Day 19 and 20 - Mesilla, Az, even more colorful than 4th Ave in Tucson!

All photos Mesilla, New Mexico

We rested a bit this morning, then left on the 4 1/2 hour drive to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  About an hour south of Tucson, the landscape change dramatically.  We found ourselves driving through huge fields of rocks and boulders.  Very interesting.  This landscape covered a span of just a few miles.  Las Cruces' two most important crops are pecans and cotton.  We saw huge groves of pecan trees, some of them flooded which is a common practice in growing pecans.  Some of the cotton fields had ripened and it was fun to see the white tufts on the thigh high plants.

Now a small, historic town, Mesilla was once the largest town in the southern part of New Mexico Territory.  Its official beginning was around 1848.  It became a major stage stop.  The original building where stagecoaches stopped has survived and is now a restaurant and gift shop.  It always makes a stop more memorable when you meet someone from the area.   Bill met Don Rogelio (see photo above) at the farmers' market on the Mesilla square.  Don has a very large chile operation.  He provides salsa to several cities.  He gave Bill a jar of his mild sausa that his brother-in-law calls sausa for wimps.  The bunches of chilies you see hanging outside the front door of so many houses are called ristras.  We bought a bunch from Don.  We also bought a jar of hot sauce.  I am anxious to try Don's red beer.  It consists of salt, pepper, lime juice, hot sauce and beer.  The historic buildings in Mesilla have been restored and now house nice shops.  The entire town is on the National Historic Registry.

Signing off for another day, Bill and Marsha, wishing we knew more Spanish

Day 18 - Colorful Tucson

Photos 1-9 - Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum 

Photos 10-11 -  4th Avenue in Tucson, an ethnically diverse, hipster area with lots of shops and restaurants.  Not a single chain store or restaurant.  Very colorful!

 

We got an early start today, 7:30 am, because we were going to tour the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.  Temps got up to high 90's later in the day.  On the scenic drive to the Museum we saw so many cacti.  There were saguaro forests as far as the eye could see, all the way up to the pinnacles of the mountains.  The museum covers 120,000 square miles and has over 300 species of cacti, more than any other place in the world.  A surprising number of cacti were in bloom.  Many species of birds are represented including Arizona's state bird, the cactus wren, shown above in one of Bill's photos.  The state flower, the saguaro cactus flower, and the state tree, the palo verde, are also found in abundance.  Animals living there include rattlesnakes, scorpions, bear, coyote, wolf, big horn sheep, javelinas, mountain lions, bobcats, ocelots, and lizards.  We got to taste flour made from the bean of the mesquite tree.  Tasted like a less intense form of cinnamon.  Tour guides were so knowledgeable and personable.  We enjoyed our four hours there immensely and highly recommend this vacation destination.

 

In the afternoon, we strolled the very long stretch of 4th Avenue.  See photos above.  The prices in the shops were amazing, probably due to the tourist season coming to an end.  I bought lots of beautiful jewelry and a colorful Mexican rug.  Bill got nada.   

 

Signing off till tomorrow, Marsha and Bill 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 17 - The Heard Museum, Phoenix

The Heard Museum located in downtown Phoenix is a museum of Native American art and history. We visited the new Smithsonian Native American Museum a couple of years ago and like The Heard even better. It is a user friendly museum just loaded with amazing art and information. This museum touched my heart. Its beautiful art objects brought joy to my heart. But the stories of how we abused the Indians made me so sad.

I was brought to tears by the story of the Mojave Indians whose land was destroyed by our government. Their sacred mesquite trees and their beautiful willow trees were burned and uprooted before their eyes to prepare the land for farming. For 25 to 35 years the government developed 88,000 acres destroying not only their beautiful land but their culture as well. The mesquite tree was used by the Mojave from birth to death. Its wood was used to make cradles, the sap was used to make their hair black, it provided fruit, it provided shade by day and heat by night, and its wood was used in the cremation ceremony. Loss of the mesquite tree very negatively impacted the Mojave culture.

I was brought to tears by the stories of children as young as five years old being forcibly taken from their families to Indian boarding schools all over the US. The only reason any Native Americans survive today is that our government decided it was more cost effective to institute a Federal School System to educate each Indian child for 8 years than to kill them. The goals of Indian schools were to educate Indian children, convert them to Christianity, make them good American citizens, and give them vocational training. They were forbidden to speak their native languages and grew up ignorant of their native traditions and cultures.

Thankfully, beautiful Indian art survived through the centuries and is still being produced today. The tens of thousands of adult Native Americans who graduated from Indian Schools in operation from 1879-2000 are now relearning their cultures. I left the museum hopeful that this great country will never again repeat such offenses against another race. Unfortunately, I see many in this country who would disregard human rights in the name of smaller government at any cost. Where is their compassion? I believe compassion to have been the major ingredient in the success of this country. May we learn from history and go forth with love in our hearts for our fellow man.

Day 16 - Frank and Friends

All photos above of Taliesin West Architectural School and Grounds

Today temp reached 105 degrees. But what I've always heard about the heat not being so bad in Arizona because of the low humidity is true. The humidity today was somewhere between 10 and 20%. I could actually breathe and being in the shade was quite tolerable.

We began the day by visiting with Rodney Gaylor, a Phoenix resident originally from our home town of Cayuga, Indiana, and brother of Bill's sister's husband. Rodney and Becky have a beautiful home. We met up with Becky at a very good southwestern restaurant. Dessert was a chocolate pie with no chocolate in the ingredients. It was made from chilies that taste like chocolate. Honestly, it was one of the best chocolate pies I've ever tasted. Had a great time visiting w/Rod and Becky.

In the late afternoon, we took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural school, Taliesin West, located in the Sonoran Desert.  Construction of Taliesin began in 1938 and was finished in 1957. We are Wright fans. We were not disappointed!  He married the structure to the landscape at Taliesin West just as well as he did at his masterpiece, Falling Water. The Sonoran Desert gets more water than any other desert and is lush in comparison. The school is surrounded by beautiful trees, all manner of cactus, flowers, and lots of birds. The front of the school has a beautiful triangle shaped pool and a small expanse of grass. The pool is there not only for architectural and decorative purposes, but as a cooling system for the very large drafting room located directly in front of the pool to the left front of the school. The pool was intentionally located to catch mountain breezes as they passed over the pool where they evaporated and cooled, then passed on through the open windows of the drafting room.

Undoubtedly a genius, Wright was the first to do so many things. Here are some of them:
-First architect to put pigment directly into concrete. Done for first time in Unity Temple, Chicago, Ill. Common today.
-Invented and installed the first air conditioner which he called air filtration.
-Built first cantilevered toilets so janitors could clean under them more easily.
-First architect to integrate lighting into architecture. He did this in so many different ways. He hated exposed light bulbs so he recessed them into beams and ceilings, covered them with carved wood, and installed unexposed up lighting, lights in floors, and in the sides of walkways. And these are just some examples of his unprecedented use of lighting. There are many, many more.
-First to make mitered glass walls.

Taliesin graduates bachelor and master degree architecture students. They have thirty students at a time. First year students sleep in tents. A migratory school, students spend October thru April in Taliesin West and the rest of the year in Taliesin Wisconsin. Wright saw Taliesin West as a place to do work in winter and Wisconsin as the "real" school.  Wright lived to be 92 and worked up to his death. He did 1/3 of his life's work in the last 10 years of his life.  His legacy is not bad for a man who did not graduate from high school and attended less than a year of college.

Went out to dinner with Marilyn tonight to a Lebanese restaurant and had gelato for dessert. Yum!

Tomorrow we are heading for Tucson.

Signing off till tomorrow, Bill and Marsha, weary, bleary, but cheery Western travelers

Day 15 - Sedona

Another beautiful day.  Temp reached 97degrees, but we never were terribly uncomfortable.  Hard to complain when in such a beautiful place.  Spent lots of time visiting art galleries and shopping in Sedona.  Had a wonderful lunch there at the Cowboy Club.

In late afternoon, we met up with Marilyn Bellincampi, a friend we met through the Affordable Travel Club.  It was absolutely wonderful to get caught up with Marilyn and that's a difficult thing to do because she is in perpetual motion.  A wonderful spirit and humanitarian, Marilyn is inspiring to be around.  Her optimistic outlook on life is contagious.

We are spending the night with Marilyn and maybe tomorrow night as well.  She reminded us that Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West is in Scottsdale and that's a hard one to pass up. 

Signing off until tomorrow, Bill and Marsha, grateful for good friends

Day 14 - The Grand Canyon

Bill and I are both camera shy, but we thought you might want proof that we were actually here and not deceiving you by sitting at home posting away!
Not much to be said about the Grand Canyon except if you haven't seen it up close and personal, do so if you ever get the opportunity.  Words don't do it justice.

Signing off until tomorrow, Bill and Marsha

Day 13 - Canyonland and Monument Valley

Photo 1 Monument Valley

Photo 2 Canyonlands

Photo 3 Canyonlands

Another gorgeous day! Saw our first open range cattle in the Canyonlands. So different than the midwest. Scrub became much larger today. Then we began to see trees which have been scarce over the past few days. They made a nice canopy over the road in some places leading into Canyonlands.

The Canyonlands were an interesting place.  Just inside the Park we visited Newspaper Rock.  It was a National Historic Site of 2000 year old petroglyphs.  The info posted said historians weren't sure what the pictures meant.  Could have been telling a story or could have just been doodling. In either case, it was amazing that these beautiful works survived for us to admire.

The Canyonlands mountains were red at the base all the way to the top layer which was light sandstone. There were many mushroom shaped formations with the red being the fat stem and the light color the top. We visited a huge canyon where we did a little hiking. So cool.  We really just scratched the surface of the Canyonlands with our two hour drive through.  Got a good feel for it, though.

On to Monument Valley located on the Navajo Reservation.  MV was awesome.  However, the road through the valley was in horrid shape, really not fit for cars to drive on.  Unfortunately, they did allow cars and we chose to drive rather than take a tour wagon. Probably a bad choice. We were never so glad to get off that rutted, potholed road.  Put a bit of a damper on our experience there.

Tonight we are staying on the Hopi Reservation. Tomorrow we are heading to the Grand Canyon.

Signing off till tomorrow, Bill and Marsha