Catalina State Park, Tucson, Mini Time Machine Miniature Museum and Sabino Canyon November 23 & 24th

Forgot to post Tuesday nights sunset, glorious.

Wednesday morning we're out the door at 8:30, heading to the Mini Time Machine Miniature Museum. Wow what a place. So unexpected (Ray just happend to notice it in Google maps). The pictures hardly do it justice. The entrance door is huge giving you a feeling of "small".

You walk in and then there is a rotunda that goes off in different directions. It took us over a hour of looking at everything. They have original pieces from the 1880's refurbished. Everything is behind glass so sorry for some reflections.

I definitely feel small lol

The Mini Time Machine was created from the imagination and dedication of Founders, Patricia and Walter Arnell. Pat’s fondness for miniatures began in the 1930’s, when as a young girl she received her first miniatures—a set of Strombecker wooden dollhouse furniture. It wasn’t until the Arnells moved to Tucson in 1979 that Pat began collecting in earnest.

The collection grew, and the Arnells dreamed of a way to share it with more people. They envisioned an interactive space where the entertaining and educational aspects of the collection could be enjoyed by everyone—a place that would be enchanting, magical and provide a rich sensory experience.

The concept of “the mini time machine” was born out of the notion that a visitor would be seemingly transported to different eras by the stories and history of the pieces in the collection.

A lot of the displays have been decorated for Christmas. This is the first room we walked into featuring a huge tree with mouse rooms within,

The Adams Family House

Front of the house.

Inside the house.

Huge Christmas Village Display including in the floor. Ray drooled over this. lol

One of the next rooms. The attention to detail is amazing.

One of the other huge houses on display with detailed rooms showing outstanding woodwork.

This house is all about chandeliers.

Mexican Family Dining Room

Trading Post

A gentleman's room.

The Silver Store.

These pictures are only a small sampling of what's there. Amazing.

After our jaunt around here, it's off to Sabino Canyon for our tram/hike. Ray wanted to go there noontime so there would be sun in the canyon for pictures. We had to wait an hour for our tram as the 11:00am is already booked up. I should've purchased our tickets in advance. Did not think it would be so busy. Oh well. This area is run by the US Forest Service so our entrance fee is covered by our America the Beautiful Pass, not the shuttle though, it's extra.

The canyon itself has been closed to private vehicles since 1978. However you can still visit Sabino Canyon in an emission-free, open-air Sabino Canyon Crawler or Bear Canyon shuttle. Along the 1-hour round trip route for Sabino Canyon enjoy an audio tour or get off at one of the nine shuttle stops.

Off we went at 12 to the top, stop #9. This is where the longer hikes begin. It took about half an hour to get there. On the way down the tram stops at different places for people to get off and hike down the road. We opted to get off at stop #5 and walk down to stop #2 (.9 miles) and take the tram down the rest of the way. The trams leave from the Visitor's Centre every hour, so we've about an hour to walk a mile or so.

Ray managed only a couple of good pictures on the way up as it was too bumpy to focus lol

Once we got off at stop #5  he mounted the camera on the tripod and got the "shots".

Above is an example of the Gneiss Rock found here with the grey and white stripes. 

What we know today as Sabino Canyon was the site of a whole lot of scrunching 25 million years ago.

In a geologic nutshell: Two ancient types of rock - 1.4-billion-year-old Oracle granite and 50-million-year-old wilderness granite combined to form a type of rock called gneiss.

A display in the super-scenic canyon northeast of Tucson says the granite rocks were "squeezed together and stretched like warm taffy 25 million years ago."

The resulting gneiss - pronounced "nice" - appears today as the comely striped rocks seen in canyon cliffs and some streambeds.

Quite a difference in the foilage colours away from the creek.

You can just glimpse the road to the left that the trams use.

All of these creek crossings are made to allow overflow over the top for the creeks' high flows. 8 years ago when we were here there were two days of rain and snow on the Santa Catalina Mountains and the water went over the roads, not this year only minimal water.

While we waited at Stop # 2,  Ray decided to go up the uneven rock stairs to take a picture of the picnic area. Unfortunately, he tripped on the last step and sent himself flying. He now sports multiple scrapes and a huge hole in the left shin where a chunk of tissue got removed. The right leg sports four areas with lots of skin peeled back.  I used my water and kleenex to clean him up as best I can and applied pressure to the left shin as he blead pretty good. Fortunately we only waited about 10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. I asked them to arrange first aid at the bottom and guess what, they have no services. Couldn't believe it. They must take 50 people up every hour and it's all about hiking. Thankfully this happened at the end of our hike instead of the beginning with a wait of an hour for a shuttle.

Once we got back to the Visitor's Centre I fetched the car closer as we have a first aid kit in the car. I sat Ray down on a bench in the shade. Took me a bit to get him cleaned and bandaged up to get him home.

The worst hole bandaged, more to go. Hard to tell as he had so much blood everywhere.

As you notice above, his sandals are a little long for his feet which one culprit and a higher rise on the last stone block the other.  The sandals have caught him a few times, but not this bad. They are now in the garbage! I got him into the shower first thing to make sure there was no gravel left in the wounds. Fortunately I'm not squeemish with blood. Poor buggar.

Legs and hand bandaged.

He will be off his feet for a few days me thinks. The "divits" are pretty deep but I know it cannot be stitched as there is no skin to pull together on the shins. He needs to heal from the bottom out. Lots of antibiotic cream and bandages.

Thursday, HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Ray slept not too bad overnight. The worst "divit" is still bleeding a little, so he is staying quiet with his legs up. He may have cracked his bone a little so it's a lot more painful inspite of his wound. It hurts him for me to apply gentle pressure putting on his bandages. I know from past experience with him though, with a cracked bone in his ankle, all the hospital said is it will take 6 weeks to not hurt and there is nothing else they can do. 

I baked a ham and scalloped potatoes for our Thanksgiving Dinner. Sent Kristi a picture of Ray's hole in his leg when I changed his dressing. She sent the picture to an Emergency Doc she knows and the word came back .... take him to the ER for a check. There is some worry about a bone infection since the hole is so deep. Great ... I will take him tomorrow morning as it's not urgent and who wants to go on a stat holiday.

Lunch in bed watching football keeping off his feet.

Apple Hand Pies for Dessert.