Topanga State Park

The majority of Los Angeles citizens probably have no idea how fortunate they are in having this park within their city limits. In fact, it is the world's largest wilderness within the boundaries of a major city. We took Topanga Canyon Road into the park. On the way we stopped at Top of Topanga Overlook. From this spot we had a wonderful view of the city with the Santa Monica Mountains off in the distance. While standing there a ruby-throated hummingbird caught our attention as he hovered over a bush covered with red flowers.

We drove into to the state park where we noticed signs indicating that parking in the park would cost ten dollars. Consequently we did as everyone else was doing and parked on the road outside of the park. We talked to a park ranger about the fee when we entered the park. He commented that since so many people were trying to avoid the fee by parking outside of the park, state officials were considering placing no parking signs on the road where we had parked. John and I did feel guilty later that we had not paid the fee. We thoroughly enjoyed the hiking trails of the park (covered about 5 miles of the 36 ) and spent the majority of our day there. We took a couple of the trails which meandered over sunny grasslands and through heavily shaded forests of live oak. Frequently the trails opened up to spectacular vistas of the Pacific Ocean.

 When I took the above picture the sky was quite overcast. We felt a few sprinkles of rain off and on until late afternoon when the sun finally came out. We attempted the trail up to Eagle Rock, one of the highest points in the park. However we had to turn back when we realized that it was further away than we realized. On the way up to that rock we encountered quite a few other interesting geological  formations. The canyons in the park have earthquake faults, as well as volcanic formations and old sea beds with marine fossils.

One last picture I have here is that of a manzanita tree branch. I stopped to admire the tree because of its smooth red bark and small white blossoms. Bees were swarming the tree. At times like that I have to stop and seriously think about what season of the year I am in!  I certainly am not in the midwest in December.

Palisades Park, Santa Monica

Before I write about our visit to Santa Monica on Tuesday, I must deal with Albert Pujols who left our beloved Cardinals. He just joined the Los Angeles Angels who offered him a 10-year, $254-million deal. It did seem so strange to see him on television out here accepting the Angel's sport shirt. The Los Angeles Times noted that it is a big costly gamble on him since he has been in "decline for two seasons". But the Angeles General Manager J. Dipoto noted: " if we call a decline going from super human to just great" ( he did not finish the thought, but I think I get his point).. he went on to say: "I don't think we have seen the last great days of Albert Pujols". So there you have it, straight from Los Angeles regarding the Cardinal's ex-great hitter. Another great brouhaha making the papers out here is a controversy regarding Christmas displays in Palisades Park. Tuesday was a cool day, due to a front coming through Monday which brought rain.The wind blowing off the ocean on Santa Monica Pier was a bit brisk so walked from there to Paliasdes Park. It is more of an overlook park as the bluffs there hang over Topanga Canyon.

As we walked through the park we came upon several life size nativity scenes and we noticed that those three scenes did not completely tell the Christmas story. What we saw next after those displays is pictured below.

What followed the above sign were further displays from the American Atheists espousing separation of church and state as well as quotations from our nation's founders. Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying that all religions are founded upon myths and fables. The next day, after we had visited the park, we found an article in the Los Angeles Times giving us the full story on the displays. For 6 decades churches of Santa Monica displayed the Christmas story on 14 plots in the park. A protest was raised and park officials decided to use a lottery system to dole out the spots in that prime location. The churches won 3 lots and other groups won 18. Some of the 18 spots stand empty, the others seem to be all promoted by the American Atheists. Interestingly enough, one of the nativity scenes is sponsored by the Sana Monica Police Association.

Hollywood on a Friday Evening

It may have seemed to our readers that we have vanished from the face of the earth. This past week we moved our home to Van Nuys, California. This is an area northwest of Los Angeles. Shortly after our arrival we got busy getting Christmas letters and packages mailed out. Last evening we decided to venture over to Hollywood boulevard where Improv Olympic West Theater is located. Mike had a show there last night which we wanted to see. We saw several other shows besides his, all lasting about 30 minutes. It is stand up comedy, improvised as the show progresses. I suppose it is the training ground for many actors and actresses, allowing them to feel comfortable speaking and acting on stage. Mike says he is just having fun with it.

Before the show we walked along Hollywood boulevard. And I am not sure that it is the place to be on a Friday evening in the Christmas season. In the area we walked through there is a large Christmas display by the Church of Scientology. The sign above Santa in the picture below declares that it is Ron Hubbard's Winter Wonderland.  And above a large decorated tree nearby Santa is posted a quote from Hubbard which asserts that peace on earth will come when people trust each other.

Part of Hollywood Boulevard was blocked off last evening for a movie shooting. For the scene cars from the 1920s were on the set as well as a trolley. Actors dressed as gangsters strolled around and large lights shone above the street. Suddenly there was a sound of shots being fired, all a part of the scene being played out.

 A man standing near us, who was holding some type of have you found Jesus poster, commented to us:  "crazy isn't this, especially after the shooting earlier today". A for real shooting happened in Hollywood Friday morning when a lone man stood out in the street and started shooting randomly at cars passing by. As we headed back to the theater we passed another real life scene going on, a man was being handcuffed and taken into police custody.  What a surreal evening we had in tinsel town, very far removed from the life we had known back home in St.Louis.

San Diego's Balboa Park

This park is not only home to the famous San Diego Zoo (which we saw two years ago), but it is the location of 15 major museums, several performing art venues, gardens and many other cultural attractions. It reminded us of our Forest Park back home in St.Louis, but it has quite a bit more to see within its borders. Balboa Park is the result of a legacy of two Expositions. The 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal. The park's famous El Prado pedestrian walkway features highly ornamented Spanish-Renaissance styled buildings constructed for this Exposition. The Casa del Prado and Theater is pictured below. Currently the Nutcracker is being performed there.

The 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition, held to boost the local economy during the depression, added more cultural buildings, structures and landscaping. Those buildings had more of the southwestern architecture. We did not take the time to tour the museums of the park, that we will save for another time. We were quite satisfied just strolling around this area taking in the stunning architecture and beautiful gardens. Pictured below is the botanical building, it was built in 1915.

The lath structured building is located at the end of two reflecting ponds.  Inside the building are many tropical plants. Currently it is all decked out for Christmas with numerous poinsettia plants.

Lastly I want to show a part of the 200 foot California Tower, a famous San Diego landmark. It has a 100 bell carillon that chimes every 15 minutes. Adding also to our listening enjoyment were also a few street buskers playing a variety of musical offerings.

USS Midway

The size of this aircraft carrier is amazing. The start of our tour here started in the hanger below this deck. Three airplanes on that level can easily be moved on elevators to the top in a matter of minutes. This ship is one of the major tourist attractions in San Diego. An employee commented to John that attendance was a bit down the day we were there, only about 1500 people came in compared to the usual 2,000. Touring this ship was like looking at a small city. It can take care of the needs of 4500 crew members- feeding them, providing medical and dental care, and laundry, to mention a few of the services offered in this ship. Below is a picture of the chapel. The current chapel was constructed just before the Vietnam War.

The ship was active from 1945-1992. It served our country during three wars; WW11, the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. In 1975 it lead the evacuation of 3,073 refugees out of Saigon. It was the flagship of Persian Gulf air operations. Below is a picture of one a couple rooms where air strikes were planned and executed in the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. It is next to the radio room in the cpatain's bridge of the ship.

At several locations in the ship docents are available to explain its certain features. They are navy veterans, the one pictured below did not serve on the Midway but on another ship, a destroyer. He did a very good job of explaining the features of the four engine rooms. John and several other men peppered him with questions.

It took John and I about 4 hours to complete the tour, and I am sure we did not see everything.. The ship has 18 decks, many stairs up and down those decks, and countless tunnels to pass through. In the hospital and clinic area we learned that the most common type of injury needing medical attention were head injuries. That came as no surprise to us! We also learned that the average age of a crew member was 19 years. While touring the ship I could not help but think of the many women and men who serve, and still are serving, on this ship and others similar to it.

Tijuana, Mexico- Part Two

When we first boarded the bus to Tijuana, Juan asked where we were all from. When John and I mentioned St.Louis he said that he knew all about our famous arch and that Tijuana has one also. He added that the one here, however, is for decorative purposes only and  is used to mark the business district. It can be seen in the background of the picture above. The business district has 40 small shops in a 10 block area. Our guide prepared us before  we got off the bus. He pointed out shops where to find the best silver, leather, and liquor. He also warned us about eating at certain dining establishments. Most importantly, he gave us tips on how to handle the persistent sales people and bargain with them. John and I felt a lot more comfortable this week shopping in Mexico. We also spent some time looking at the historic Jai Alai stadium. This sport is not being practiced anymore in Tijuana, it stopped in 1995. The sport involves tossing a ball with a large mitt.  A player holding his mitt can be seen in the picture below. This statue stands in front of the stadium.

We also stepped into the oldest Catholic cathedral in Tijuana, Guadalupe De Este Iglesia. Pictured below is the statue of St. Peter. He has a tongue of fire on his head. I thought it quite an unusual statue.

We also walked past the historic Caesar's restaurant (1927), home of the legendary Caesar's salad. It turned out to be a full day. We were told it would take a total of 6 hours, but we found out later that it would take 8 or nine hours depending on how long our border crossing would take. Tijuana is the world's largest border crossing. To get back into America we had to get off the bus and stand in line to show our passports and declare our possessions to customs guards. Juan had learned that at the crossing where we had entered Mexico earlier in the day the pedestrian wait was three hours so he drove us to another crossing where we only had to stand in line one hour. For that one reason alone I probably would not return. I had seen everything Tijuana had to offer and that was enough for me. Thanks to Juan we did have a very entertaining and informative day.

Tijuana, Mexico- Part One

We had a much better time in Mexico today compared to last week when we visited Algodones. This time we took a Gray Line tour to Tiajuana. Our driver and guide, Juan, proved to be a fountain of information about anything and everything in regard to Mexico. He was born in Mexico and had spent his childhood there. He explained the two different meanings of the word Tijuana. In Spanish it means "Aunt Jane"- the Native Indians pronounce the name a bit different and claim that in their language it means "men of the river".  After we crossed the border into Mexico we drove through a hilly countryside. Juan said that in this area  there are 26 canyons many of which have had tunnels dug into them by Mexicans trying to enter the United States illegally. He told us stories of how he also tried to enter the United States when he was a young boy but always got caught. Finally at the age of 23 years he entered the United States legally after a lengthy application process, and eventually became a citizen. It was sobering for us to look out at the steel fence which divides San Diego from Mexico, also to see the tall lights and cameras which sit on the American side.

Parts of the wooden fence on the Mexican side are rather rundown. Juan pointed out to us holes in the Mexican border fence where, in the past, it was the only place where families could meet up with loved ones who lived in America. Also on a portion of the Mexican fence were white crosses. Juan said they represent the 6,000 Mexicans who died attempting to cross into America illegally. Our first stop before entering Tijuana was at a plaza overlooking the ocean. This is where the fences between the two countries end. America's fence extends 1900 miles from Brownsville, Texas and stops here at the sea.. Some Mexicans have tried crossing into America by boat, many of them have been unsuccessful doing that. Juan discussed why so many Mexicans want to enter America. He pointed out that Mexico has a 60% poverty rate, minimum wage is $6.50 a day. However, unemployment is below 4 per cent, there is plenty of factory work available. Electronics is Tijuana's biggest industry. I need to clarify here that all the information given regarding Tijuana in this posting I obtained from what Juan shared with us during the course of the day.

Most of our day was spent in the shopping district of Tijuana. However, while John and I walked those streets we were able to see the heavily populated hillsides where a majority of the town's people live. The city is the fourth largest in Mexico and has around 4 million people.

La Jolla

When I walked around the park where we are currently located I realized that we are sitting in a canyon, Rose Canyon to be exact. We are totally surrounded by hills.

By the time we got out the door and started touring today it was well into the afternoon. About all we had time for was a quick drive up the coast north of San Diego to La Jolla, "Jewel of the Pacific". It is popular for its sandstone cliffs and coves. Our first stop at one of its beaches found us in quite a crowded area, it was even difficult to find a parking space. A young man in the truck in front of us was stripping down in the back of his truck and donning on a wet suit (he did attempt to cover himself with a blanket while he was doing so). When we saw that guy a few minutes later he was diving into the water with his surf board. It was a cool breezy day with overcast skies but many others were also in the water enjoying the high waves of the ocean.
Our next stop was at a place along the coastal road where John just was curious to look at the beach just because he could not see it from the road. I chose to stay into the warm car until John insisted I had to see what was on the beach. It was quite fortunate we did stop because there we saw harbor seals.

Further up from that area both cormorants and seals were hanging out together on the cliffs. What a great sight! Here the seals were quite active and noisy. I think they were trying to claim their piece of the rock.

At that same stop we saw another group of cliffs, some with large caves in them which had been carved out by the ocean's waves. Sitting on a ledge of those cliffs was a flock of pelicans.

It certainly ended up being a very serendipitous afternoon with many surprises. We concluded our day by walking through the beautiful La Jolla shopping district where we found a wonderful restaurant (good food with reasonable prices), something which also was not in our plans for the day!

San Diego Bay

We arrived in San Diego on Tuesday. Our drive here from Yuma proved quite interesting. We traveled from flat desert land to rocky hillsides barren of little plant life. We then started climbing over mountains dotted with lush green foliage. Driving into San Diego we finally got glimpses of the Pacific Ocean. Yesterday, Wednesday, we spent on San Diego Bay. When we were here two years ago we had little interest in touring the Maritime Museum on the bay. Currently at the museum has a special exhibit  "Cook, Melville,and Gauguin, Three Voyages to Paradise". That was my incentive now to tour the museum. John spent the larger part of his day exploring the ships of the museum while I spent my time looking at the special exhibit. That exhibit is placed in two areas of the museum; on the steam ferryboat the Berkeley and on the HMS Surprise (a replica of a late 18th century Royal Navy frigate, she was used in the production of the movie Master and Commander). Below is a picture of the Berkeley.

Captain James Cook made his first South Pacific voyage in 1768. At that time he estimated the population of Tahiti to be about 200,000. On his second and third voyages to the islands he had along official expedition artists. Some of their art work is with the special exhibit in the museum. Cook's visit to the islands brought to Europe a vision of the Pacific Islands as an earthly paradise. Unfortunately the arrival of the Europeans brought disease, death and a collapse of the cultural values of the island people. By 1810 their population dropped to less than 8,000. Two subsequent visitors to Tahiti, Melville and Gauguin, witnessed and recorded in different media their experiences in the island paradise. The exhibit also has original work and artifacts associated with those men. I discovered that Gauguin not only did oils, but also watercolors, carvings and sculptures. As the curator of the museum, Marcus DeChevireux put it so aptly, "Melville captured its exploitation and Gauguin painted its eulogy". It is a wonderful exhibit which will be leaving San Diego on January 1. While at the harbor we also took a cruise of the bay in a 1914 pilot boat. Our guide on that tour had a lot of information on the history of the bay and its ships to share with us. When the first explorers came to this harbor it was mainly a marshland and  required a lot of dredging to make it a safe harbor for ships to enter. Below is a picture of the shoreline looking toward San Diego.It was overcast and a bit cool on the bay.

Painted Desert Trail

Our first stop yesterday was at the Imperial Date Gardens. I just wanted to see an orchard of date palms. Unfortunately the dates have just been harvested, all we saw were a few dried ones on the ground. The orchard is pictured below, a field of lettuce is in the foreground. We also visited the Imperial Date store to purchase some fresh dates and try a date shake. That was not bad, but their date bread was even better!

Before we headed out on the Painted Desert Trail in the wildlife refuge we stopped at the visitor's center first and spoke with the ranger there. She warned us to watch out for "donkey do-do" as there are a  large number of burros in the refuge. Miners who came to the area in the 1800s brought donkeys to carry their gear. When a miner died his burro often wandered into the desert and adapted to its harsh conditions. Unfortunately we did not see any burros, but did see many of their trails and droppings. Looking at those many clues of their presence we were quite surprised that we did not even see one burro.

We were pleasantly surprised with the Painted Dessert Trail. It certainly was not the flat dessert terrain we had expected. It took us through dried riverbeds and around large rocky mounds. We even found a large hoodoo. At its base we could see how it was created by water eroding around it from several directions. Many years ago volcanic eruptions created the landscape we saw in the refuge. The mounds are multicolored due to the presence of minerals. Iron creates a rusty color while copper appears green. John thought that perhaps the white mounds were piles of volcanic ash. I just know that it was beautiful to see.

After hiking the Painted Desert Trail we drove our car to several other scenic areas in the park which overlook the Colorado River. We drove over rocky roads, which probably only a four- wheel drive should travel on, to get to those areas. However, the view was worth it. It was like a palette of paint  had been splashed over the land. There was the bright blue sky and the river with its yellow- leaved cottonwood trees. Off in the distance were the purple and dark blue mountains. Filling out the scene were the multicolored rocky mounds. Some of the mounds at the river's overlook had streaks of red. In the distance we also saw hills colored with the bluish-green hues of copper. Unfortunately the picture below does not even come close to depicting the landscape and sky as we saw them.

Yuma Territorial Prison State Park

The  above picture shows the entrance to the prison which we toured Sunday. It is the last remaining original adobe structure of the 1875 structure. I was fascinated by the fact that the entrance to the prison was  called the Sally Port. I could not help but wonder if that was a derivation of our expression "sally forth". But an interpretive sign claimed it came from the Spanish "salir por la puerta", "to go out the door". If you saw the movie 3:10 to Yuma starring Russell Crowe you may have seen this prison. When it was built in 1875 it sat on a hill out in the dessert. The prison was used until 1909. After that time it functioned as a high school for Yuma, and during the Depression homeless people lived there. In 1923 one-third of the prison was demolished to make way for a railroad bridge. Pictured below is one of the original watch towers, it was built over the prison's water supply.

  In the museum of the prison we found many interesting stories concerning its history. One time during an attempted prison break the warden's wife, Madora Ingalls, grabbed a Gatling gun from one of the dead guards and stopped the prisoners from escaping. The prison over its 33 years of existence held a total of 3,000 criminals, 29 of them being women. The prisoners were there for everything from forgery to murder. Some of them were Mexican Revolutionaries as well as Native Americans. One man proved to be quite handy in sewing lace products- his story reminded me of the bird man of Alcatraz! Other prisoners carved items from shell and onyx, and some prisoners made fine items from braided horse hair. Those artifacts are displayed in the museum. On our tour of the prison we saw one of the original cell blocks as well as the Dark Cell. The latter provided solitary confinement for incorrigible prisoners. It was dug out of a hillside and its stone walls reminded me of a mine shaft. One prisoner spent over a hundred days in this cell. Story has it that he was a model prisoner after his time spent in there.

Palm Canyon Trail

We decided that we did not want to be around any shopping malls on Black Friday, so the best place to be would be a remote area northeast of Yuma. In fact, Palm Canyon is so remote we had to drive over ten miles of gravel road to get there. It is believed that the only native palm trees in Arizona are tucked away in the narrow, rugged canyons on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The trees are California Fan Palms. They are probably the descendants of palms growing in this region during the last periods of North American glaciation.

I apologize for the picture, the palms can be better seen if the picture is enlarged. It was so awesome to see them, even if we were still a distance from them. We  saw the larger grove of palms in the canyon, about less than a hundred. We did try to get closer, but the trail got rougher as we headed up toward them. Large rocks and steep sections impeded our progress toward them. Cactus with thorny spines grabbed at my pants. We had to eventually call it quits and head back down.

Before closing here I would like to mention our trip to Mexico on Saturday. We drove to the town of Algodones in Baja California. We were bombarded by store merchants immediately after we crossed the border. Salesmen on the sidewalks asked us many times if we needed a root canal or teeth cleaning- dentists are plentiful just across the border. I was also informed by a couple of young men that my shoes were in dire need of a polishing, which they were after hiking on a dusty trail the day before. I did part with some money to get them shined up. Wow, after a good polishing they looked better than they looked when they were new! It was a bit over whelming to see so much merchandise- from jewelry, leather goods, to blankets and baskets. Perhaps if we had not been badgered so much, we would have purchased a few more items. We eventually gave up on shopping and went to lunch before heading back home. So much for avoiding Black Friday! We have been to Mexico before, and every town across the border seems the same.

Historical Yuma, Arizona

My wish is that all our readers had a blessed Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving started last evening at Faith Lutheran church in Yuma, which held an ecumenical service. Today our park (where we are now sitting) had a turkey dinner for all the residents. Earlier today John and I took a walk through the older part of Yuma. The Colorado River runs through the town, and  provides the border between Arizona and California. The river once was made up of a lot of marshland and quicksand. In the past it was possible to cross the river at only one point where it was narrow and had large granite outcroppings. That crossing point is what is now Yuma. In 1915 the Ocean to Ocean Bridge was built, our nation's first transcontinental highway. It is the only point where the Colorado River may be crossed for 1300 miles along the river.

John and I walked across the bridge to where the Quechan Indian Reservation is located. Right after the bridge is St. Thomas Indian Mission, which was built in 1922. A priest of the mission was killed there in 1781. The Native Indians had become angry with the presence of the Spanish settlers and their broken promises to the natives. They revolted and killed many of the Europeans, including the priests. The mission was burned down and later rebuilt. Over the ensuing years the Native Indians lost a lot of their original land and now live on a small reservation around the mission.

 Driving further into the reservation we saw large lettuce fields. The Yuma area is famous for its large winter harvest of lettuce, as well as other produce. In the fields surrounding where we are currently parked there are citrus and date orchards. Sunkist as well as Dole have plants in Yuma. Damming the Colorado River has made Yuma into the large agricultural area which it has become today. It is strange to see large green fields with water standing in them next to barren desert land.

Our last day in Tucson, Arizona

The above picture shows where we have been parked in the past week. It has been wonderful here where there is a beautiful community hall, library, and an outside heated pool. While floating on my back in the pool I can observe the very noisy woodpeckers who hang out in the trees above the pool. I imagine they are either the gila woodpeckers, or the gilded flicker. The latter one especially likes to hang out in saguaros. Yesterday, Sunday, we attended church at Mount Zion Lutheran church. The church several years ago only had a small number of elderly members in attendance. Then suddenly the city of Tucson spilled out into the hillsides, and the church grew with many young families. I like worshiping where I can look out at mountains.

I apologize for the poor picture, there was a lot of light spilling into the sanctuary. In the middle of his sermon the pastor requested that the air conditioning be turned on! It was a wonderful service, celebrating Christ the King, with special music provided by trumpet and clarinet players, as well as the choir. In the afternoon we toured Reid Zoo, located near the downtown area. It is a small zoo which features the animals, birds and reptiles of Asia, South America, and Africa. I took a few pictures of the animals, the best of which was that of a blue crowned pigeon. He was not a good-tempered bird, as he flew at everyone who approached him.

 Reid Park is next to the zoo, it has a fishing lake and sports field where the Colorado Rockies holds spring training. We also enjoyed a rose garden which is located in the park. Today we are moving further west.

Mirror Lab and Biosphere 2 Tours

Arizona University is the institution we have to thank for both the mirror lab and Biosphere 2. I could have passed on the mirror lab but John was adamant about us seeing it. He certainly understood all the technology connected with mirror and telescopes than I did! The lab is located under the football stadium of the university. Our tour gave us a behind the scenes look at the optical technology and the processes which are needed to make giant telescope mirrors. The mirrors in the lab are currently being made for an observatory in Chile. We saw the large oven in which one mirror is currently being heated and spin casted.  In another room we saw two more mirrors sitting in their molds, one of which has undergone grinding and polishing. About as much as I got out of the tour is that the process is slow and exact, also very costly.  One of the mirrors we saw has a price tag of 30 million dollars. Which leads me to Biosphere 2 (our earth is Biosphere 1). The existence of that giant greenhouse was made possible through the largess of a wealthy Texan. He laid out 50 million for that research lab which lies outside of Tucson. It sits on a rather large campus.

Construction of the greenhouse began in 1984. After construction 5 natural biomes were created in it, complete with 1,000 species and animals (the animals are now gone). The 8 Biospherians (four men and 4 women) who lived in it from 1991-92 were sealed inside and had to harvest and prepare their own food with products grown from the various biomes. From the dining area of their living quarters we could look out over the tropical rain forest.

On our tour of the biosphere we passed through air locked doors from one biome into another. Pictured below is the ocean area. We also saw desert and marsh sections designed after various parts of the world.

Our tour also took us beneath the structure where miles of wiring, pipes and tubes make up a "technosphere" which recreates earth's recycling functions. From there we stepped into what can best be described as the lungs of the greenhouse. The domed building pictured below allows for air pressure to be equalized in Biosphere 2. Between the greenhouse and that building are research labs and living quarters, all connected.

Research in the greenhouse has continued since the first experiments in the early years of Biosphere 2. Last month construction was started for a landscape evolution observatory. There will be three huge sloped watersheds filled with soil and environmentally controlled. Research here will address how water, energy, and carbon moves through different landscapes, and how biological systems modify those landscapes. Hopefully it will shed some light on how future climate scenarios affect our physical world.