OzarksPhotosTravels

During our Times visiting the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum we had noticed this bright white dome many miles away on top of a mountain. We learned it was Mt. Kittt and there are a number of observatories up on the mountain. As we had some idle time in the Tucson area we decided to drive over and see what it was. Is about 50 miles from Tucson to the observatory.

Below is an image of what we had been seeing from about 40 to 50 miles away in the desert. This photo was taken on the way up to Mt. Kitt. The mountain summit is at 6,875 feet.

Below we will be posting some additional pictures we took during our drive. At the end of the post we will do our best to upload a fairly large long video of the drive of the steepest part of the climb to the summit.

Below we are only partially up the the mountain and it is already possible to see a very expansive view of the desert below. The views were fantastic the few times we pulled over to see them. If you take the time to watch the video at the end you can catch glimpses of them. We really enjoyed this very beautiful drive. A lot of desert scenery on the way out and lots of mountain scenery on the way up the mountain.

This is an image of the mountain and the primary observatory as we were about a third or so of the way up the mountain. A beautiful drive with some very severe fall offs primarily on the passenger side.

This image is when we were much closer to the observatory in the top of Mount Kitt. The white and silver on the rocks is snow and ice as we were getting high in elevation.

Finally after quite a long drive out to the mountain and then a pretty long drive up the mountain we arrived at the parking area for the visitor center where they have a lot of information about all of the various observatories on the mountain.

Below is the entrance to the visitor center and a couple of mosaics on the exterior walls.

Inside the visitor center there are many interesting displays and a small gift shop. The diorama In the third image of all the white buildings indicates all of the observatory facilities on Mt. Kitt.

Now for those which wish to ride along below is our video of our drive up the mountain. I have muted the sound as the engine noise was very boring. Play your favorite music and we hope you enjoy the video. 😎

We hope you will turn on your favorite music while you watch this video of many of the things to see at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We visited several times and enjoyed every visit. It is located south west of Tucson, Arizona.

A wonderful experience and should be on your bucket list. It is a great place to learn more about the desert, it’s inhabitants and fauna. It is a wonderful place of entertainment and education.

Below is a short video of one of our recent visits. It features several of the birds that we saw during the raptor flights along with some hummingbirds and a desert bighorn sheep.

Below is a video taken from a viewing platform of the flight of a family of Harris Hawk’s. This will give you an idea of how close the birds come to the crowd and how large the crowd is which came to enjoy the raptor flight. The website for the museum is https://desertmuseum.org and is well worth looking at.

Below are photos of some of the birds which appear in some of the raptor flights.

A Great Horned Owl.

A closeup of a Harris Hawk.

Two of the family of Harris Hawks in-flight close to the crowd. It was a wonderful experience to be able to see these birds fly so close.

A Grey Hawk taking flight during one of the raptor flight presentations.

A Ferruginous Hawk launching into the air. A very beautiful bird and I believe it is on the endangered species list.

We will be posting additional photos and information on the museum and our other experiences in the future. We hope you have enjoyed this and our previous posts and will continue to follow our travels.

Some time back I promised some video of driving into Tortilla Flat, AZ. You will find it below, finally. 😎

I must admit most of the delay was due to our having such a great time at Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Viewing and photographing the raptor flights and a few of the many other exhibits. I hope I can get some of that content out in a few days for you.

Now, finally the drive into Tortilla Flat. If you blink twice you may miss it.

We made a short visit today to the City of Rocks park northwest of Deming, NM. Interesting very large boulders kind of out in the middle of the desert. They are the remains of an eruption of a volcano many years ago, millions of years. As the location is several miles from any town they also talk about what a great dark site it is and how great the star viewing is from there.

Below are a few images from our visit there:

This is a view from some distance away show a bit of the vastness of the location.

The image below may give you an idea of the size of the boulders, much larger than the RV’s in the campground.

The image below may be the remains of the volcano, it appears a short mesa.

This image provides a better perspective of the park, the mesa and the vastness of the area.

Below, a pair of birds getting ready for spring, building a nest.

This image is the Welcome sign to the park and a closer view of the immenseness of the boulders and the size of the park.

Another view of the entry to the park. Perhaps a tourist getting a memory?

We hope you enjoyed our brief visit to the City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico. While comments are moderated they are welcomed. Should you like to see our future posts consider subscribing.

We were treated to another desert sunset last night when we stopped west of Deming, NM for another Starbucks. Below is a short video and below that is a photo from a short while later.

To Fortilla Flat, Arizona.