Kris Ruttan

Review of Biosphere 2

Today's tourist has come to expect 'hands-on' expe...

Today's tourist has come to expect 'hands-on' experiences and fun interpretive stations. The Biosphere 2 has almost none of that.
We were not given the option of the self-guided tour even though that is possible, but as we showed our pre-purchased tickets we were told that the next tour would leave in 1/2 hour, and it would take almost that long to get to the set-off point.
We watched a short info movie about the history of the biosphere, and then the tour director had a Q & A session before we set out. She handed out receivers and earpieces so we could hear her, and we were off.
First stop was the tropical rainforest. I expected to wander through towering vine covered trees in high humidity, and see radiant colored birds and bugs. She told us that the only life in the habitat (other than native birds of Arizona which were able to come and go) was cockroaches. We were allowed to look at the forest from a small platform and she answered any questions, and then we went back the way we came.
Essentially, that was the tour. We went through all the zones, from high to low, rainforest to ocean to desert and then the behind-the-scenes plant for the Biosphere, but it was all follow-me and stay-on-the-walkway and do-not-touch.
We drove 2 1/2 hours, into the desert and paid $68 USD for one hour of statistics I could have read on Google. The best part of the day was lunch at Florence, a tiny town on the way, where we stopped at the Old Pueblo restaurant and had really good Mexican food.