The 390th Memorial Museum is a separate museum on the grounds of the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. The main display is the last B-17 Flying Fortress flown by any branch of the military. I was on the second floor of the building photographing the B-17 when I turned around and saw one of the volunteers enjoying the view of some aircraft outside. I had no time to figure out camera settings or take multiple photos. I grabbed this one shot and the man walked away, so this photo is the only one I got and is SOOC. I recommend both museums for anyone visiting Tucson, especially anyone interested in the military or the history of flight. HWW

Tags:   museum airplane window aircraft military HWW Window Wednesday SOOC Pima Tucson Arizona man volunteer view

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The drive through Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona curves through a natural cactus garden. The main source of spring color on this day was yellow brittlebush with a few orange ocotillo blossoms. It was too early in the year for most of the cactus to bloom.

Tags:   road curve s-curve cactus saguaro spring brittlebush yellow flower wildflower blossoms Tucson park Arizona Tucson Mountain Park rural Gates Pass

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A cactus wren is building a nest in a staghorn cholla at Tucson, Mountain Park, Arizona. Sometimes a male wren will build a second nest while the female is raising young in the first nest. Then they will raise a second brood as soon as the first one is gone.

Tags:   bird wren cactus wren nest cholla staghorn buckhorn cactus spring desert Tucson Arizona Tucson Mountain Park rural nature park

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My friends know that I enjoy looking for mysterious giant concrete arrows that were used to guide early air mail pilots. See my arrow album for photos and information. So, when I heard about mysterious giant concrete X's, or crosses, in the Arizona desert I had to see one for myself.

In the 1960's the United States launched 144 Corona cold war spy satellites. They would take photos then jettison the film which would fall to earth to be caught in mid-air by aircraft. It didn't always work.

It has been commonly reported that the cameras needed to be calibrated by focusing on fixed points, so a system of giant concrete crosses was placed at precise points in the Arizona desert. The crosses were arranged in a huge grid and are only visible if you walk right up to them, or from above. However, I found an alternate description for them. The cross-shaped patterns may have been used to calibrate aerial photography equipment for aircraft.

The Corona project ended in 1972 and many of the crosses were demolished. But if you want to find them there are still a few in the Casa Grande desert. I posted a photo of one a few years ago and found two more on this trip, so this is my second post. They are fun to photograph, but what I really enjoy is hunting for them.

Tags:   giant concrete cross X satellite calibration corona target Casa Grande desert Arizona strange cold war mystery Maltese

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A lone tree leans toward the abyss on a sandstone cliff near Kanab, Utah. I wonder how trees like this survive with so little soil and water?

Tags:   tree lone tree juniper cedar stone sandstone cliff abyss Kanab Utah sand cave landscape rural rock twisted ancient wind-blown Pentax Art US-89

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