I'm Stunned

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is stunning.  Even the drive is spectacular.  Aeify, who has never been to this part of the country, was suitably impressed.  When she came to DC, she told me about every plant in front of every house and on every street.  Here, she couldn't identify a single one and it really threw her.

Liz led us into the museum and we wandered a bit, looking at big cats and other native specimens as we walked towards the raptor free-flight which would begin at 10.

I had the same shoes I wore last time when we went to the Pima air museum.  They're amazingly comfortable, but walking over stones and such they were a bit less so.  I felt comfortable in my top and skirt, and enjoyed the tour and the company.

Aeify, Liz, and some guy in a skirt

When I was here in June, I praised the museum and it turns out I had missed the best exhibit.

(Keep in mind, when I say "exhibit" I don't mean a stuffed animal in a setting.  This is a living museum.  The big cats, the bears, the prarie dogs and so on are all live exhibits.  Believe it or not, the most fake thing about the museum is the rocks.  They make them themselves.)

(While I'm doing asides, you know how authors will say someone "squealed with delight" but no-one ever really does that?  When the prarie dog hills popped into view, Aeify literally squealed with delight.)

At 10 and 2 each day ~ Liz will correct me if it's not ~ they have a trainer talk to the crowd as they allow some of the birds of prey to fly free for a little bit.  The trainers have done their job: the birds do return.

While out, they fly back and forth practically touching the heads of the visitors.  One thing I've always found sad about zoos is, no matter how big the enclosures are the raptors can't really fly, and they need to.  Even my little cockatiel will beat his wings furiously a couple of times a day if she isn't let out of her cage.

They bill it as a raptor free-flight, but the first birds out were ravens ~ predators but not raptors.  It didn't matter.  It was spectacular, and I saw an owl in flight for the very first time.  It was worth the trip.  In fact, if you ever find yourself within a few hundred miles of Tucson, go out of your way to see this!

Liz spoke to Larisa, the trainer, after the flight was over.  She introduced us and asked if we could go and see the back room where they have some of the other birds.  She readily agreed, and we met a scarlet macaw, and several other raptors.  We each got to pet the barn owl (named Ty) and chat with some of the people working there.  Larisa and Ty are in the picture from last Friday.

We saw incredible plants, amazing animals, and chatted together all morning.  Alas, I didn't see anything jump out at me in the gift shop, but shopping without buying is nice too.

Liz would meet us for dinner later, but we let her go salvage some of her Saturday and Aeify and I went to do a little window shopping at a mall.

Just the one picture of the ladies I was with and some random stranger.  Apparently, utilikilts are big in Tucson.  Click to see the big picture.

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I Like Breakfast at Todd's

The half-hour or so drive to Todd's was unevenful and scenic.  Aeify enjoyed seeing new plants, architecture, roads.  I did too.  I wondered if one cactus evolved spikes and the other plants said "hey!  We better do that too or we're gonna get et!"

We pulled into the parking lot just ahead of Liz and we all had a nice breakfast.  The restaurant wasn't crowded.  Some small planes landed at the tiny airport right outside and the passengers and crew came in to eat.  (Pssst... order some bread so you can try the prickly pear jelly.)

The meal was totally uneventful, which is a good thing.  We were just three ladies having breakfast and I wasn't sure which made my smile broader: that the people around us treated us as three women, or that my two companions accepted me as one of them.  It doesn't matter ~ if they enjoyed breakfast, I savored every second.  Time spent with the ladies is heaven.  And Liz and Aeify are wonderful company.

My order was taken, I was served, I was asked if I wanted more coffee.  I paid the bill.  I was accepted as what I appeared, what I wanted to be that day.  It's an incomparable feeling, and readers who've been out know what I mean.  I hope the rest of you get to know it some day soon.

The drive to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (Liz corrected me on the name) is pretty straight-forward.  Go down one street, turn left, go down that street.  Liz wanted to take the more scenic route so we followed her.  We followed her past rows of fifteen foot Saguaro cactus: some were straight stalks, some had two or four or more arms, looking like a Vishnu or Kali or Shiva turned to vegetation.  There were clumps of prickly pear cactus near the side of the road, and countless barrel cactus scattered among various tough-skinned desert plants.  Other than a hawk or two we didn't see any animal life, but we saw plenty of that later in the day.

It was already a great day, and it was just starting.

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I Know What You Did Last Weekend

This is just a "Oh My God! I ran out of time unpacking, running around, getting my expense report ready" preview of Tucson.

Friday night, I put on the dress I packed and went to services at a local reform synagogue. I then went back to the hotel where I went dinner with Aeify, who flew in from Memphis to get away from the place for a tiny bit.

Saturday morning, I put on a more casual top and skirt and went to breakfast with Aeify and Liz. Liz (Sonora Sage) showed us around the Sonora Desert Museum, including the raptor free flight, which was incredible, but hopefully not indescribable.

Aeify and I headed over to the Tucson mall to do a little window shopping before going to a Chinese restaurant with Liz, Andrea, and Dorothy.

All of the players were mentioned in previous posts, but I'll point you at them or remind you as I write about a wonderful weekend over the next few days.

There Will Be Pictures.

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Sonora Sage, Part 3

(there is trans content in here, I promise)

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum calls itself a museum, but it's much more.  When I think of animals in a museum, I think dead stuffed creatures behind glass.  There is some glass, thankfully (they have way too many rattlesnakes in Arizona) but no dead stuffed creatures.

I didn't see the whole museum.  There's an art museum part.  We skipped that; neither of us was interested in looking at pictures when there are so many living bits there.  Liz said it was an "animal, vegetable, and mineral" museum.

There are coyotes, lizards, javelinas (I never heard of them either), owls, prarie dogs, wolves, bears, reptiles, big cats, longhorn sheep, and more.  Some we saw, some we didn't, but they're animals with their own minds and their own ideas of where they want to be when.

There is also a beautiful walk-in aviary, large enough for the birds to be comfortable but small enough that there were birds everywhere.  And if that wasn't wonderful enough, there's a walk-in hummingbird aviary!

A Typical Museum View

If you go to the map page, you can click on different parts of the image to see what's there.  By the way, even if you can't get to the museum spend a bit of time on the web site.  It's dam good.  The webmistress is an intelligent, creative, lovely woman named Liz.  Or something like that.

And the scenery was magnificent.  I know I touched some of this yesterday but I was truly impressed.  Every time I'd turn my head, I'd say wow! 

I've been in the southwest before and it's always impressive to see the plants and mountains and scenery, but this is almost an overdose of desert life.  It's the difference between drinking a gallon of water with a teaspoon of honey in it, and drinking a teaspoon of honey.
 
The only thing I didn't like about the museum has nothing to do with the museum.
 
It Was Hot.
 
I was afraid Meg would pass out from the heat, since the summer is not Meg-friendly.  The wig is hot, There Are Undergarments that are made to hold my tummy in, not keep my tummy cool.  Silicone forms pressing against skin can be sweaty in the best of circumstances.  Foundation blocks your pores.  We saw a wolf acting very dog-like, lying down and panting.  I was thinking, "I understand and wish I could join you."
 
At one point, I could feel moisture dripping down my back under my cinch and I said "I thought it was a d'ry heat.'"  Liz said "it is.  The moisture is coming from you."  She's right, of course.
 
But it wasn't unbearable, and the experience convinced me that it's OK for Meg to go out in the summer.  Bare legs and strappy shoes helped at lot.  It was worth the extra time needed for shaving.  I remember Stana had a similar epiphany.  Until just a year or two ago, she didn't go out during the summer.  Now she does.
 
I'm glad Meg went.  I felt comfortable.  Liz helped a lot, but I think every time I go out, I feel more comfortable.  I know it's always possible that something will go wrong, but I don't worry about anything, really, when I'm out.  Everyone has been nice, and it's wonderful being treated as any woman would be.
 
On a scale of one to ten, I'd give the museum a ten.  With Liz there, I'd rate it a thirty-four.
 
One more thing....  There is an entry fee.  We kind of went in through her office, and I was her guest and I didn't pay an entry fee. 
 
So I went to the website.  I could become a member, but I don't want them sending me dead trees, even though I'd get free admission (and free [shade grown] coffee ~ yay).
 
Then I found their wish list page.  They need stuff.  They can use artificial plants for their fish ($9.00) to lamps for the bat area ($65.00) to camera traps in the wild for a study ($500.00) to a 1,500 gallon holding tabk ($13,000).
 
Now they need one less item.
 
If you love wildlife, if you think you'd like to support an organisation that is friendly to girls like us, consider joining the museum.  Or at least buy a plant or three for the little fishies.
 
 

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Sonora Sage, Part 1



The Lovely Sonora Sage

 Saturday, I met Senora Sage.  She had commented on my blog and I loved the name.  I poked around a bit and found her blog.  I read a few entries, went back to the beginning, read her bio, and I could find no obvious connection to the trans community.  She did have a number of t-followers.  Every blog of every reader I've had time to look at so far has been t-related.  I wrote her and asked her about it.

It turns out she works at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  She's British, from the Brighton area (SS ~ correct me if I misremembered anything) and has been in the states (various states) for a long time.

She also has a lot of friends in the lesbian and t-community.  And now she has one more.

I don't know what led her to my blog, but it was timely.  It was shortly before my trip to Arizona; she offered her opinion on my outfit options.

She offered to give me a "special tour" of the museum and perhaps go shopping.  I took her up on her offer.

I did not get enough sleep Friday night.  It took a while to write those posts you read over the past few days and longer until I felt like changing. Then, by the time I removed everything it was around midnight. I didn't put everything away, but I knew I'd have to do that before I go out Saturday so the maid service wouldn't trip over all my stuff.

One liberating thought: I had to remove everything, but I didn't have to remove everything.  I removed my makeup but didn't need to make sure every drop was cleaned up.  The next time anyone would see me, I'd still be Meg.

I was up, and not ready to fall back asleep, at 5:30. I was planning on getting up at 6, so I spent a futile half-hour trying to sleep for the quick minute I knew I needed but wouldn't get.

Notes From the Vanity

* Makeup should be repeatable. It never seems to be. My foundation did not seem to go on right. It seemed to cake in spots and not cover in others, especially my nose. Then... it did.

* My eye liner went better today than yesterday. Both eyes have thin black lines pretty much where I wanted them. Yesterday, from the line thickness, it seemed I had eye liner confused with ocean liner.

* My brows have looked better. Thank god for bangs!

* I decided to go with my "Christine O'Donnell" lipstick and gloss. Then I changed my mind and took it off and picked out something else.

* I considered getting coffee downstairs before leaving.  Did I mention my classmates are staying here? I have not decided to do this, but I'm getting nervous about it.

At 745, I was ready to go, sorta.  I e-mailed Sonora Sage and told her I was ready to lock up the computer and head out.  But I forgot to put everything away.  I quickly put away my makeup and clothes I wasn't wearing.  I also put the top and skirt from yesterday in a bag, along with my new slip and my mules.  I brought the mules so I could change shoes if the wedges became uncomfortable.  I brought the clothes because I decided to get coffee in the hotel after all and wanted insurance against a spill on the road.  I was careful and didn't need the extra outfit, but, well, that's why you have insurance, right?
 
I'll go into my visit with Sonora Sage tomorrow.  There was one interesting event on the road.
 

I'm Screwed.  No, I'm Passing

 
About ten miles out of town the speed limit went from 65 to 55, then 45, then 35, then 25, then 15.  The two-lane road became a one-lane road and a sign "all cars must stop ahead" followed the 15 miles per hour sign.  That was followed by an INS checkpoint.
 
There were three cars ahead of me.  Three agents were very interested in the car at the front of the line, opening doors, looking in windows, and so on.  They then directed the car to a holding area.
 
My thought: I'm screwed.  What do I say?  "Hi.  Well, this is embarrassing."
 
I didn't have a clue, really.  The next two cars were waved through with a just a glance inside.
 
I rolled down my window.  The agent waved my car to move up.
 
I looked at him through my sunglasses.
 
He said "thank you, ma'am.  Have a nice day."
 
I drove on.
 

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