Area 51 / ET Full Moon Fun Run

Area 51 / ET Full Moon Fun Run

I like to think that I am a runner. I'm not of course. Run, walk, jog is my speed. To be honest I do the best I can for a t-shirt and a finisher medal. I have done many runs here in AZ and a couple in Califoria so I thought I would really take a drive and to Nevada for out of this world experience and the Area 51 Fun Run did not disappoint. The 'ET Full Moon' run is hosted in Rachel, Nevada which a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Eastern Nevada (and adjacent to the famous 'Area 51' of Groom Lake - a special detatchment of Edwards Air Force Base). Rachel is home to the Little A'le Inn which is a charming little motel in the middle of a wide-open valley dissected by State Route 375 which has been named the 'Extraterrestrial Highway' and this highway is the route of the ET Full Moon run which started at midnight and you run 5K, 10K, 1/2 or Full Marathon, or the 51K run.

The drive to Rachel from Las Vegas was long but included many interesting spots to stop along the way including a few natural springs, a large riparian preserve, and several great photo op spots (especially the 'Extraterrestrial Highway' sign). Another potential photo op *may* occur along the road to Rachel which is an open cattle range and you may encounter some cows standing next to, or even on, the highway (so drive with care). Once you arrive in Rachel there is very little to do or see other than the Little L'le Inn which is the town's hotel, bar, grill, and giftshop. The folks at the Little A'le Inn are very friendly and can share stories about life next to Area 51. You will also want to gas up whereever you can along the way because the nearest gas station is many miles away in either direction.

The night of the run was cloudy and then turned to a light drizzel with the full Moon occasionally breaking through the clouds. The run attracts people from across the country and many of them are dressed in appropriate costumes for the run's theme. Since you're running along a highway at night you're required to wear some reflective gear ... or some people wore green glow sticks which only added to the eeriness of the run with a long line of green glow up and down the highway. When you finish the run you get your cool ET medal and can wait for the pancake breakfast, but we decided to get a few hours of sleep before hitting the road for the 7 hour journey home.

http://calicoracing.com/events/et-full-moon/

www.aleinn.com

La Brea Tar Pits - Los Angeles

La Brea Tar Pits - Los Angeles

We were in Los Angeles for another reason but had some free time before heading back to Arizona and decided to look for something "new" in LA to see and found that the lauded La Brea Tar Pits were nearby. The La Brea Tar Pits are seemingly in the middle of LA - a large open greenspace with the strong odor of tar which was an odd juxtaposition with the tall buildings surrounding the park. The tar pits are still actively seeping oil tar and still being actively excavated to reveal fossils from thousands / tens of thousands of years ago. You can walk around the park grounds and view several pits of different sizes and depths.

There is a museum in the middle of the park with displays of fossilized animals who had the bad luck of wandering into the tar and was unable to escape. There are displays that allow you to try to pull a simulated foot or limb from the tar which helps you understand just how dangerous the areas were and how futile they may have struggled to free themselves. The museum includes life-size versions of the animals and their skeletons recovered from the pits which illustrates the diversity of life in the area long before Los Angeles was ever founded. The tar pits may not appeal to everyone and if you have an aversion to the strong smell of tar it may not be too enjoyable. If you find yourself in LA with some free time and are a fan of archeology or sabertooth tigers or crude oil, then you may want to plan a visit.

https://tarpits.org

Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2 - Oracle Arizona

Biosphere 2 is located on Biosphere 1 (the Earth) about 25 miles Northeast of Tucson, AZ just a few miles outside of Oracle, AZ. Biosphere 2 is a working environmental sciences laboratory that attracts scientists and educators across the globe. Biosphere 2 was built in 1987 as a dedicated self-sufficient laboratory to help scientists understand how to create and maintain a 'closed ecosystem' such that would be used for eventual outposts on the Moon or Mars. From 1991 to 1993 Biosphere 2 hosted eith scientists / mission members who lived within the sealed Biosphere unit - growing their own food, breathing recycled air, drinking recycled water, and conducting experiments to help them understand what future explorers will need to do to survive.

The tour for Biosphere 2 starts with a short movie about the history of Biosphere 2 and its various missions and then you start a journey throughout the various different biomes - rain forrest, ocean, wetlands, fog desert, savannah, farmland. You also get a tour of the technology systems that keep Biosphere 2 running - the air and water recycling systems, power systems, and the 'lungs' of Biosphere 2. At the end you tour the crew quarters to see how they lived for the 2-year missions sealed inside the laboratory.

The University of Arizona now owns and operates Biosphere 2 and continues to draw researchers from across the globe.


http://biosphere2.org/

Mystery Castle - Phoenix

Mystery Castle - Phoenix

The Mystery Castle was a fun treat for us to discover at South Mountain in Phoenix. Built in the 1930's the property is a "hidden treasure" that was featured in a story in "Life" Magazine in 1948. The owner came from back East to try to recover from Tuberculosis (because once upon a time the air here in the Valley was actually clean and therapeutic for TB sufferers) and spent over a decade building this 18-room home for his wife and daughter who eventually came out to join him (but only after his death). The home was built from items that were found or donated by neighbors who wanted to help him out which explains the eclectic nature of the architecture and artwork throughout the property.

The home did not have running water or electricity and so it was built to utilize passive cooling techniques to allow the family to survive the extreme weather. The owner designed and built a dumb-water to help raise cocktails from a storage "well" that was dug into the foundation of the building (where temperatures can be in the 70's even in the Summer). 

The tour is $10 per person CASH ONLY and is at least an hour to discover the property. 
The Mystery Castle is located in the Foothills of South Mountain Park (two miles south of Baseline Road) at 800 E. Mineral Road in Phoenix, Arizona 85040.

http://www.mymysterycastle.com/location-and-tours/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Castle

San Xavier Mission

San Xavier Mission

This was such a great day trip down from Phoenix to outside Tucson is the San Xavier Mission and that opened in 1797. The mission has an amazing history and is iconic to the Southwest. The mission has a rich history and thanks to many volunteers who work to keep it beautiful it still looks the same today. Learning about the mission helps create a sense of historical perspective as the Mission was being built around the same time John Adams was about to be born in as President, the Treaty of Tripoli was being signed with the Trey of Tripoli to help protect American ships from Barbary Pirates, and the United States was composed of just 15 States.  It is humbling to view the two Century old artwork within the chapel area of the Mission, the sculptures, and the iconic Spanish-Colonial architecture.

http://www.sanxaviermission.org

Explore Arcosanti - An Urban Laboratory

Arcosanti - An Urban Laboratory

Arcosanti is a little known art community about an hour and a half North of Phoenix on I-17.  Back in 1970, renown architect and social engineer Paolo Soleri and a group of volunteers began building this communal space for living, educating and entertainment - think "Biosphere 2" but for artists and architects. Soleri believed that modern society needed significant changes to how cities were designed and constructed to minimize urban sprawl, traffic, and help maximize social interactions within society. Soleri coined the term of "arcology" - Architecture and Ecology - which philosophically combines the ideas of how humans interact with their environment.

The guided tour tells the history of the project while walking through the community and explaining how it is still evolving. Our guide this day was a lovely young woman who has been living/learning on site for the past year as an alumni of a previous program. The tour takes you through Arcosanti's art spaces, living spaces, common spaces, and gardens. Students from across the country apply for the limited number of fellowships to spend a year working along master artists and craftsmen to hone their skills and participate in this fascinating experiment. One main source of funding for the organization is the sale of the bronze wind-chimes that are forged on site using bronze sand-casting methods (which is part of the tour).

Tours are conducted daily and are on the way from Phoenix to Sedona or Flagstaff.

https://arcosanti.org

Boeing Factory Tour - Seattle, WA

Boeing Factory Tour

If you are ever in Seattle, Washington and have a couple of hours to spare you should consider booking tickets on the Future of Flight & Boeing Tour in Mukilteo, WA (about 30-minutes Northeast of Seattle) -- it is well worth the effort. The tour starts at the Future of Flight museum which includes exhibits from Boeing's 100-year history and an amazing view of the Boeing flight-line, hangars, and runway. The roof-top viewing area allows excellent vista of dozens of airplanes that are awaiting final delivery to their new owners - airlines that purchased the Boeing 767, 777, or 787 aircraft that were assembled on the other side of the Interstate in the largest factory building in North America (472 million cubic feet of room). You can see aircraft that are painted with the insignia of airlines from across the globe that are awaiting final inspections and the arrival of the airline's aircrew who will sign for the new aircraft and taxi it to the Boeing runway on it's first flight to their owner's country and airport to start carrying passengers or cargo to their destinations. 

Sadly ... cameras are not allowed on the actual 90-minute tour inside the factory (allegedly due to a mishap where a visitor dropped a camera off the viewing area platform onto the wing of a new airplane in the factory causing $$$,$$$.$$ worth of damage to a wing) and so you have to leave your cameras and smartphones in the visitor center (after a stern lecture by Boeing security about no personal devices allowed in the factory). After you watch a 10-minute movie about the history of Boeing and the current company you are ushered onto a bus and driven through the flightine area and across a bridge over the Interstate that each and every new Boeing aircraft has to cross when coming from the enormous factory building to head to the delivery area. 

When you arrive at the factory building you can't help but notice the huge hangar doors in the side of the building (more on that later). You exit the bus and head into tunnels that run under the middle of the assembly factory hangar and walk to a large freight elevator which takes you up to a viewing platform high above the middle of the factor floor. The tour guide was outstanding and provided a constant stream of facts ... mind-blowing facts ... about the Boeing organization and the activities at the factory you are beholding. You start at the 747/787 assembly line ... WOW ... seeing the iconic Boeing 747 in "parts" spread out before you in assembly jigs, parts bins, and sections of fuselage and wing parts is humbling to any Geek. Above you is a complex network of sky-cranes built into the roof of the factory which are used to carry the various parts of a 747 or 787 over to the final assembly area where the light-green plane (the color of the special coating on the aluminum frame that protects the parts before they are finally assembled into a complete aircraft and then sent over to another building for painting). In a typical workday you have tens of thousands of people working at the plant - legions of engineers, assemblers, electricians, mechanics, inspectors, accountants, inventory clerks, logistics planners, buyers, sales people, ... and the list goes on and on - who help create the airplanes we board to fly across the state, country, or globe. 

After about 30 minutes in the 747 assembly hangar you head back to the bus for a ride to another area of the factory (as I mentioned, it is huge) and arrive at the 767/777 assembly area. On one side you see the line of 767s being assembled from the various parts that are built and shipped to the factory from factories across the globe (shipped in via railroad lines, ships, and even by other freight airplanes to the factory). On the other side you see the 777's being assembled on moving assembly lines (yes ... the factory floor contains a moving assembly process that creeps across the factory floor at an imperceptible rate) where the last step is the installation of the "power plants" (a.k.a. the "engines") that are made by General Electric or Rolls Royce.

After we watched the 767/777 assembly line for about 30 minutes we headed back to the bus for the ride back across the bridge to the Future of Flight museum and AMAZING gift shop. As we boarded the bus we saw a United Airlines Boeing 787 being towed out of the now opened enormous hangar doors and out towards the final assembly / delivery area (basically ... we watched it being "born"). The bus returns you to the museum building and you exit through the giftshop. The giftshop is flight Geek heaven where you can purchase beautiful scale models of almost any/every Boeing commercial and military aircraft they have made which then flows into the Future of Flight museum containing a small but fascinating slice of Boeing's aerospace and space history. You could spend hours in the museum (at least I wished I could have) learning about Boeing's contribution to aerospace history. If you have time (and are headed to Sea-Tac Airport anyway) you can stop at the Museum of Flight in Seattle to see exhibits of what they have helped create. While most people think of Boeing as a commercial or military aircraft company, Boeing played an instrumental part in the NASA Saturn V / Apollo missions to the Moon, the Space Shuttle program, and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle which may take the first Humans to Mars. This is a tour that anyone with a pulse and love of aircraft / flight / space / engineering / technology would enjoy. 

Tours are available daily. 

https://www.futureofflight.org

http://www.museumofflight.org

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/#/orders-deliveries