Sometimes when I'm at work, working away with music blaring and minding my own business I get fun phone calls. They go something like this:
Monday afternoon.
Boss calls: Hey Christy have you got a minute?
Me: Yup, be right up.
Boss: Want to go to Tucson on Thursday?
Me: Sure.
Boss: Okay, I'll forward you the info.
End of conversation.
On Tuesday, my boss called me up again.
Boss: Hey Christy, want to go to LA after you get back from Tucson?
Me: Sure.
Boss: Okay, I'll forward you the info.
So that's what happened. And now as I write this, I'm sitting in the Tucson airport, ready to fly back to San Francisco.
Now you should know that this isn't exactly normal. I usually travel for work a couple of times per year. Right now just seems to be crazy busy, travel-wise, when you combine my personal travel and work travel.
If you've ever been on a business trip or ten, you know that they're not usually fun. I've spent entire weeks in Boston and Chicago without having time to see anything. Those trips suck.
This time I had a few spare hours. So after polling my facebook friends on things to do in Tucson (bless facebook! And thank you Des!! And Jes - still sad I missed you!) I decided to head out to Kartchner Caverns state park. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to do in Tucson. Very cool.
I was really impressed with this cave park. It has obviously been made accessible to the masses with great care. When you enter the cavern you must go through a series of giant stainless steel doors. I felt like I was entering Jurassic Park. The doors keep the humidity in check in the cave so it doesn't dry out. The stalactites form in the caves because of the constant running water. So if the cave were to dry out, the cave would stop growing and forming.
When you enter the humid cave, the contrast from the dry, desert air hits you like a wall, and it immediately smells like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. You know the smell - not bad, but wet, dark and a bit musty.
The caves were gorgeous, but unfortunately cameras weren't allowed inside, so I wasn't able to take any of my own photos, which really blew. I was just itching to play with my camera in the caves amidst all of the glowing, glittering rock formations. Bummer, eh?
You'll have to settle for some photos from the parks' website:
Kartchner Caverns
And because everyone should know:
I'm still allergic to the desert. Well, specifically Arizona. The Sahara didn't bother me at all. Neither did Utah or Vegas or Aruba. I guess I won't be buying ocean-front property in Arizona when I'm ready to retire. ;)
Ugh. I'll be happy to get home and out of the fuzzy-headed allergy/allergy medicine fog.
My photos from outside the caverns (There is a surprising amount of color in the details of the desert. Check it out!):
Monday afternoon.
Boss calls: Hey Christy have you got a minute?
Me: Yup, be right up.
Boss: Want to go to Tucson on Thursday?
Me: Sure.
Boss: Okay, I'll forward you the info.
End of conversation.
On Tuesday, my boss called me up again.
Boss: Hey Christy, want to go to LA after you get back from Tucson?
Me: Sure.
Boss: Okay, I'll forward you the info.
So that's what happened. And now as I write this, I'm sitting in the Tucson airport, ready to fly back to San Francisco.
Now you should know that this isn't exactly normal. I usually travel for work a couple of times per year. Right now just seems to be crazy busy, travel-wise, when you combine my personal travel and work travel.
If you've ever been on a business trip or ten, you know that they're not usually fun. I've spent entire weeks in Boston and Chicago without having time to see anything. Those trips suck.
This time I had a few spare hours. So after polling my facebook friends on things to do in Tucson (bless facebook! And thank you Des!! And Jes - still sad I missed you!) I decided to head out to Kartchner Caverns state park. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to do in Tucson. Very cool.
I was really impressed with this cave park. It has obviously been made accessible to the masses with great care. When you enter the cavern you must go through a series of giant stainless steel doors. I felt like I was entering Jurassic Park. The doors keep the humidity in check in the cave so it doesn't dry out. The stalactites form in the caves because of the constant running water. So if the cave were to dry out, the cave would stop growing and forming.
When you enter the humid cave, the contrast from the dry, desert air hits you like a wall, and it immediately smells like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. You know the smell - not bad, but wet, dark and a bit musty.
The caves were gorgeous, but unfortunately cameras weren't allowed inside, so I wasn't able to take any of my own photos, which really blew. I was just itching to play with my camera in the caves amidst all of the glowing, glittering rock formations. Bummer, eh?
You'll have to settle for some photos from the parks' website:
Kartchner Caverns
And because everyone should know:
I'm still allergic to the desert. Well, specifically Arizona. The Sahara didn't bother me at all. Neither did Utah or Vegas or Aruba. I guess I won't be buying ocean-front property in Arizona when I'm ready to retire. ;)
Ugh. I'll be happy to get home and out of the fuzzy-headed allergy/allergy medicine fog.
My photos from outside the caverns (There is a surprising amount of color in the details of the desert. Check it out!):
I'm doing a little blog catching up! You made it over to the caverns. Yeah! Glad you had the time.
ReplyDeleteHah, I'm catching up as my students work in lab today because it's a pretty chill day. Love it. I will maybe get caught up today even! Whew. Love these pictures of everything outside the caves! The colors really are amazing like you said!
ReplyDelete