation area that overlooked the raptor feeding area. I left the others and went down to the actual birds of prey area to get a closer view of the upcoming demonstration.

Our crew watches the raptor feeding display

The raptor free-flight demonstration may include hawks, falcons and owls. However, we witnessed the feeding of a small group of hawks. The birds would fly some distance away, then turn and swoop in over the heads of the crowd of people. Sometimes the flight path was so low that an observer might feel the feathers, of the diving bird swish across the top of their head while messing up the hair.

One of the trainers held a bird on her hand while walking in front of a spread-out audience stopping for photos along the way. She also explained the feeding techniques of the raptors. At one point, the bird the trainer was carrying was eating a piece of meat out of the trainer's gloved hand. The bird was drooping its wings around the food in an attempt to hide the meal — a technique called hooding.

One of several hawks that was part of the free-flight demonstration

After the feeding of the raptors we followed the path toward the exit, however, we saw more desert wildlife along the way. Some of what we saw were three mountain sheep including a male with the classic curled ram horns. In the mountain sheep enclosure a large lizard of some sort scurried down the rocks to a flat place near the bottom of the sheep area.

Mountain sheep basking in the warm sun

A large lizard runs down from the mountain sheep area

We took a short detour to see river otters at play. There is a viewing area where these fun critters can be seen above as well as below water. The otters were zipping back and forth underwater leaving a trial of bubbles behind them. They continued their antics for several minutes with cameras clicking away. Unfortunately, due to the otters swimming very fast and the low light level, all I got were blurred photos.

After the otter show the path took us past a beautiful desert garden with a variety of native plants with name tags in front of each plant. Our walk ended in the gift shop where we looked over the collection of items on display. Kay bought some post cards to send to our grandchildren.

More plants that are common to this desert environment

Kevin drove us back to the RV campground so we could go home to prepare for our evening visit at the Kevin and Tina desert casa-grande. It wasn't very long until we were on our way to Kevin's and Tina's place. Tina had planned a nice evening meal with a few friends.

As is usual with Tina's get-together's, we had good food, good conversation among friends. Kay and I really enjoyed meeting and making new friends. After dinner a short game of Mexican Train was enjoyed by the players.

A fun game of Mexican Train is a fun way to end the day

I wonder if there are any playable pieces

We had a lot of fun on this day and the evening meal and after dinner game were a very nice way to end our day. On this trip we extended our stay by one day and I am looking forward to returning for a longer fun time in the future.

I thought we would be saying farewell to our friends because we were going to get back on the road to Wichita the next morning. Tina and Kay made other plans; we were invited to attend breakfast the next morning with a small group of friends — party of twelve.

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