Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson

As you can see by the map above, this museum has a lot of acreage outside.

One of our new favorite museums to visit is the Desert Museum in Tucson. This is a really unique place that is part museum, zoo, aquarium, aviary, and botanical garden. I have never seen any place like it. You walk through desert trails that are surrounded by desert plant life and cacti of all kinds. There are museum workers that have exhibits set up for a look at the wildlife up close and personal. They also have a birds of prey show that goes on right in the middle of the outdoor space. The birds and owls fly right over your head, and some come a little too close to your head, lol.

The animals of the museum are in building exhibits and natural outdoor exhibits. They also have the coolest humming bird exhibit. You can walk in the exhibit and the humming birds are everywhere flying all around you. They were so much fun to watch and you could hear their wings, which sounded like a propeller when they flew by our ears.

They have coyotes, javelinas, mountain lions, bobcats, bears, mountain sheep, and so many more animals both inside and outside. They have reptiles and birds from the desert region and also an aquarium that displays local fish. They have a cave you can walk through and a section on the minerals that are found in the desert region.

This mountain lion likes to stay by the window and look at all the people.

A javelina is a peccary, not a pig and they roam wild all around Tucson. They run in herds and can be dangerous. They have been know to attack humans to protect their territory. They are most active at night.

This Museum has a great restaurant and cafeteria. The one thing we have found with our visits to the museums, gardens, and parks in Tucson, is that they have exceptional food at their restaurants. The Desert museum is no exception. We had a great lunch and went right back to the exhibits. When your visit is done they also have a really nice gift shop.

If you get to see nothing else but this beautiful view, the trip was worth it.

If you ever find yourself in Tucson, make sure that you make plans to visit the  Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. You will be so glad you did.

Salt and Gators

It was a beautiful Saturday in late October and we went out on the last convertible drive of the year. So, where will we go? We were off to Grand Saline, Texas to see the Salt Palace Museum and the East Texas Gator and Wildlife Park. It was a beautiful drive and the Museum and Park were a hoot.

The Salt Palace is a building that is made with two outside walls made of pure rock salt. The palace sits on one of the largest and purest salt domes in the US. The supply of salt from this dome is predicted to last another 20,000 years.

The first Salt Palace

 The first Salt Palace was built to look like the Alamo in 1936 and was a solid salt structure.

The second Salt Palace

 The second Palace was built in 1960 and was built from Salt blocks.

The third Salt Palace

The third structure was built in 1975 as a centerpiece for the annual Salt Festival and was built in the current building's location. It was built on the cement foundation of the the first gasoline station in Grand Saline. It was built of solid salt rocks donated by Morton Salt Company the current owner of the salt dome.

The current Salt Palace and Museum.

In 1993 the tiny Salt Palace was deteriorating because of the weather (salt does melt or dissolve when wet). They replaced the building and made some construction changes including an overhanging roof to protect the salt walls. The newest building is four times larger and is re-salted as needed. It is decorated and renovated to accommodate a Museum and Visitors Center.

Items in the museum in the Salt Palace.

Old salt package styles in the Museum. 

This is the Christmas Ornament I bought at the Museum. I try to buy an ornament at all the historical sites we visit. This ornament has been discontinued, so I have one of the last ones sold. 

The historical theory is that this area of East Texas and Western Louisiana was once a part of the Gulf of Mexico. The seas dried up, leaving layers of salt and as the earth's layers shifted and moved it covered the salt with earth. Then there was some source of heat, maybe volcanic activity, that melted the salt and all the minerals or fossils in it burned up. The pressure caused the molten salt to push to the surface. The salt in this area was used by the Caddo Indians in as early as 800AD, and used by the Cherokee Indians until 1839.

Inside the salt dome.

Salt production started in 1845 by John Jordan and A.T McGee. Then Morton Salt came to Grand Saline in 1920. Before underground mining started in 1931, Morton processed salt water from deep brine wells in steam broilers.

The Morton Salt plant in Grand Saline, Texas.

A truck must have leaked as it was leaving the plant. If I was still living in the North I would have thought it was snow on the ground.

The salt mined from Grand Saline is one of the purest salt in the world. It is 99.5 % pure and the mine is blessed by a Rabbi for the process of kosher salt. The salt crystals are so clear they look like glass.

This is a chunk of salt from the mine. It looks like crystal.

The second spot on our trip was the East Texas Gator and Wildlife Park. This is a little, out of the way, park that raises alligators, has a petting zoo barnyard, a duck/geese/swan pond, and other random reptiles and small animals.

This was the entrance to the Gator and Wildlife Park. 

When you walk into the lobby area there are aquariums filled with snakes, lizards, turtles, and fish. There are cages with chinchillas, ferrets, and birds. There is another area outside that has lemurs, prairie dogs, rattle snakes, pythons and parrots.

This is a Chinese Water Dragon Lizard

Hope these sweet bunnies stay far away from the Gators!

Rattle snakes! Yikes!

Cool rattle on a scary snake.

This turtle had the run of the place. It would follow people around and was roaming the whole time we were there. Look how its legs looks like they have sea shells on them.

There were several lemurs on the lot. From the signs posted it seems they like to bite the hand that feeds them. This is a very odd animal to have in a Texas Gator Farm.

The main attraction is the alligator enclosure. When we first walked out to look at the gators the first one we saw blew our minds. This alligator was a little under 14 feet long and it weighs over 800 pounds. This gator is a BEAST!!. There are alligators everywhere, and range from hatchlings to the Beast himself. They have feeding times each day where you can watch them feed these creatures.

This is the 14 foot alligator chilling in the muddy water.

This alligator is enjoying the Texas sun.

The Gator Park also has a concession stand and a gift shop. What more could ask for?

Yikes!

We really enjoyed our trip to Grand Saline. The weather was wonderful, the drive beautiful and the fact that we could be out in a convertible the last weekend in October, PRICELESS!

Edy's Desert Adventure

Our older son lives in Tucson, so this Christmas break we took our younger son with us for his first trip to Tucson to see his Brother's home and current home town. For this trip we decided to drive from Dallas to Tucson to save some money on expensive flights for that time of year, plus we had a ton of luggage, and we were taking the dog with us. This was also Edy's (our dog) first trip to the desert.

We could not fit one more thing in this trunk. You cannot even see the two suitcases and presents in the back. Not to mention the backseat.

We ran into our first snag of the trip when we went to pick up the rental car at the airport and they were all out of SUVs. We ended up with a Chevy Impala that had a huge trunk. We not only had the dog cage, piece of artificial grass (explanation later), and our luggage to pack, we also had Christmas presents for our son that he could not fit in his luggage when he flew home after Christmas. We also had Son's Fiancee's presents since she could not come to Texas this year because of the inclement weather, and she was also feeling under the weather! Sorry couldn't resist.

This was Edy on the trip to Tucson. I think her head is buried under the blanket to hide the stinky gas smell in Midland and Odessa. Then there was the bovine flatulence smell in El Paso. Stinky! 

After we were all packed and ready to roll, we put Edy in her car seat and did not hear from her until we stopped for gas. This dog is the worlds best traveler. You have to wake her up after hours in the car and make her go do her "business". She would have slept and held it the whole 13 1/2 hours. She does like to wake up and bark at whomever is pumping the gas, but that is just about the only time you hear from her.

Edy's official potty grass. We had to use rocks to hold it down due to the wind.

We took a trip to Lowes before we left for Tucson, and bought a large section of artificial grass carpet so Edy could feel like she had grass under her feet .When we arrived in Tucson the first thing we did was put the artificial grass down in the back "yard". You may think that is not a big deal until you realize there is very little grass in the desert and all the "lawns" are rocks. A small dog that has always had a lawn in which to do her "business" may not adjust too well to the change in their bathroom environment. Oy, the things we do for this dog.

If you look way far in the back of the yard you will see our little adventurer Miss Edy. 

The first few times out she went straight on the turf and did not venture out on the rocks. Then after a few days she started venturing farther and farther out into the "yard". The rocks are pretty large for her little paws, so she would walk very slowly and as slow as this dog is naturally it was more of a snails pace on the rocks. Edy would end up wetting on the turf and dumping in the rocks. Makes no sense at all to me, but that was now her desert routine every day.

This dog loves to lay beside us on the couch.

My Son's sweet dog Dahlia went to spend the week with our future daughter in laws grandparents while we were there visiting. Their dog is a lab mix and a bit nervous so, Edy and the extra adults seemed to stress her out, so it was just easier on her to go someplace quiet. Their dog is not allowed on the furniture, but since Dahlia was not home to to see, Edy was allowed to sit on the couch with everyone. Which was pretty much every night. This dog is so spoiled!

This was pretty much Edy's position for 13 1/3 hours on the trip back to Dallas.

We had a great visit and on the ride home Miss Edy slept the whole trip back. I really think this dog is actually part Koala!

Decoupaged Letters as a Headboard

One of my guest rooms in my house is decorated in a Disney theme. The bathroom off this guest room is decorated in black and white, and features Mickey Mouse. Because the guest room is going to be used by my grandchildren when they come to visit, I am trying to use a variety of Disney characters that would appeal to both genders. There will of course be a picture somewhere in the room of the "Cars" characters, or my grandson may never stay in the room, lol.

In this room I am currently using a quilt made for my son from his hockey jerseys and will eventually replace that quilt with a comforter I will make that is Disney related. So, the first thing on my list was to make something to hang over the bed to replace the paintings my grandson helped me paint over a year ago.

Ready to start painting the front and sides of the letters.

I decided to buy 18 inch paper mache letters that spell SLEEP. I purchased the letters from Hobby Lobby while they were on sale. Then because the background of the letters were going to be black or red I also bought some acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby to paint them. I went to a used book store and bought some Disney children's books to use for decoupaging the fronts of the letters, similar to the letters I decoupaged for my Granddaughter's room ( 6/9/16 post).

First I painted three of the letters red and the other two letters black.

Painted sides red and black on alternating letters.

Disney Princesses!

Next, I picked which Disney stories, or characters I wanted to decoupage on each letter.
Snow White for the S.
The Lion King for the L.
The Disney Princesses for one E.
Bambi and 101 Dalmatians for the other E.
And Winnie the Pooh for the P.

Then it is the tedious job of cutting the pieces out of the book pages and laying them out on the front of the letters. You have to pick pictures/words and place then on the front of a letter in a logical and aesthetically pleasing order.  This is very time consuming and can be the most frustrating part of the process. It took me many hours and two days to get everything to look the way that I liked.

All the pictures are cut and laid in place. Whew, that was a lot of work!

101 Dalmatians!

Once all the pieces are laid in place, I go through with the decoupage glue, and glue them in place. When they are all in place, the glue is dried and the paper is trimmed where necessary with an exacto knife, I put a coat of decoupage glue on top of the papered letter fronts. When that coat is dry I put on a second coat. I apply the glue with a sponge brush and it is very difficult to get all the brush marks off of the application. This is also a delicate process because you need to make sure that the paper does not tear or move when putting on the top coat. When the glue dries it will have a glossy look to it even if you choose a non glare glue. No edge is perfect, there are spots that will be a little off or rough and you just have to get past it and realize that the surface you are putting the paper on is not smooth or have straight sides or corners. It gives the project "character".

Bambi shares a letter with the Dalmatians.

My kids loved Winnie the Pooh when they were little, so I had to include Pooh Bear. Sorry for the glare, it was unfortunately impossible to take a picture of the letters without the glare. Heaven knows I tried, lol. But you get the idea of just how cute they turned out.

I used Command Velcro hangers to hang the letters on the wall in a staggered pattern. The next step for this room will be making a comforter or duvet, but for now I am just going to admire this project.

The 12 Days of Christmas at Night, at the Dallas Arboretum

The Wednesday night before Christmas we bought tickets to go see the 12 Days of Christmas at night at the Dallas Arboretum. The Arboretum closes at 5 pm for daylight viewing and then at 6 pm they open again to ticket holders to see the Arboretum at night with the grounds all lit up and they feature lighted tree walkways, the DeGolyer House (on the grounds) is decorated for Christmas including over 500 Santas, and there are 12 Victorian gazebos decorated as the 12 Days of Christmas.

The lighted walkways:

The DeGolyer House's Trees and Santas:

The gazebos are encased in glass and are automated with the characters from the the song "The 12 Days of Christmas". The gazebos are 25 ft high and are decorated in 3D, and you can see the display from all sides of the gazebo. For example, the "Eight Maids a Milking" gazebo had 4 different sections with 2 maids in each section, and the detail was amazing. There were mice, birds, and cats in random places, and owls in the rafters. You had to stand looking for a while in each section just to see all the little animals. I tried to put two pictures from each gazebo to give you an idea of all the details. They were all lit up and looked and sounded spectacular.

Enjoy the pictures of the 12 days of Christmas.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Twelve Drummers Drumming

Eleven Pipers Piping

Ten Lords a Leaping

Nine Ladies Dancing

Eight Maids a Milking

Seven Swans a Swimming

Six Geese a Laying

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French Hens

Two Turtle Doves

And A Partridge in a Pear Tree

The "Twelve Days of Christmas" at night was by far my favorite display at the Dallas Arboretum. We had to pay extra to see it at night, but boy, was it worth it.