SUMMER ROAD TRIP 2019

Discussion in 'Test Server Forum' started by Cyrrena, Jul 21, 2019.

  1. Schmetterling Well-Known Member

    no need to say much about this place it's so aw inspiring it takes your breath away and stops you typing.
    I got up early in the morning at 4 am and took a big stack of salami sandwiches and a gallon of water and hiked down to the bottom of the canyon. yuk there is so much poop on the Kaibab trail. I could just float down with my bat wings , but what's the point of that ?
    going down is so much faster so it took me only 5 hours to get down and I bathed my smocking feet in the Colorado river.
    I took a look at the Phantom Ranch and because I had not made reservations I picked up my backpack and reluctantly
    started on my way back up .
    this time I went up the Bright Angel trail there is a campground and water half way up , and it's not as steep.
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . argh 5 hours to get to the half way point to bad I did not bring a tent 30 minutes break.
    And on I go > . . . . ok where is the elevator . . . . . , somebody please call a taxi , . . . . . ., are we there yet ?
    another 5 hours went by I am about to crawl up those last 1000 feet , maybe I should call a rescue helicopter.
    aw the top I am here no wonder they don't recommend you do this hike in one day , but it was well worth it .

    lol I saw this guy buy that Tee shirt that says " I hiked the Grand Canyon " but I saw him at every lookout point just bringing out his camera shooting pictures.
  2. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Yow! Hope RL isn't being too much of a pain. :-/

    Biosphere 2 is still a thing? I thought they'd given up on that...it wasn't a government or academic project, from what I heard, but a corporate one. The main problem they seemed to have is that none of the botany experts, apparently, reminded the bosses of what they should've remembered from like jr. high or high school science class: photo (light) synthesis (making) only works in the daytime, or under sun lamps. Once the sun goes down, unless you have supplemental light sources, plants will, by definition, cease taking in carbon dioxide and making oxygen (very high energy reaction; needs a certain wavelength of light to power it) and start respiration, which is photosynthesis's opposite: using oxygen to power their "bodily" processes and giving out carbon dioxide. Between that and not having nearly enough ocean (only 20 acres or so, total? In the Arizona desert? How cheap were they, it's not like it's ocean front property...15 acres of various land types and only 5 of ocean; should've been the other way 'round, if they wanted to emulate Biosphere 1 [Earth]) to take up the excess CO2, they started filling up with the nasty gas pretty quickly, especially with frisky sentient critters (humans) in residence.

    They should've planned for that: either more CO2 scrubbers, more sun lamps, more ocean, or simply ways of making more CO2 scrubbers with the materials they could get in there, like they did with Apollo 13 when that went pear-shaped. :-/

    Never send in a bunch of corp goons to do real researchers' jobs, say I. :-/

    Though if Cy has more info, I'd love to hear it... ;->

    Uwk
    who doubts it's gonna be changing any giant kitteh minds about that sentiment any time soon... ;->
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  3. Schmetterling Well-Known Member

    well maybe this is simply another ghost town visit I just hop they won't let it turn into a ruin I mean showing tourists the place where they tested a theory (even as bad as they might have) , is always interesting .
    Just look at it as science fiction .
  4. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    I hear that river can be rough on skin, better take some lotion or skin cream.

    Walking downwards into the past, beautiful rocks, and no cool clear water.

    Walking back up is going to take me longer.

    Whew.
  5. Schmetterling Well-Known Member

    we would need a month of exploring to see all the cool stuff in the grand canyon , if that's what your talking about .
    just to give you an idea here are some things only some people get to see, and some that were created not to long ago, many you can only get to if you go on one of those rafting trips ( 3 to 25 days long) or you simply love hiking A LOT .
    " Shinumo Creek " is in one of the many side canyons the best part is where water falls into a shallow pool that is perfect for splashing around , the best part is you most likely don't have to share this place with others.
    " Ribbon Falls " enchanting skinny waterfall in a fairytale setting . the falls are on the North Kaibab trail .
    " Clear Creek Trail to Cheyava Falls " the trail parallels the pristine Clear Creek and takes you on a unforgettable hike across the canyon floor. The trail Bright Angel Campground ( the only place to stay over night without a permit ) you can use a port a potty and get fresh water here. here you are likely to see a heard of bighorn sheep. Finally you get to the ultimate destination " Cheyava Falls " the tallest waterfall in Arizona . and a worthy glorious sight to see .
    " Pumpkin Spring Pool " now this a hot spring I don't want to bath in . this limestone formation has taken the shape and color of a large, round , pumpkin with the downward strips and ripples . water pours into the top of the giant gourd shaped pool turns murky green , flows over the sides and into the river below. the warm waters are a witches brew of led , zinc , copper and very high
    " Grand Falls " this waterfall is on Navajo Nation " land and you need a permission to drive on the dirt road that leads to it
    At 185 feet tall , it is taller than Niagara Falls . the best time to see it is Spring and Fall during the snowmelt and during monsoon rains this waterfall turns into a churning roaring behemoth. The waterfalls nick name is the chocolate falls.
    and wile your on Navajo land you might as well also visit Monument Valley.
    " Grand Canyon Skywalk " A horseshoe - shaped walkway that extends almost 70 feet out over the canyon at Hualapai- owned Grand Canyon West. The skywalk has a clear wall under the railing and a 4 inch think bottom. you can look straight down through the floor to the abyss 4,000 feet below.
    " Diamond Road " one of the tribal lands roads of the Hualapai People. and like with any use of their land by outsiders you need a permit. the road leads down into the canyon.
    " Hualapai Falls " there are 5 Falls including Navajo Falls , Hidden Fall the fifty Foot Fall , Moony Fall , Beaver Falls and the most famous Havasu Fall .
    you can drive down to the hilltop parking lot and hike for 9 miles to get ti Supai village or you can go for a helicopter ride from the parking lot . but you still have to hike 2 miles to get to the campground and the nearest waterfall.

    I came to the conclusion that , if I want to see those falls I take one of our hover crafts and a stealth or invis totem and go there , ( without a permit ) no more daytrips are allowed and they ask 100 dollars for each night and you have to stay a minimum of 3 nights. the permits are given out every February and usually are all gobbled up within the first hour that day .
  6. Cyrrena Well-Known Member

    The water in Pumpkin Spring Pool is very high in Arsenic, so unless you want to poison your significant other or yourself, I wouldn't actually attempt to get near enough to touch the water in the pool or the water in the river closest to where the pool flows into the river.
  7. Cyrrena Well-Known Member

    Biosphere 2 is still going. There have been some changes made since the epic fail the first time around. The entire complex was rebuilt and is under the management of various Scientists from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Some of the Board of Advisors are bean counters but that is all they are, advisors. Here is a link to the "new" Biosphere 2 complex explaining the research, the programs, some of the equipment they are now using, a bio on the Scientists running the show and more:

    https://biosphere2.org/
  8. Schmetterling Well-Known Member

    oops I skipped a sentence it was also supposed to say and also a very high level of arsenic 1 liter of water from the pumpkin spring contains 1100 milligrams of arsenic , it is forbidden to drink the water and also extremely foolish.


    abut todays scenario " Kartcher Caverns " is a fairly newly discovered cavern and people took great efforts to protect the state of this place . I am pretty sure this was the first cavern with an air lock to keep the moisture inside constant
    and there are buckets of bleach around should anybody move their tip of a shoe outside the boundaries of the walkways .
    I appears that some of this measures are now being used in older caverns to protect those unique environments.
  9. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    Wouldn't bleach harm the accumulations ?

    Anyway, I prefer virtual caverns. And some of the other places in this thread.

    Rainbow limestone curtains accumulated over the centuries,
    stalagtites holding tight to the ceiling,
    and stalagmites growing up frmo the floor,
    columns where they joined,
    all to the slow drip.... (long pause) drip... of water.

    The stars are wonderful to look at,
    way up above,
    blue ones, red ones, yellow ones,
    and white ones, but I have been told there are no green ones.

    Galaxies in the night,
    slowly spinning,
    over millions of years,
    oh what would it be like to see such a sight ?!
    one rotation of a galaxy !

    Nebulae flickering in the night,
    some like butterflies,
    planetary nebula,
    glowing various colors,
    beautiful to behold,
    in a telescope,
    so great.
  10. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Is that a natural occurrence, or was it from old mines? :(

    Uwk
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  11. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    Likely the old mines. But there is also one in Chile, out in the Atacampa Desert. People living there, and millenia old bones, show a slight adaptation to the arsenic in the water there.
  12. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Wo! Okay, I'm impressed! Cool link, thanks! :D

    Uwk
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  13. Cyrrena Well-Known Member

    Good Afternoon ROAD TRIPPERS!!!

    How did you enjoy the drive through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. I mean what can you say about it? You are looking at time in vibrant color, all of those are expose layers of sandstone and each band of color is a different era in time. Every exposed cliff face you were looking at you were looking back over eons of time. And the still standing Pueblos in those valleys and cliff faces, and then to think that water has traveled so swiftly through there at some point that Pueblos lower on the cliff faces along with the small mesas that were used to access them have been eroded and washed away. The Native Americans that built those Pueblos, built ladders to small mesas, then built a Pueblo in the face of the cliff, then built another ladder from there to the next mesa and built another Pueblo and so on, from the Valley floor as high as they could get.

    The Petrified Forest, again, what can you really say, you are looking at trees from as far back as the Triassic period where the wood has decayed and been replaced by silt and minerals so now it is rock in the shape of logs. The visitors center had so much more information than when I was here the last time in 1975. There are 23 buildings in the complex and it also houses the Painted Desert Visitors center. There are bookstores with books on the Native Americans that inhabited the area in the past as well as those that inhabit the area now. There are geological books that tell about the minerals and substrates found in both parks. There is a mineral shop where you can buy geodes found in the parks and have them opened and various other mineral samples and sets, I am in heaven in there!!! A restaurant, a small shop that sell snacks and gifts. A shop that sells Native American made Sand Paintings, some on canvas and some in bottles and glassware, I love all of them. A few shops that sell Native American jewelry and handcrafts, I love these as well. Lots of shopping to be done here!!!!

    This morning we visited Biosphere 2 and then Kartchner Caverns. Right now we are breaking for lunch. I will do a write up of today's activities either later this evening or tomorrow morning. After lunch, we will be visiting Flandrau Planetarium, today is Saturday so they have their special Star Show that is set to Pink Floyd's The Wall following the normal Educational Star Show, so we will see both, you will love the special Star Show. After Flandrau Planetarium, we will be porting to Oatman, Arizona. I am not going to give you any hints about Oatman, but will instead let it be a surprise when we get there.

    I have scheduled cocktail hour for 7 pm and dinner for 8 pm at The Trident Grill in Tucson, Arizona. After dinner we will port back to the Grand Canyon Lodge to rest and relax for the night.

    Tomorrow, I have scheduled us a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West in North Scottsdale, Arizona, and Tombstone, Arizona and The Phoenix Bat Cave in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

    Monday, I have scheduled, Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, The Large Binocular Telescope in Safford, Arizona (lots of controversy surrounding the building of this telescope), Area 66 in Yucca, Arizona, and the Yuma Territorial Prison.

    Tuesday, The Superstition Mountains Museum, London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona, Standin' On The Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona (made famous by The Eagles), Burger King Navajo Code Talkers Display in Kayenta, Arizona (which is owned by the son of one of the Navajo Code Talkers and has the largest collection of Code Talker Memorabilia and information in the country, even more than the Pentagon!!), and The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope in Sells, Arizona.

    Wednesday, this one I found for Gero, The Ignite Sign Art Museum in Tucson, Arizona, The Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Picacho, Arizona, The Hall of Flame Firefighting Museum in Phoenix, Arizona (my adopted father was a Rural Metro firefighter/paramedic for 20 years from the day Rural Metro started), Parker Dam in Parker, Arizona, Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, Arizona, and Whiskey Row in Prescott, Arizona. Then we will have cocktails and dinner on Whiskey Row before returning to Grand Canyon Lodge for our last night on the SUMMER ROAD TRIP 2019.

    Thursday morning, we will finish up the SUMMER ROAD TRIP 2019 with our visit to Six Flags Over Norrath. Unless I missed something. If I have missed something, please let me know so I can adjust the itinerary after Wednesday!!!

    Alrighty ROAD TRIPPERS, lunch went longer than usual because I got lost in my writing and didn't pay attention to the time.

    *casts the group speed buff, points to the tables with hat boxes and hats with various minerals, geological formations, Telescopes with mini observers, a miniature galaxy with a supermassive black hole, pictographs, sand paintings, and a myriad of other things on them from our travels and tells the ROAD TRIPPERS to take all they want there are more where these came from, readjusts the time delays to account for her lack of attention to the time during lunch and relocks the security cover, stealths over and puts a new hat on Ttobey that has a small diorama on it of Eagle Dancers, then shouts*

    Lets move on out!!!
  14. Cyrrena Well-Known Member

    In this particular pool, it is naturally occurring because of the mineral substrates in the area. Where the Native Americans inhabited, the water had flowed down into the river and mixed with other water that did not have those levels and by the time it reached the areas they were living in the arsenic levels were down to a level that was acceptable for human consumption, and the people of the era knew not to drink it or touch it. Probably because someone did and they saw what happened. But there are also wellsprings and aquifers that feed into the river below that do not have these levels of arsenic so it kind of gets mixed and tumbled and filtered through plants and rocks and naturally diluted.
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  15. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Oookay, I replied to this about a green-tinged star in the constellation of Libra that's a thing, but I'm not sure if the bloody, blasted forum deigned to publish it before it booted me for no conceivable reason, so I'll forgo trying to be clever again and just put in the Wiki link and the quote I got from it... :-/

    "Alpha Librae, called Zubenelgenubi, is a multiple star system divisible into two stars when seen through binoculars, The primary (Alpha2 Librae) is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.7 and the secondary (Alpha1 Librae) is a white star of magnitude 5.2 and spectral type F3V that is 74.9 ± 0.7 light-years from Earth. Its traditional name means "the southern claw". Zubeneschamali (Beta Librae) is the corresponding "northern claw" to Zubenelgenubi. The brightest star in Libra, it is a green-tinged star of magnitude 2.6, 160 light-years from Earth."

    So, apparently, it's a thing! :D Even if it's just "green-tinged." :)

    Uwk
    who also liked the concept of such when perusing old general astronomy books while younger (still like the concept :)) ;->
  16. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    Interesting, as I've been told fairly recently there are no green stars... But one of my astronomy books from the 1960s clearly says they do exist.

    Thanks Uwk !

    And the The Ignite Sign Art Museum. Sounds electric.

    Bzzzt !

    Ouchies.
  17. Cyrrena Well-Known Member

    Good Morning ROAD TRIPPERS!!!

    Yesterday in the morning we visited Biosphere 2 and Kartchner Caverns. Biosphere 2 has been completely redone and is totally under the management of the Scientists at the University of Arizona in Tucson. They are conducting a wide variety of studies at any given time, and have added a City type of area to study various ways that people can lessen the impact of urban living on the natural environment.

    Kartchner Caverns is a relative new kid on the block as Schmet said. It was discovered in November 1974 by a couple of guys looking to find a cave nobody had found before, but it was not purchased by the State of Arizona until September of 1988 and it was not opened to the public until November 1999. This cave system has some of the largest and most pristine formations found and not all of the cave system has been developed so that it is available to the public. They are protecting against White Nose Syndrome, so all of had to go to their Decontamination Station and have our clothes and shoes sprayed down with alcohol. Some of the formations that we were able to see yesterday were: One of the world's longest soda straw stalactites: 21 feet 3 inches (Throne Room), The tallest and most massive column in Arizona, Kubla Khan: 58 feet tall (Throne Room),The world's most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk (Big Room), The first reported occurrence of “turnip” shields (Big Room), The first cave occurrence of “birdsnest” needle quartz formations and many other unusual formations such as shields, totems, helictites, and rimstone dams.

    In the afternoon, we visited Flandrau Planetarium. I already told you the Special Star Show was set to Pink Floyd's The Wall so there is not much else to say about that other than its a fantastic show. Then we went to Oatman, Arizona. I wouldn't tell anybody the surprise awaiting them in Oatman. But here is the scoop. Oatman is on Historic Route 66 and is considered by most to be a Ghost Town although it is only a Ghost Town in the sense that the Federal Government ordered gold mining operations to cease in the area in 1941 and ordered the miners to excavate minerals for use in WWII. Since gold was the town's bread and butter, they had to find another way to make a living, so they began to capitalize on Route 66 themed tourism. They have been making their living off of that since then as the town has early 1900 Wild West Buildings and a very large population of unfenced wild burros (this was what I thought you would all like the most). The burros, babies included, walk about town, lay in the road, sleep on the sidewalks, go into shops if the doors are open, basically whatever they want to do. They are not aggressive, so you can pet them and such. There were also quite a few trading posts and gift shops in town, at least one bar, and a diner.

    Its Sunday and after breakfast we are off to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West in North Scottsdale, Arizona. I have been to this house many times and its spectacular, I think you will all enjoy it tremendously. After that, we will be porting to the Infamous Wild West Town of Tombstone, some say the ghosts of the dead still walk the streets day and night and that you can hear the past speak no matter what time of day it is. I guess we shall see and/or hear?

    Alright ROAD TRIPPERS lets go out and see what trouble we can get into today!!!!
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  18. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    I will not dress like a Dude Ranch City Guy... I will not dress like a Dude Ranch City Guy... I will not dress like a Dude Ranch City Guy...

    I'll just wear steeltoe boots, jeans, a nice shirt, and a a hat.

    Howdy !
  19. Schmetterling Well-Known Member

    I went to Kartchner cavern the first year it opened and there were not that many people who knew about this place yet
    so our group was really small . Visiting a pristine cavern like this was a nice treat and we had no problems to see either , no tall guys to block your view . They had one guy in the front doing the guide thing and another in the back to clean of any rocks that had been touched by hands or shoes beyond the security strip and belief it or not one guy overstepped , trying to take the perfect picture .
    If any of you are ever in the neighborhood for real , you got to see this place .
  20. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    Oooh, bulk sead beeds ! Hurrah !

    I'll take eleventy dozen of each. Do you take Everquest II loyalty points ? No ?! Oh dear.