Sandy scrub

Yesterday we spent the day at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson until early afternoon. Several hangars full of aircraft, mostly of military origin, were available for viewing. Also the area around the buildings. Wings to wings and tail fins lined up nicely. Each with a sign indicating what you have in front of you. Several volunteer workers were available for questions or information. As we found out, all veterans.

As we were on our way to one of the hangars, we heard a conversation about an employee just catching two pets. When they noticed our astonished looks, we received the explanation that these were rattlesnakes. They were packed in boxes just half a meter away from us. We also learned that it is not unusual to find them here, just like tarantula, bird spiders or similar. After all, we are in the desert.

Now again on our sightseeing tour we crossed the sandy paths.

We had already seen sand twisters from the car before and now we also saw one on the premises. Even when it approached, we didn't think anything bad. But we only realized that it was heading straight towards us when it was too late. Although it was only a very small sand twister, the wind blew around our ears. The sand particles felt like small needle pricks. We clung to each other tightly and tried to cover our faces as best we could. It disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Totally baffled, we stood in the midst of the airplanes.

After we had seen everything, we continued our journey towards the west coast. And after a 6-hour car ride, passing by the Mexican border, we finally reached our destination Oceanside.