Sunday, August 2, 2009

Tucson's Birthday Kickoff at Presidio San Agustin del Tucson

I went to the Birthday Kickoff at Presidio San Agustin del Tucson. I met a lot of awesome people and learned more about Tucson in the process. What can be better than that? I am really happy to have stepped out of my box and into the Tucson heat to participate. :) It was worth it!

It was particularly poignant to think of my ancestors living there, as well as other presidios/forts around southern Arizona. That is usually hard to imagine when driving through the busy streets of downtown Tucson in my air conditioned car.

The Presidio San Augustin del Tucson is nestled in downtown Tucson, yet it takes you back in time and makes it easier to imagine what it must have been like to live in that isolated fort in the Tucson heat and the hardships they had to deal with. They had no air conditioning or swamp coolers, were surrounded by desert, and had to protect themselves against attacks.

The threat was so serious, a sentinel had to stand atop Sentinel Peak (A-Mountain), and scan the horizon for Apache attacks.

I'm so glad I went and got to go back in time and appreciate those who came before and to celebrate Tucson.

I know there may be many of you who cannot get out or who cannot handle the heat. You can still celebrate with us! I will provide links in my posts so you can take virtual tours and celebrate with us.

Here is a really nice video. It is a realistic animation of downtown Tucson. Time goes in reverse and slowly buildings begin to disappear and you will see the walls of the presidio start to form. Then you will see the presidio fade out and it goes back in time to a Hohokam village.

If you watch it...go to the blogger page and let me know what you think - leave a comment!

Do any of you have ancestors from early Tucson? If so, please comment and share your stories!

Here is a video from me, so you can see what fun I had.



Happy Birthday Tucson!

Bjay - Tucson Birthday Ambassador

PS - It's not too late to become a birthday ambassador yourself or to host an event!

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