Pima Air & Space Museum

After me and my buddy were done hiking at Picacho Peak State Park and decided we would love to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum. We came up to the exit we believed was the museum only to find out that shockingly, we were mistaken! The museum was on the other side of Tucson! Luckily, we are used to this outcome because we usually wing it on our photography taking adventures and quite regularly go astray 🙂

What a HUGE place! The concept for the museum began in 1966 and opened in the 80-acre location in 1978 and currently have approximately 400 historic aircraft on-site. There are 6 hangars (3 are dedicated to WWII) full of aircraft and the balance of them are outside on the lot. They do have a restaurant on-site (we didn’t eat there because we saw a Texas Roadhouse on the drive there and you we just can’t substitute for that!). The museum has a nice variety of memorabilia and I was excited to find Navy Seabee patches and pins! It is rare to find and is going to be a great surprise for my boyfriend.

When we walked into the first hangar I was overwhelmed with how many aircrafts were inside. They have quite a few hanging from the ceiling and everyone of them have a sign telling you what type of aircraft is on display, some have signs with the history of that aircraft (or that type of aircraft), and the balance have the QR’s that you can scan and the history open up on your phone!!

When we walked outside it was unbelievable how expansive the property truly is! We spent 2 hours walking around outside and we would have spent more time if we it wasn’t getting so late and we weren’t so far from home. They have all of the aircraft grouped together. The groups are: Helicopters, Early US & Foreign Fighters, US Navy Fighters, Trainers, Bombers, Electronic Aircraft, Tankers, NASA Aircraft, Transport & Utility Aircraft, Presidential & VIP Aircraft, Commercial & Civil Aircraft, US Air Force Fighters & Others, Fire Fighters, and Miscellaneous. they also have a restoration hangar and space gallery hangar.

I would have loved to have a tour, but unfortunately they are suspended until further notice. We paid $16.50 each for our one-day admission and it was worth every penny! So much to see!

Here are a few pictures of some of the aircraft that we saw. They were all so impressive.

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Picacho Peak State Park Visit

My friend and I like to find places to go take pictures and we decided on Picacho Peak State Park near Tucson, Arizona. We have both driven by it for years, but we never stopped to explore!

My buddy stopped to pick me up on January 9, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. and after I loaded up myself and my camera bag we were on the road for our adventure. We are hoping to make it to the State Park today, as we do have a tendency to get sidetracked when traveling to a pre-determined destination when we see something that looks like a good photo and exploring opportunity!! An hour and a half later we had success and landed at the State Park.

The hiking trails are open from sunrise to sunset and the visitor center is open 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. except Christmas Day the visitor center is closed. It only costs $7.00/car (for up to 4 people) to enter. The park ranger is very informative upon entrance and was more than happy to explain the various trails available to hike. She suggested we go to the Sunset Vista Trail for the best photography opportunities and the least amount of visitors. We were given a paper brochure with general information and a full map of the park. They have bathrooms, Ramadas, and picnic tables throughout the park. There are 3 campgrounds with bathrooms, showers, and a dump station.

“The Battle of Picacho Peak” was a battle during the Civil War that was the furthest west in the United States! We didn’t see any markers on the trail that we were on, but there may be on some of the others. The views were spectacular along the trail with rock formations, various types of cactus, tress, and foliage with a great expanse of open land.

The Sunset Vista Trailhead is at the end of the park and there is not a lot of parking spots (probably about 15-20). There are no restrooms at the trailhead parking area, you can stop at the Sunset Day use area before the trailhead parking to use the restroom or park when the trailhead parking is full and you can then walk the trail from the day use area to the trailhead to start your adventure.

The trail is mostly dirt and rock. Some areas have railroad ties as steps to help prevent you from slipping. It is breathtaking when you are looking out over the vast expanse of desert. It goes on forever! There are some cool looking rock formations, and so many different kinds of cacti, trees and foliage that you will never tire of the views.

We only went 1.5 miles but didn’t have any trouble carrying our cameras and camera bags. The trail continues on further and there are areas where you should have some gloves to hang onto the cables that will assist you on the trail (from what some of the people that we saw coming back), but we will save that for another day when we don’t have our cameras and gear with us!

You can see the rest of my pictures on my Facebook page (also ALifeofFun) (this sites server isn’t playing nice tonight) from our Picacho Peak State Park adventure.

Thank you for reading my blog. If you have any questions just let me know!

Watch for the next blog on the Pima Air and Space Museum that we visited after we finished this hike!

Bellair Golf Course Review

We have been going to this executive course many times over the years and always enjoyed playing here, attending events, and meeting friends for lunch. The course was purchased in December 2019.

We decided to go play 18 holes on June 14, 2020. CA is the girl that checked us in and she was very personable and helpful. The pro shop was remodeled and looked nice, however there are no clothes in the shop. We inquired about Ironworks grill, as it didn’t appear to be open and we were informed that it was closed for remodeling and there was no cart girl on the course. That was very disappointing because we did look at the website to determine what the changes, if any were and it did not mention the closure of the restaurant/bar and lack of a cart girl. Good thing it was a cooler morning and I had a protein bar in my purse to hold me over until we were finished.

There are 2 restrooms on the course at holes 6 & 14 and they have also been remodeled and looked good.

The course itself was in disrepair. There were lots of areas over the 18 holes that were brown and appear not to have been watered. The green areas don’t appear to have been mowed recently and it was very difficult at times to find the balls (even in the areas where we never hard that trouble before). Some of the tee boxes had dirt/sand and little grass. A few of them I had to move my tee around to find a soft enough spot to get my tee into the ground. Lots of the sand traps had quite a bit of grass and weeds.

I am really hoping the new owners will work on getting this course back up-to-speed so that we can keep this one on our lists of courses that we enjoy going to play.