Biosphere 2

We got up and were on the road shortly after 9 a.m. this morning.  We arranged with our neighbour to look after Tibby because we couldn't take him with us, and it was going to be a long day away from our RV.

We were thinking "Biosphere 1" must have been another spot at one time and they've re-created "Biosphere 2".  Well, it's true there is a Biosphere 1 ("is" is the operative word).  Biosphere 1 refers to the Earth.  So this one and only place has always been called Biosphere 2.

Biosphere 2 is located about an hour north of Tucson at the foot of the Catalina Mountains, only on the other side of the mountains from Tucson.  We arrived there and were able to join their 11 a.m. tour.  This was built as a completely contained biosphere, totally sealed off from the outside world.  8 people lived in here for 2 years and had to sustain themselves with only the tools within the biosphere.  They had to grow their own food, they had some chickens, goats, etc.  They had lots of experiments to do as well (their work).  The bottom line, they spent a lot more time farming, and a lot less time working on their projects, which was frustrating for them.  But they did it.

Now it's totally a research facility owned by the University of Arizona.  It has 5 ecospheres in here, regulated by 2 acres of plumbing and air movement - rainforest, ocean, marshland, grassland, and desert.

This is the main building where most of these were.

This is where the original 8 did their farming.

This is where a "lung" is housed.  Because it was totally sealed off from the outside world back in the early '90s, they needed a couple of these lungs to move air through the complex.

This is the ocean.

The rainforest.

Frankincense given to the biosphere by Oman.

Grasslands

Desert.

This is the back of the "farm" area.

All in all, quite the place.  It's worth a tour.

After we left Biosphere 2, we continued on up north to Mesa where my cousins are living.  We stopped in Florence, Arizona, for a late lunch and found this nice little Mexican cantina.

A little water feature on the patio.

A shot of the outside from across the street.  Very nice.

We arrived at Kathy & Don's before they got back (she is very much into quilting and was doing a training session with a renowned quilter giving classes in Mesa).

We spotted some of their paraphernalia outside their RV.  Al Sawatzky - are you envious?  The lounge chair.

The oven mitts.  True Saskatchewan Roughrider fans.

And here they are - Kathy & Don.

We had an afternoon drink with them then went over to Laura's for dinner, who is about 5 minutes away.  A wonderful dinner and evening with all of them.