Tuscon, AZ - Casa Rivera and Biosphere 2

Today has been busy, busy! First we dropped Celia off for her 6-month check-up and then we visited the Mission San Xavier Del Bac. After that, we drove about 50 minutes to Oracle, AZ had lunch at Casa Rivera's Taco Express and then went to Biosphere 2. Then we drove back to Tuscon, picked-up Celia, and went home.

We have really been enjoying eating at local holes-in-the-wall for the past few weeks. We look up restaurants on Urban Spoon, Trip Advisor, Yelp, etc. and pick out restaurants that have local fans and flavor. Anyway, Lynda found Casa Rivera's Taco Express on Yelp and it was most excellent! Tons of delicious food for very little money - just the way I like it! I would definitely go back.

After filling up at Casa Rivera, we made our way to Biosphere 2. This place is a bit challenging to explain, so I shamelessly offer the following explanation from Wikipedia:

Biosphere 2 is an Earth systems science research facility. It has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare) structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona, US by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO. Constructed between 1987 and 1991, it explored the web of interactions within life systems in a structure with five areas based on biomes, and an agricultural area and human living and working space to study the interactions between humans, farming, and technology with the rest of nature. It also explored the use of closed biospheres in space colonization, and allowed the study and manipulation of a biosphere without harming Earth's. The name comes from Earth's biosphere, "Biosphere 1". Project funding came primarily from the joint venture's financial partner, Ed Bass's Decisions Investment, costing US$200 million from 1985 to 2007, including land, support research greenhouses, test module, and staff facilities.
Biosphere 2 sits on a sprawling 40-acre (16-hectare) science campus that is open to the public.

It remains the largest closed system created. The glass facility is elevated 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains, half an hour outside Tucson.

If the above piques your interest, I recommend you read more from the Wikipedia article... you may find it fascinating, particularly information about the First mission.

We went on the docent-led tour of the facility, and our guide did a very good job. The tour lasts about an hour and is a must-do for all visitors.