Today we decided to take it easy again since we were scheduled for Kitt Peak again. Took a scenic drive, stopped at a Nature Conservancy location but it was around noon so the birds weren't around, took a little walk. Of course, this was on a dirt road.

We put our next location into the GPS, verified where it was going and took off. Well, the left run back to the highway was closed so we continued following the GPS. We were on all National Forest Roads so weren't too concerned. You can tell we haven't been traveling in a while. After a couple of miles on our poor dirt roads, we realized the GPS was making a big loop. We turned around and went back the way we came.

We then stopped at the Titan Missile Museum, ate lunch and Tom took the tour. This is the only Titan silo left in the US, all the other silos have be de-commissioned and flattened. The tour lasts 1 1/2 hours, all the original equipment and a missile in the silo. The tour guide was a vet that had actually served at this silo. Tom really enjoyed the tour and if you are ever in Tucson we highly recommend it.

We then went back to the cg for a couple hours and on to Kitt Peak. About an hour drive. The only problem was the last 8-9 miles of the drive went up 5000'+, hung on the side of the mountain, many curves. I thought this was going to be interesting coming back in the pitch black of the night.

When we got to the parking lot we were met by a docent and he had us all line up in  rows. Told us we were going to caravan down the mountain at the end of the tour. Different.

When we checked in we were handed a sheet of paper of how we were going to leave the mountain. Due to all the telescopes we could not use our headlight so red covering was placed over all our headlights. We would caravan down the mountain following the docent for about a mile. At that point the red covers would be removed and we would proceed down the mountain. No high beams until mileage marker 7. The headlights affect the telescopes and could destroy someones experiment.

This all worked as planned and we finally made it home by midnight, very tired.

We started off the tour with supper(a sandwich) and watching the sunset. Probably could see 100+ miles.Then a walk too see sunset from the top of the mountain.

The drive up the mountain

 

First sighting of the telescopes

Balance weight used for installing telescopes, painted by a Navajo

Pitch black at night, no one went to the restrooms alone!!!

Sunset from the mountain top

Our tour was great. We were broken into 2 groups. Each group had an hour with a telescope and hour with a star chart looking at constellations outside. At 7000' the wind was blowing and the temp was in the high 40s. At least we had been prepared for that.

The telescope was fascinating. 20" mirror, the docent would put what we were going to view into the computer and the telescope would move. Then someone would  be nominated to move the domb so the telescope could view the sky. We looked at several binary(2) stars, constellations etc. The only lights allowed were red and we had been given red flashlights. We were hoping to look at Jupiter and see its moons but a cloud was covering it. Everyone had a turn at the telescope many times.

During our star chart part of the tour we were all give binoculars, taught how to  adjust them for each eye(that was new) and went outside to look at constellations. We discovered we could see the moons of Jupiter with binoculars! Want to try it again tonight since we are in a very dark campground.

This was a long night on the mountain. Tour started around 5:30 and ended around 10 but then we had to get organized for the trip down the mountain plus the hour drive once down the mountain.

Today we are wiped. Went out for breakfast, gassed up the car, supermarket.

Haven't decided yet what we are going to do tomorrow, may stay a few more days. Still a lot to see and do.