October in Arizona

After an adventure-filled few months, it was nice to be stationary for a while.  "Stationary" is a relative term for me, of course.  Our house-on-wheels put down temporary roots and I jumped back into our continuing exploration of Tucson and surrounding areas.

For example, running on the Loop Trail, finally finishing the remaining sections I hadn't yet seen, and admiring public art along the way:

I created and ran an "All trails" FKT at Catalina State Park:

https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/marcy-beard-catalina-state-park-all-trails-az-2024-10-08

Some add-on photos from that day - I like the animal track displays on the Nature Trail:

The big wash (no real water in it this winter) and a sunrise view of Pusch Ridge:

One edge of the state park, and a wilderness sign that is currently (months later) mostly missing:

Enjoying the views from the 50 Year Trail:

I like the saguaro artwork at the trailhead:

Interesting clouds and lighting at the park we live in:

Art on the Loop, and I was probably scouting for a future FKT at the time:

Electric Amazon vans!  It looks like the north Tucson location has a bunch of them (and we've seen more being driven down I-10 in this direction.  We keep waiting/hoping for them to show up in south Tucson, but no such luck yet.

There isn't actually a railroad track across this driveway...

Snake-themed pedestrian bridge:

Petrified Forest orienteering!  Thank you to whoever took these pictures - it has been too long to remember, but I'm happy to add a photo credit if/when I figure it out.  We're always excited to run around off-trail in this colorful National Park:

Ron (the course designer) finds plenty of petrified wood for us to be amazed about:

And he occasionally hangs a control bag on a particularly large petrified log:

Funny timing for a Games magazine puzzle that featured a "petrified forest" on the cover:

Back in Tucson (and back to blue skies), we took a tour of the Whipple VERITAS telescope near Mount Wrightson.  It is used for gamma ray astronomy, looking for black holes for example:

Playing around with the infrared camera in the visitor center before our tour:

A close-up view of one of the telescope mirrors:

More mirror images:

The best part was standing at the focal point and trying to get a grasp on what we were seeing (without getting dizzy).  It's a unique view, and I highly recommend heading to Whipple to check it out in person.

During regular runs along the Santa Cruz, I watched the progress of new electrical tower construction.  The best part was getting to watch a helicopter hover next to a new tower while a worker leaned over (attached by a harness, I'm sure) to do some final work:

A second hockey game for us in as many months, this time watching the Tucson Roadrunners.  It was a lot more subdued compared to our RPI experience, but still fun:

Best costumes, a family of bananas:

Local FKT #2 for the fall = the Ruby Road marathon

https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/marcy-beard-ruby-road-marathon-2024-10-27

(Or as I like to call it, the Ruby Rhod marathon)

My support team, John and Tug-E, at the start of the run:

John got a nice shot of Baboquivari on the horizon:

A sign of what?

Fun swirly clouds:

Old ruins of something:

Some of the many rock formations of various shapes:

My support crew leapfrogging ahead to the next stop:

John took a picture of me taking the picture of my run time for FKT documentation (I also track it on the InReach Mini and usually on the Gaia app on my phone as well):

Interesting and rewarding day in a new-to-us area of southern Arizona:

A very Halloween-type of activity - blood donation:

This license plate is the name of a desert plant:

We really like Joe Pagac's murals, usually full of desert plants and animals:

Jessica Gonzales has some good ones too:

And a bit of abstract saguaro art to close this out:

RPI reunion with friends

One nice thing about being so far behind in blogging is going through pictures from last year and reliving fun memories all over again.  

For example - my college reunion at RPI!  I was so lucky to have the chance to gather with classmates at our alma mater for a weekend of reminiscing and catching up.

And wandering around the campus, an activity I will never tire of (especially without impending exams or projects due).

Hello from Kathy, Pete, Bob, me, and John!

At the Alumni Center registration, our yearbook was located by a couple curious spouses:

Kathy has changed only a little - slightly shorter hair  :)

Our friend Andy had to cancel at the last minute (major bummer!) so Pete pretended to be Andy for the weekend, complete with his nametag and yearbook photo:

Somehow we managed to show up the year that Rensselaer turned 200 - I could not have planned that when I was choosing a school many years ago.  Unsurprisingly (yes, we are this geeky), they used an infinity symbol for the two zeros, making the result slightly less obvious:

More campus exploration... over to the church/computing center (a slight juxtaposition) where they have a new quantum computer on display.  I'm not sure what we expected, but it doesn't look like any other computer I've seen:

We found a hallway around behind the computer, and the door appears to have super-secure entry procedures:

Old fashioned information gathering in the nearby library stacks:

The entertainment for the evening was a drone show, cool!  A look at the drones preparing for their performance:

Naveen, Kumiko, and George found us that evening, yay for more of the gang back together!  Andy was still with us in spirit:

The theme of the weekend, plus the first drone display, was "Celebrating 200 years of firsts"

The drones "grew" a tree - impressive in motion as well as in a still photo:

Puckman, yay!

Enjoying the show, and the popcorn:

That was awesome, although we could have done without the fireworks at the end.

Only slightly eerie-looking field of drones, just waiting for their next mission...

At a coffee shop the next morning, I found my new motto: "Hold on.  I've gotta overthink this."

In true "Marcy fashion" I started playing with options - should I put this on a T-shirt?  A bumper sticker?  A mug?  A magnet for the fridge?  You get the idea.

At the Empac building, they had a display case with some great memorabilia, including our most cherished of all hockey game noise makers, a vuvuzela!  I'll never forget that very-loud night in the hockey arena (which might have led to an anti-noise maker rule in NCAA hockey):

We were excited to hear from RJ Scaringe, the man who started Rivian, the company that made our electric truck!

RJ is an engineer, a businessman, and a good speaker/explainer.  And an RPI alumni!

Representing for the Star Trek cruise... I figured this crowd would understand better than most.

Speaking of Rivian, there's one now:

And it brought RJ (unannounced) to the next gathering!  We stood in line so I could tell him I was proud to be an alumna from the same university.  I managed to pull up a photo from the first time we got a picture with him.  He graciously continued to listen as I thanked him for making the first electric truck that could tow our travel trailer.

Thank you RJ for continuing to be so awesome!

Heading up to the residence halls to check out where we lived for a few years:

Kathy and I have a series of pictures of us at Nathan Hall, and we weren't about to break that streak:

Here's to the friends we made at dear old RPI:

George, Kath, and I snuck into the dorm to wander the halls for a moment and find our old rooms:

And play a bit of foosball for old time's sake:

Time for hockey!  We walked up the Field House and were lucky to get a group shot with Puckman, yay!

We were excited to see a women's hockey game this time.  The players are talented and fast, and there was a good bit less slamming each other into the boards.  And I think the home team won, if I remember right.

Another entertaining afternoon with our RPI buddies:

Meanwhile, back at the farm... we stayed at a farmhouse AirBnB, which even had chickens:

And fresh eggs for breakfast!

New friends?

Hooray for another beautiful fall day in New York state:

We went for a walk, following a hand-drawn map from the AirBnB owners, and Bob took this fun photo at the top of the hill:

We so loved the pattern in the sky that we attempted superhero poses...

Memories of growing up in the green woods of Vermont:

We made it over to June Farms, which (amazingly) has a Hobbit House!  Imagine staying here for the night:

Even curiouser, George found this ring on the ground.  It looks like Elvin script on the inside.  We turned it in with the hosts but they didn't seem nearly as enchanted with it as we were:

Froggy keeping an eye on the tourists roaming the farm grounds:

Enjoying our peaceful "retreat" in the woods:

What a wonderful weekend, we only wish Andy, Don, and Steve could have joined us.  Thank you all of my friends!

Photo credits to several of my reunion buddies  :)