Driving Miss Pat, Miss Carol, and Miss Colleen

Dan joined us on our Saturday adventure - and he drove - mostly because he had planned out the day. Our only requirement was that Carol and I wanted to take them out to dinner that evening. Dan did well!

First up was a tour of Dan's students' murals. A woman in Tucson, whose 2-year-old son Ben died several years ago, started a foundation called Ben's Bells. She said that nothing people said to her made her feel any better, but simple acts of kindness did. She started giving bells to people who had done her a kindness and encouraged others to do the same. That led to registering the bells on a website with the recipient names. She got a grant to do some ceramic tile art on benches on the University campus. People painted the name of a person or organization who had demonstrated kindness. They fired the ceramic tiles and attached them to 3 or 4 benches in the college quad. This is where Dan came in. He runs a program for K-12 students with disabilities. His students helped with painting and firing the ceramic squares.

Dan's students' role in working in ceramics grew as Ben's Bells grew. Second to large murals near the University in concert with a famous outdoor muralist from Philadelphia. Then a large 4-sided mural in a plaza downtown. Now they have two workshops creating all kinds of ceramic kindness reward items - bracelets, coins, etc.

We did the whole tour of all Dan's students' murals. You can see from the photo how the concepts have matured as their work in public art has grown larger and larger.



Next up was a drive up to "A" Mountain. "A" Mountain has a giant A painted on rocks piled to to make the letter and painted white. From that spot, you can see all of Tucson. The view is spectacular! Apparently rival schools try to paint the "A" in their school colors, which leads to Tucson United school students having to keep watch a few nights before each game to ensure the "A" stays white. Sounds like that would be great fun for a high school student.

Third spot on Dan's tour was the mission church at San Xavier (which Tucsonians pronounce "sanaveer" or San Javier). It is a gorgeous old adobe church built by Spanish priests from Mexico sent to Tucson on an evangelical mission. You can see in the photo on the right that they are in the process of restoring the exterior of the church. One tower is finished and one tower is not. The mission church started in 1692, and the current church was constructed over 14 years between 1783 and 1797, making it the oldest European structure in Arizona.



All the statues inside the church are also adobe, as well as some outside the church (there are a lot of statues). Dan's parents celebrated a reconsecration of their marriage vows there for their 50th anniversary.

We spent a lot of time there sitting in a pew and taking in all the artwork. The word is overused - but the sheer amount of naive art in that space was amazing. My interior photos all turned out fuzzy; this is the best I could do.

We walked the courtyard and the gift shop (where I bought some post cards). We lost Carol so went looking for her on the hill there there is a grotto and some benches for quiet reflection. We found her coming out

of another gift shop on the site. Dan bought us all one humungous Indian fry bread which we shared. A group of Native Americans were frying them up and selling them in the parking lot for Saturday evening mass attendees. It was light, airy, and delicious. San Xavier is located on what is otherwise a reservation. On our way out, I saw my second road runner - and yes, he was sauntering on the road.

We headed over to El Charro in the Presidio for dinner - on me and Carol to thank Colleen and Dan for cooking for us for the past 4 1/2 days and for everything they did to open their home to us and make us feel like it was our home. El Charro doesn't take reservations and we had an hour wait for a table, so we went shopping at a small art alley just around the corner also in the Presidio called Old Town Artisans. The shops were in a rabbit warren of twists and turns with lovely things around every corner. I bought 4 green and red pepper Christmas ornaments for the grandkids. We did a lot of window shopping. By the time we walked slowly back to El Charro, our table was ready.

I had a chicken mole enchilada as I was told that their mole is fantastic. And "they" did not lie. Dan had a carne seca burrito. He said that is dried beef - and El Charro dries their own beef on site. We all had great meals, and shared a pitcher of Margarita (made with real limes - nummm).

It was such a fun day and fun evening! We arrived home at 8 pm, but it felt like midnight - we had such action-packed fun in Tucson. I worked on the trip blog until bed. Took a photo in the morning of all four of us sitting at the table working on our separate computers - a common site this past week.

Tombstone - the Town Too Tough to Die

On Friday, Colleen took the day off work and went with Carol and me to Tombstone - which yes, is in Arizona.

Colleen drove, and took us on the long route thru Sonoita and alongside the Santa Rita Mountains. We saw a different side of Tucson - rolling hills of cattle raising grasslands. And lots and lots of RV campgrounds. It was a beautiful drive.

The first stop in Tombstone was at Boot Hill Cemetery. We stopped at the Visitor Center to get a map and a listing of all the people buried in the cemetery - along with their cause of death - or Epitaphs. Most of them died from violence in the early 1880s; many of them are unknown. We walked along the rows in the cemetery while I read out what they died from. Colleen said later that she was glad that we started there; it gave a different perspective to the experience.

We drove into town, parked, and walked down Allen Street, which looks just like it did in the 1890s. The old town burned twice, so it doesn't look

like what it did in 1881 when the shoot-out took place. But it is old, and is on the National Historic Register as an Historic Place. First stop was Big-Nose Kate's Saloon for a drink and lunch. I had a cactus cooler, which is wine and cactus juice. Colleen had a Bloody Mary. Can't remember what Carol had. For lunch I had a Texas brisket beef sandwich that I could barely get in my mouth it was so big. We took lots of photos in the saloon. Everyone who worked there, and some who didn't were all duded up in old-time cowboy gear or saloon hall floozy gear. The guy with the concertina was the entertainer, serenading us with old tunes everyone knew. It was picturesque.

I had a shot of whiskey before we left, after noticing that the whiskeys took up more than half their back bar.

Since the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral took place at 2 pm, and it was about 10 minutes to 2 pm, we headed there, bought our tickets, and found seats in the bleachers. At noon, 2 pm, and 4 pm every day, seven actors re-create the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral in what they call a "Histodrama." 30 shots in 30 seconds. It is done like an old-fashioned morality play where the audience is encouraged to cheer for the good guys and boo and hiss for the bad guys. We all did our part well. It was great fun. Doc Holliday played the Deux ex Machina and told us what happened to the 4 people who survived. Most of them died of gunshots later. Only Wyatt Earp survived to a ripe old age - mostly because he moved out of Tombstone.

I bought a photo of Wyatt Earp and some postcards in the gift shop. On the Lindgren side, we have some relatives who married into the Earp family. Then Colleen and I went to the Visitor Center - nothing much there - bought some more post cards. Carol went to the Courthouse searching for the jail.

Colleen and I rode the stagecoach which took us down Allen Street and back up Toughnut Street (named for the Toughnut gold mine). The narrator on the stagecoach (I think it was a recording) also told us the Big-Nose Kate was named for her propensity to stick her nose into other people's business. She was also Doc Holliday's girlfriend. The guide pointed out that the real shoot-out did NOT happen at the O.K. Corral, but rather on Fremont Street right behind the Corral. He also told us that the fight had started earlier in the day at the Oriental Saloon - still a bar/restaurant now called the Crystal Palace. But, he explained, many of the buildngs there today were rebuilt following two fires in the 1880s and early 1890s that burned down most of the current old town - 66 buildings were burned in one fire. The town isn't really a re-creation because it was rebuilt at the turn of the last century, mostly with one-story buildings while the older town had mostly two-story buildings.

After alighting from the stagecoach (not an easy feat), we headed over to the Courthouse to find Carol. The Courthouse was actually the federal building, so it also housed the U.S. Post Office, federal prosecutor, and several other federal agencies - probably the land office for one. We toured all the rooms, checked out the gallows and took some photos there. Carol spent some time in the jail in the yard. I warned her not to rustle my cattle.

I really wanted some old-time photos, so we headed to a photo shop. Carol & I dressed as saloon floozies, and Colleen dressed as Warren Earp. The photo turned out great - you will just have to take my word for it until I am someplace where I can scan it. We all had guns and looked mean - we just don't cotton to no varmints.

Next we stopped at the Crystal Place where the events leading up to the shoot-out took place. Colleen and I took a photo in front of their famous back bar. This place was worth seeing. We stopped at a couple of other stores, but found only some Sarsparillas. Made one final stop at the Bird Cage Theater. Really hokey; the proprietor seemed like a real snake oil salesman.

When we got home, Dan was making "build your own" personal size pizzas from scratch. I had pesto and red sauce, olives, tomatoes, red peppers, roasted garlic and fresh mozzarella cheese on mine. It was fabulous!!!! Thanks Dan. After dinner, we played with our computers for a while. Dan announced that he was going with us the following day and he had a plan! Surprise Saturday. Love it!

Sabino Canyon and 4th Avenue in Tucson

Thursday, we decided to visit Sabino Canyon in the Catalina Mountain range just north and east of the City of Tucson. It is actually not that far from Colleen and Dan's house. Happily we discovered that it is managed by the National Forest Service who honors National Park senior passes, so entrance and parking were free for Carol and me since we both have senior passes. First stop was the Visitor Center to pick up a map. The ranger there suggested taking the 3.8 mile tram ride up the mountain to its terminus. There were at least 7 and maybe 9 tram stops along the way where one could get off the tram and then get back on later if you held up your ticket stub at the stop for the driver. Each tram stop is the starting point for a trail that wends it way up a mountain. In summer, the tram stops are popular for locals to get off and go swimming.

Which brings me to the most important feature of Sabino Canyon. It is the place where snow melt from the mountains, and more specifically Mount Lemmon, run down toward Tucson providing most of its water supply. It had just rained heavily (like somewhere around 4 inches) in Tucson about two or three weeks before we arrived. And, more importantly, Mount Lemmon had received a lot of snow. Snow is extremely important because it doesn't run off all at once. The snow melts gradually and is the gift that keeps on giving for a desert community like Tucson. The snow melt has carved its way down thru the mountains and into the Canyon gorges creating some stunning scenery.

Since it had recently rained (and snowed) heavily, the water in the stream was overflowing the WPA-built stone bridges that cross the creek many times on the way to the top. The bus had to travel four times over fast-running water that over-topped the narrow bridges. The trip climbs in elevation from 2,800 feet at the Visitor Center to 3,300 feet at the turn-around point. It was great for us Minnesota girls to smell water again - especially in the crisp mountain air. The WPA bridges were beautiful. The whole trip was one big photo opportunity. We were able to get off at the top to photo the canyon floor below. The driver said many movies have been filmed in that canyon, including "How the West Was Won" and "Three Amigos." The stop at the end includes a 5 minute break so the tourists can snap photos. And of course we did. There is also a stepped trail that leads further up that mountain peak. We were both tired of hiking and decided to take it on this trip. We road the tram back, picking up returning passengers at almost every stop, and taking even more photos. One day I will get them all downloaded.

Forgot to mention that I saw my first road runner (classically running on the road) while waiting for the tram at the Visitor Center.

We left Sabino Canyon and headed for the college section of Tucson - 4th Street and 4th Avenue. We parked on 4th Street at a meter and walked for a few blocks. Since it was past lunch time, we were searching out a good lunch place that would provide Carol with some vegetarian options. We settled on Delectables, which had a great street vibe. It did not disappoint. I had the chicken and spinach enchilada which was served with mole sauce, black beans, and sliced avocadas. It was delectable. The restaurant had a round glass case showcasing their desserts. Not being able to resist, I had a peanut butter mousse with chocolate ganache tart. Carol had a raspberry chocolate concoction. They were so big, we could only eat half, and took the other halves home. Later we found out that Delectables was a suggested stop in her AAA tour guide.

We walked along 4th Avenue for several blocks after lunch window shopping, and occasionally really shopping. Carol found a hat she had been searching for ever since we left San Diego. She also located the co-op grocery store where she used to work when she lived in Tucson in the early 1970s. We walked and window shopped (they had a lot of retro 1950s clothing in the windows of several shops) our way slowly back to the car.

Back at the hacienda, Dan and Colleen had made another lovely meal. After dinner, we watched the Democratic Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. I am feeling the Hillary.

Saguaro National Park

Wednesday, we took in Saguaro National Park. We actually got kind of a late start because we were busy downloading photos from our cameras, and I was busy adding photos to previous blog posts - like the day at the beaches in San Diego - to the blog. I am having so much fun that I am getting behind on my blog posts, as you will note since I am adding Wednesday on Saturday.

We finally got going to Saguaro about after 2 pm. I stamped my National Park Passport. When we checked in at the Visitor Center, there was a ranger talk on how hard it is for the Saguaro to propagate. We decided to attend the lecture, and were glad we did. Each Saguaro puts out about 40 million seeds in its lifetime, but is lucky if one of two of them germinate and turn into an adult cactus. After the cactus blooms and the seeds the birds or people don't eat fall to earth, it has only a 2 month window to receive 2" of a gentle rain in order to germinate. Since this is a desert climate, that doesn't always happen although the Saguaro does time its bloom for just the right season to make some rain a probability. Then once it has germinated, the new Saguaro plant is extremely tiny and can be killed by an animal or human accidentally stepping on it because it is hard to see. It takes about 10 years for a new one to grow knee high. When you look out over this valley at the hundreds of thousands of Saguaro standing sentry there, it seems impossible that this giant plant could have been that successful against those odds. An adult Saguaro will live for anywhere to 150 to 300 years, depending on bird or human depredation and resistance to natural diseases. The ranger said that no one knows why some of them have only one or two arms and some have six or more. She also said that it is against the law in Arizona to harm or kill a Saguaro.

Since we had walked thru the cactus garden attached to the Visitor Center the night before, we headed right out on the Bajada Loop Drive. First stop was the Desert Discovery Trail, a one-half mile hike. We walked that and took photos. We discovered a new plant we had never seen before. Dan identified it as a Buckhorn cholla. It was bearing a profusion of still-green fruit with some just turning to yellow in February! We also saw a lot of baby Saguaro now that we knew what to look for.

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Next stop was Valley View overlook which was designed as a photo op for the cacti since the dirt road was too narrow and too busy to pull over to take photos. We did take advantage of the view. Last stop was Sand Hill picnic area. A short hike (that the Park had helpfully stepped with rocks) up the mountain to some petroglyphs could be accessed from the back side of the picnic area. Of course, we took the hike. At the first sign, it was hard to see them at first. Look up; way up. We took the steps all the way up to the top of that mountain peak which is where most of the petroglyphs are located. They are in remarkably good shape. I think perhaps because they are mostly on the side of what are granite surfaces.



It was after 5 pm when we finished the Bajada Loop Drive and exited the park. But we did not really "loop" and were not back at the Visitor Center. It took us a while to figure out how to get back to where we started. The drive exits onto Sandario Road and one has to turn left onto Mile Wide Road (an ironic name) to get back to the Visitor Center. Taking the drive from the Desert Museum to Saguaro National Park, we noted how close one gets to those giant cacti on the road itself, so Carol took a movie of it while I drove thru it. I hope the movie captures the magic of the scene as we experienced it.I forgot to make a turn and we got lost for a little while, and so ended up getting back to home base a little late. We had soup for dinner, which was just perfect after our day in the mountains (it can be a little chilly up there especially as the sun sinks slowly in the West).

Called Dejah to send wishes to her on her special day. She is still stuck on going to a Baptist college in Waco, Texas. I can't picture that being a good choice long-term.

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Tuesday we took in the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Colleen has been lobbying for me to see this, her favorite spot in Tucson, for a couple of years. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, Colleen could not go with us as she has taken on a part-time job with the Tucson area schools and was having an audit of her program this week.

The Museum is located in the Tucson Mountains on the other side of I-10 from the main city of Tucson. To get to it, you have to drive up Tucson Mountain, thru Gates Pass, and then down a steep, narrow, windy mountain road with no guardrails back to the desert floor. It was an exciting ride. On the drive down, the whole valley is covered with giant Saguaro (the "g" is pronounced as a "y") cacti as far as the eye can see. They look like soldiers guarding sentry over the valley and up the sides of the mountains. Impressive!

It is a short drive to the Arizona Sonora Museum from there. Colleen is a member and had provided us with free guest passes (thanks so much Colleen). We picked up a map for our self-guided tour. Since we weren't sure how to begin, a very friendly museum docent helped us get going. I have to say that all the museum docents were very friendly and made our visit wonderful. The Museum is mostly outdoors and consists of a series of interconnected loop trails of mostly desert plants and a few desert animals. They display over 40,000 plants (not including grasses) from 1,300 different species, as well as 20 endangered desert animal species.



We started off on the Ancient Arizona loop trail. We were a little confused because we thought we would learn about the peoples of ancient Arizona, but it turned out to be about ancient Arizona plants, although I have to say it was not well-labelled. That trail segued into the Grasslands Trail, which did have some plants labelled. There were a few plants there that we had not seen before and would have liked to know their names, but they were still beautiful. Even in February a few of them were starting to bloom.

This trail then segued into the Desert Loop Trail - one of the longest trails in the museum. And one of the most interesting for us. The trail had every type of cactus, agave, and aloe plant you could imagine. In the agave garden, the Museum did a good job of explaining the difference between the 3 different types of desert plants that all look so alike to those of us from Minnesota. They particularly had quite a collection of agaves.



Also, along the Desert Loop Trail were the cat canyon with ocelet and bobcat, and a special enclosure for the coyotes, and another one for javelinas (who are quite offended when you call them cute little pigs). We ended the trail at the gift shop where I bought some T-shirts and post cards. We split a chocolate croissant, I had mint tea and Carol had a prickly pear drink. We were carefully watched the whole time by a small bird who was waiting for us to drop some crumbs.



We took a short drive up to Saguaro National Park to get a map and find out what there would be to do there the following day. Then since it was getting close to 5 pm, we headed to Gates Pass where we wanted to get photos of the sunset in the mountain range to the west of Gates Pass. There was an interesting crowd gathering for the same purpose. We did get some spectacular photos. When we got home sort of late, Colleen and Dan had made salmon with baked sweet potatoes for dinner. Nummmmm.

Day 18 - Return to Tucson

The morning of Day 18 was bright, sunny, and calm. What a change from last night! We got dressed, put the camper down, and hit the road. Well almost, as we were pulling out of our camping space, the neighbor came over to ask if we knew that we still had the wheel on the front tongue. No, no we did not. On the way in to Indio on Friday, we kept seeing advertisements for date milk shakes. So, we decided to stop at Shield's Date Garden to have breakfast and a date milk shake. I was expecting a diner, since the restaurant was advertising that they sold everything under the sun including tourist souvenirs. When we walked in the first sight that greeted us was rows and rows of souvenirs and a soda fountain counter. So, we naturally thought this was the dining space there. The lady behind the counter asked if we wanted date milk shakes; we answered yes, that and breakfast. My, was that the magic word. She ushered us through the souvenir and all-things-date-for-sale shop to the back into what can only be described as an upscale garden oasis patio.



We had a fabulous breakfast. I had an eggplant, mushroom, tomato and feta cheese omelette. It was fluffy and buttery; just the way I like it. Carol had two eggs sunny-side-up with hashbrowns and fruit. Both breakfasts came with their specialty walnut and date toast. We were both happy that we had not found this place before we were on our way out of town because it really would have blown a hole in our budgets. After breakfast, we bought postcards and chocolate covered dates from the shop, and took a tour of their gardens. The gardens were huge and done up as life-sized biblical scenes. It could have been kind of kitschy, but it was not.

And then we hit the road. The winds had started coming up again while we were eating breakfast, but no where near as frightening as the previous night in the camper. We drove the whole way to Tucson along I-10, with some steady winds from the NW. Luckily this was mostly from behind us and not from the side except for a long stretch along the Chiriaco Mountains where we ran into a huge dust storm that was blowing in from the camper's left side. But the winds must have been more like 15 mph, as the camper was not being pushed off the road by the winds.

We drove thru Phoenix at rush hour on a Monday - of course - but traffic did not seem that bad. And we arrived in Tucson about 7 pm to discover that Dan and Colleen had made vegetable soup. Just the thing as the temperatures had started to drop after that huge Sunday wind storm. It felt like returning home!

Palm Springs, Dahling

On Sunday, we decided to do some clean up, and rest up activities in the morning - laundry, camera downloads, blogging, etc. Then we headed off to Palm Springs for some sightseeing in the afternoon. There is no good signage helping two tourists find their way into Palm Springs. I guess that is what keeps it so exclusive. We did eventually locate the town and drove down Palm Canyon Drive and up Indian Canyon Drive. Carol and I decided about the only thing we could afford in this shopping district was a drink. So, we started searching for a watering hole.

We liked the look of Oscar's Cafe & Bar, so stopped there. Turned out to be a gay bar. The bartenders were very friendly and entertaining. And the architecture of the bar was amazing. I had a Moscow mule and Carol had an Amaretto. We took photos of the front, the ceiling, and the courtyard. Did I mention that it started raining as soon as we drove into town. Palm Springs is in the desert so a real soaking rain shower is very rare. I had an umbrella and Carol had a hood on her jacket, so we were fine. But the bartenders said that they were closing up early because of the "storm." Carol and I walked back to the car along Palm Canyon Drive.



By this time, the rain "storm" had stopped. I stopped to chat with the statue of Lucille Ball who is seated on a bench, and to buy some post cards. We headed by to the camper, and had left-overs for dinner. Carol read while I downloaded more photos from Joshua Tree (we took hundreds), and worked on the blog.

As we were doing that, a real desert wind storm kicked up. The top of the camper was swaying wildly from side to side, and the side tents were flapping so much, I thought they had come loose, but they had not. The winds were predicted to gust up to 55 mph, which seemed like what we were experiencing. The prediction was also for it to continue the next day - our planned day of travel to Tucson. The wind died down by 2:30 am, and Monday morning was beautiful and calm.