Trips around Arizona
Arizona-Sonara Desert Museum
After getting back from Kitt Peak and spending a day at Saguaro NP, I spent the next day (just before returning to LA) at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is really more of a zoo than a museum. While there were certainly plenty of the cacti I had seen the previous day, the primary attraction is getting to see the wildlife that aren't that easily seen at the national park. Besides all the desert wildlife, there was also a controlled flight demonstration with some Harris hawks, which was very interesting. Definitely an interesting destination.
Saguaro National Park
After getting back from Kitt Peak, I spent weekend in Tucson exploring the desert. The first day I went to Saguaro National Park, which contains one of the densest populations of the "classic" cactus - the Saguaro. It wasn't the most amazing park I've ever been to, but the Saguaros were definitely interest, and the landscape is definitely different (even compared to Joshua Tree). But, the cacti were definitely fascinating.
Kitt Peak and the University of Arizona
I was invited to join an observing run at the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak, and so got to spend a week in Arizona (1 night in Tucson, 4 nights at MDM, and then another 2 nights in Tucson). The first day I got the opportunity to look around the Steward Mirror Lab and see the mirrors currently being worked on for LSST and GMT. Then, we headed up to Kitt Peak, where we got to experience a fun storm the first night (including losing power) and eventually got to observe two out of our four nights. When not observing, the Kitt Peak National Observatory was a cool place to explore, and the views and sunsets from the top of the mountain were amazing.
