Tucson - Final Chapter

We are about to move our home to Phoenix on March 1^st.  This will be our final blog posting from Tucson.  We are spending this last weekend cleaning and organizing for the move on Tuesday.

We visited the Pima Air & Space Museum here in Tucson.  It is adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, home of the “boneyard.”  This is the area where older planes are brought for storage until disposed of and where after the SALT treaty the long range bombers were cut up and left in pieces so the Russians could see we complied with the terms of the treaty.

The museum houses the third largest collection of historical aircraft in the U.S. and the largest private collection since numbers 1 and 2 are government funded and supported.  The Pima collection is from private donations and volunteers.  There is an extensive outdoor display and currently five separate hangars full of aircraft and memorabilia.  We managed to see most of it before we were exhausted.

Here are just a few of the pictures that will provide a glimpse of the quantity and diversity of the collection we viewed.  Everything from a replica of the Wright flyer special to the sleek jet powered military aircraft we are all used to seeing.  It is quite a journey through the 100 years of aviation history.  Things have really changed from the early days.

Of course, we all have our favorites.  This is one of mine.  This thing is so small it looks like a toy and you think there is no way it could fly.  It is currently the smallest piloted airplane to actually fly.  It was designed and flew by a Tempe, AZ aviator and is currently the record holder in that experimental category.  It is known as the Starr Bumble Bee.  The wingspan is only 5 feet 6 inches and the entire length is 8 feet 10 inches.

Two other events we attended while in Tucson were the Rodeo Parade and the Rodeo itself.  Officially it is known as Las Fiestas de Los Vaqueros and locally called The Tucson Rodeo.   The rodeo began in 1925 and has over 600 contestants with over 1,000 horses involved during the rodeo.  The rodeo parade is billed as the world’s longest non-motorized parade.  It is such a big deal in Tucson, they close the schools for two days and many businesses shut down as well.

Here are some photos from the 2016 parade.  The parade route is about 1-1/2 miles long and lasts around two hours.   We saw horses (all sizes and shapes), mules, wagons, carriages, stagecoaches and of course marching bands.

Grand Marshall Float

Clydesdales, notice difference in size from previous picture.

Univ of Arizona Marching Band.  We saw several high school bands too!

There is a lot of color in the parade.

These are Clydesdale wannabes!!!

Notice the nail polish on the hooves and the roses braided in the mane!

Not everyone was on horseback or in a wagon.

These horses were very well trained to not flinch!

You know the parade is over when the street sweepers show up!

The rodeo itself is very exciting with all the traditional events.  There is a definite festival atmosphere to the whole week.  This is the 91st year for the Las Fiestas de Los Vaqueros.

Honoring America!

Bareback Riding.

Steer Wrestling

Team Roping

Saddle Bronc Riding

Calf Roping - Notice the horse is already stopping, well trained!

Barrel Racing

Bull Riding - Get out of the way everybody!

...and that is what the Bull thinks about it!!!!

Yeee - Hawww!  Ride em cowboy!

David commented the calves that are roped grow up to be these bulls and their sole aim in life is to get even with the cowboys for yanking them around so much as youngsters.  Sounds plausible to me as mean as these bulls can be.  They are out for revenge.

This ends our stay in Tucson and so now we move on to Phoenix and new adventures.