After a good night’s rest, we headed 50 min north of Tucson to the Biosphere 2 near Oracle, CA. The temperature was already warming up for this March morning (75 degrees at 11am). If you haven’t heard of the Biosphere 2, it is a research facility to figure out if we could grow plants on Mars and if Earth never had water again, how would plants survive. They have mimicked the various “atmosphere’s” of the USA. They have a rainforest, ocean, desert, etc all for the name of science.
Upon arriving, we walked to where the tour was starting. This is a place where a private investor paid over 100 million to do this research, to learn about our plants. Then the University of AZ took over. Now students are scientists and do the research, which I believe is great!
For the tour, we started in the orchard room, then off to the ocean and rainforest room.
It amazing walking into the rainforest room as you immediately felt the humidity. 
After seeing how they are researching the ocean and rainforest, we moved on to the desert room.
Species of Agave plant in Desert of Biosphere 2
Next we got to see how everything works underneath and all the maintenance that takes place. It is amazing everything that goes into what they do. After seeing all the mechanical workings, we walked into a tunnel that took us to the “lungs” of the building. This building was specifically made up to handle the pressures of an enclosed building. The building actually breathes and the dome goes up or down depending on the pressure of the building so it will neither explode or implode. The design is amazing!
Overall, the tour is one to definitely do if you haven’t been here!
After the tour, we headed to the South Lawn Cemetary where my Grandfather and Great Grandmother & Great Step-Grandfather are buried. It was neat to see family history and learn a little bit more when I called my parents to ask some questions.
It’s been a great day here in Tucson but it’s time to see something else. So we start heading east to our next destination whatever that may be. While traveling east, we came upon a winery and decided to check out Arizona wine. We’ve had other Arizona wine and wasn’t impressed but this winery changed our minds. They were a little lighter than California wine but they remained smooth and full of flavor. And the service here was great! Thank you Coronado Vineyards for finishing off our AZ stay great!
Now off to New Mexico….
