A Full-time Life

SOME PEOPLE ASK....

If you think this is a question, I hope you'll be kind when you answer it!

 

 Why is another little town where I just had to jump out to take pictures of the signs.  This one is another place miles beyond nowhere -- it's in Arizona, just past Ajo heading down the lonesome road toward Tucson.

THIS POST IS LINKED TO SIGNS SIGNS.  Thank you Lesley.

The picture below is what it looks like around Why.  I don't know Why, it just does.

 (My blogging friend Hazel, from England, has included information about WHY the town is named as it is in her comment below.  Thank you Hazel!)

      

SKIES AT THE END OF THE WORLD

 FOR SKYWATCH FRIDAY

Watch the whiplash effect.    This post is traveling back to an earlier part of our roadtrip ** -- our short stay in Ajo.  Remember, it is the spot, according to a sign at the RV Park, that's 4 miles past the end of the world.   

 

   

The skies were amazing as we drove toward Ajo -- and they were still lovely as sundown approached after we pulled into our home for the night.

** In real-life on our roadtrip, we are in Florida and we should be home tomorrow.  See y'all next week!

YUMA .. AND SOME MORE BALLOONS

 I hope to link this post to MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY and RUBY TUESDAY, assuming we have a good Internet connection wherever we are on those days.  For those following our roadtrip, we spent Thursday and Friday in charming Fredericksburg Texas and we're now outside of Houston on our way toward Louisiana.  This post is a look-back to last weekend, when we were in Yuma Arizona.

When we first started RVing in 1999, we stayed for a week or so in Yuma.  Last weekend was the first time since then that we've stayed there.  Yuma's one of the main destination for snowbirds from the Pacific Northwest (where we used to live).  It's fairly close and warm and sunny, without the Northwest's rainy winters.  There are dozens and dozens of RV Parks.  The City's population of 194,000 is augmented during the winter by 85,000 snowbirds.  Yuma is 7 miles north of Los Algodones Mexico and quite a few snowbirds get their prescription drugs and dental and optical work done  in Mexico at lower prices.  (Buses will pick people up at the border.)  We prefer to keep our regular doctors and dentists and pharmacists, and when we were here before -- back in the last century -- we didn't find a lot to do in Yuma, so it didn't really call our name.  

 This time, we stopped only because we needed to do laundry and buy some groceries  -- and it was the weekend, and that's always a good time to get off the road.   It was complete serendipity that Bill saw a mention of the Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival in a shopper paper he picked up.

 

 

_________________________________ _______________

For a buck each, we entered the County Fairgrounds for the Balloon Lighting Festival.  It was still daytime when we got there.  Kids in the area had built balloons as a school project and volunteers were filling them witih hot air.  This might have been my favorite part -- the kids were so happy and excited to see their balloons soar.  This one was brought to the volunteer by two little girls who had pink ribbons on their pigtails and pink running shoes.  All girl -- but they knew their balloon science -- so adorable!

We got to watch the big, professional, real balloons brought out to the field and watch how the crew took them out and prepared to "fire them up."  Each one took quite a few people.

 

The main purpose of the event was to see all of the balloons lighted up at once -- after dark (as in the picture at the top of the post).  It was lovely to see -- and fun to hear the crowd so excited. 

The balloons were to go up the next morning -- and we could probably have seen them from our RV Park which was quite close to the Fairgrounds. But our bodies were still on Pacific Time -- and when we woke up it was well past the hour when they were to go up. 

So we still want to see a Balloon Festival again someday to see them all soar at once.  And someday, maybe we will even ride in one.  (Tethered rides were offered at the Fairgrounds, but we got there a little too late to do that.)  This balloon -- one of those offering rides --  came from McMinnville, pretty close to where we stay when we're in Oregon.

FLASHBACK to WINTER ON THE DESERT

 

Don't worry, we are still in Florida.    This is a Flashback post featuring some plants that we don't see in this high humidity area.  It's hot in Arizona too, but as they say, it is a dry heat.  After we started our full-time RV life, we spent a couple of Winters in Tucson.  We had fun exploring the State and learned to appreciate the unique beauty of the desert.  But we missed the water and Florida has a lot more of it, so we spend our winters here now.  It is fun though to remember that dry heat and that desert beauty.

I am linking this Arizona Flashback post to MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY AND RUBY TUESDAY.

 

 barrel cactus, agave morani, sagueros, agave in bloom

bignaga, saguero, Bishop's mitre and others

 

 

 

 lechuguilla agave, pinyon, sotol (desert spoon), Santa Rita prickly pear

unknown plant at Cochise Stronghold, hedgehog, barrels, teddy bear cholla

 

 

 

CHIEF CRAZY HORSE -- RERUN

THIS IS A SUNDAY REPEAT ABOUT A PLACE WE LOVED VISITING.  We were last at Crazy Horse in June of 2008; there is a link in the original post that takes you to the monument's official home page where you can read what is happening there today.  

Click on the blue link for Sunday favorites by CHERI  to see other old favorites (or to add your own)  and here for Margot at JOYFULLY RETIRED  who posts Favorite Places on Sundays. 

Here is our original post. 

 

We are a little obsessed with this monument.   It's kind of odd to feel that way, because when you think about it, carving up mountains doesn't seem like something nature lovers would necessarily applaud.  (I hope this admission doesn't get me on the Patriot Act list of suspicious persons, but Mount Rushmore, which is nearby, kind of left us cold.  We went to see it the first time we were in South Dakota.  We were glad we saw it, but it looks better in the movies or on stamps or license plates than it does "in person" and we don't especially want to go to see it again.) 

On the other hand, this was our third visit to Crazy Horse and we'd definitely go again whenever we're in our adopted home state.

 There are so many facets to the amazing story of this monument.   It isn't hard to see why it is so fascinating. One of the main reasons it's so interesting is that you are seeing a work in progress.  This is a current picture of the unfinished monument from the viewing veranda in the visitor center.  In the foreground is a 1/34 scale model.   Chief Crazy Horse is pointing to the lands that once belonged to his tribe.  He said  "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

 

Millions of tons of rock have been removed from the mountain.  The face of Chief Crazy Horse is nine-stories high.  Right now, the work is on the horse's head, which is 22 stories.  The whole sculpture is being built in the round.  This poster (click on it to enlarge) gives the actual measurements.

The statue's creator was Korzak Ziolkowski.   A respected marble sculptor, he had assisted Gutzon Borglum in creating Mount Rushmore.  Some time after that monument was dedicated, Lakota Chief Standing Bear asked Korzak to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse.  He said: "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too."    Korzak  (he is always referred to by his first name) accepted the challenge and began to design a monument that he knew would take generations to complete.  He began work in 1948, without much money and without very good working tools. 

I think the monument does a good job of honoring the Native Americans who inhabited this area.  Korzak's family has established the Indian Museum of North America on the grounds of the monument.  In the Visitor Center, there is a huge collection of Native American artifacts, a collection of Edward Curtis photos of Native Americans, and a cultural center for Native Americans of all tribes.  

 In this picture, you can see where they are going to blast out the horse's head.

The Ziolkowski family story is fascinating.  Korzak married Ruth after he began work on the monument.  They had ten children who were raised with the project.  Korzak died in 1982.  Work continues from detailed plans that he left, because he always knew that it would take more than a lifetime.  His widow, Ruth, heads the foundation.  Seven of their children, as well as some grandchildren, have an active role working on the monument.  You can tour part of their original home. 

The Mountain is a private foundation and they have never accepted any public funding. At the beginning, Korzak supported the family by running a lumber mill and a dairy farm at the same time as he worked on the carving.  His motto was "Never forget your dreams."

The visitor center was established pretty early in the process and it is very active now.  Of course these days they get private donations.  All of the buildings were built made from stone fragments blasted off the mountain.

On a previous visit to the Monument, we got to see a night blast.  These take place twice a year, on Korzak's birthday (which date he shares with Chief Crazy Horse) and on Ruth's birthday.  We just arrived by chance on the right day that time.

Here is a link to the Crazy Horse website:  http://www.crazyhorse.org .  Never forget your dreams! 

Posted at 07:31 PM in South Dakota | Permalink

 

Comments (This is a comment made on the original post).

This is, I think, the difference:
Crazy Horse is a fantastic, beyond-belief story of a man struggling against insane odds. And accomplishing an amazing amount. Way more than you'd expect.

Mt Rushmore is the story of the federal government putting everything they had into a sculpture. And getting about what you'd expect.

The Rushmore story just isn't as neat.

Posted by: Geoff | July 10, 2008 at 10:13 PM

 

We are a little obsessed with this monument.   It's kind of odd to feel that way, because when you think about it, carving up mountains doesn't seem like something nature lovers would necessarily applaud.  (I hope this admission doesn't get me on the Patriot Act list of suspicious persons, but Mount Rushmore, which is nearby, kind of left us cold.  We went to see it the first time we were in South Dakota.  We were glad we saw it, but it looks better in the movies or on stamps or license plates than it does "in person" and we don't especially want to go to see it again.) 

On the other hand, this was our third visit to Crazy Horse and we'd definitely go again whenever we're in our adopted home state.

 There are so many facets to the amazing story of this monument.   It isn't hard to see why it is so fascinating. One of the main reasons it's so interesting is that you are seeing a work in progress.  This is a current picture of the unfinished monument from the viewing veranda in the visitor center.  In the foreground is a 1/34 scale model.   Chief Crazy Horse is pointing to the lands that once belonged to his tribe.  He said  "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

 

Millions of tons of rock have been removed from the mountain.  The face of Chief Crazy Horse is nine-stories high.  Right now, the work is on the horse's head, which is 22 stories.  The whole sculpture is being built in the round.  This poster (click on it to enlarge) gives the actual measurements.

The statue's creator was Korzak Ziolkowski.   A respected marble sculptor, he had assisted Gutzon Borglum in creating Mount Rushmore.  Some time after that monument was dedicated, Lakota Chief Standing Bear asked Korzak to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse.  He said: "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too."    Korzak  (he is always referred to by his first name) accepted the challenge and began to design a monument that he knew would take generations to complete.  He began work in 1948, without much money and without very good working tools. 

I think the monument does a good job of honoring the Native Americans who inhabited this area.  Korzak's family has established the Indian Museum of North America on the grounds of the monument.  In the Visitor Center, there is a huge collection of Native American artifacts, a collection of Edward Curtis photos of Native Americans, and a cultural center for Native Americans of all tribes.  

 In this picture, you can see where they are going to blast out the horse's head.

The Ziolkowski family story is fascinating.  Korzak married Ruth after he began work on the monument.  They had ten children who were raised with the project.  Korzak died in 1982.  Work continues from detailed plans that he left, because he always knew that it would take more than a lifetime.  His widow, Ruth, heads the foundation.  Seven of their children, as well as some grandchildren, have an active role working on the monument.  You can tour part of their original home. 

The Mountain is a private foundation and they have never accepted any public funding. At the beginning, Korzak supported the family by running a lumber mill and a dairy farm at the same time as he worked on the carving.  His motto was "Never forget your dreams."

The visitor center was established pretty early in the process and it is very active now.  Of course these days they get private donations.  All of the buildings were built made from stone fragments blasted off the mountain.

On a previous visit to the Monument, we got to see a night blast.  These take place twice a year, on Korzak's birthday (which date he shares with Chief Crazy Horse) and on Ruth's birthday.  We just arrived by chance on the right day that time.

Here is a link to the Crazy Horse website:  http://www.crazyhorse.org .  Never forget your dreams! 

We are a little obsessed with this monument.   It's kind of odd to feel that way, because when you think about it, carving up mountains doesn't seem like something nature lovers would necessarily applaud.  (I hope this admission doesn't get me on the Patriot Act list of suspicious persons, but Mount Rushmore, which is nearby, kind of left us cold.  We went to see it the first time we were in South Dakota.  We were glad we saw it, but it looks better in the movies or on stamps or license plates than it does "in person" and we don't especially want to go to see it again.) 

On the other hand, this was our third visit to Crazy Horse and we'd definitely go again whenever we're in our adopted home state.

 There are so many facets to the amazing story of this monument.   It isn't hard to see why it is so fascinating. One of the main reasons it's so interesting is that you are seeing a work in progress.  This is a current picture of the unfinished monument from the viewing veranda in the visitor center.  In the foreground is a 1/34 scale model.   Chief Crazy Horse is pointing to the lands that once belonged to his tribe.  He said  "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

 

Millions of tons of rock have been removed from the mountain.  The face of Chief Crazy Horse is nine-stories high.  Right now, the work is on the horse's head, which is 22 stories.  The whole sculpture is being built in the round.  This poster (click on it to enlarge) gives the actual measurements.

The statue's creator was Korzak Ziolkowski.   A respected marble sculptor, he had assisted Gutzon Borglum in creating Mount Rushmore.  Some time after that monument was dedicated, Lakota Chief Standing Bear asked Korzak to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse.  He said: "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too."    Korzak  (he is always referred to by his first name) accepted the challenge and began to design a monument that he knew would take generations to complete.  He began work in 1948, without much money and without very good working tools. 

I think the monument does a good job of honoring the Native Americans who inhabited this area.  Korzak's family has established the Indian Museum of North America on the grounds of the monument.  In the Visitor Center, there is a huge collection of Native American artifacts, a collection of Edward Curtis photos of Native Americans, and a cultural center for Native Americans of all tribes.  

 In this picture, you can see where they are going to blast out the horse's head.

The Ziolkowski family story is fascinating.  Korzak married Ruth after he began work on the monument.  They had ten children who were raised with the project.  Korzak died in 1982.  Work continues from detailed plans that he left, because he always knew that it would take more than a lifetime.  His widow, Ruth, heads the foundation.  Seven of their children, as well as some grandchildren, have an active role working on the monument.  You can tour part of their original home. 

The Mountain is a private foundation and they have never accepted any public funding. At the beginning, Korzak supported the family by running a lumber mill and a dairy farm at the same time as he worked on the carving.  His motto was "Never forget your dreams."

The visitor center was established pretty early in the process and it is very active now.  Of course these days they get private donations.  All of the buildings were built made from stone fragments blasted off the mountain.

On a previous visit to the Monument, we got to see a night blast.  These take place twice a year, on Korzak's birthday (which date he shares with Chief Crazy Horse) and on Ruth's birthday.  We just arrived by chance on the right day that time.

Here is a link to the Crazy Horse website:  http://www.crazyhorse.org .  Never forget your dreams! 

CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP 2008, part 1 -- OREGON TO NEW MEXICO

 

In mid-October of this year, we were still enjoying family, friends, and beautiful Oregon weather at Fern Ridge Lake.   The Lake is actually a reservoir and the Corps of Engineers was getting ready to "pull the plug" as they do every year before the rainy season starts.  Here's Bill getting ready for the last boat ride of the season.  Our son-in-law met him on the other side of the lake and pulled it to their house and barn, where we store it. 

It is always hard to leave Oregon, but our plan for this Winter is to visit new parts of the country and it's a long trip cross-country to Florida (especially the way we like to travel).  So it was time to say goodbye and hit the road again.  Click here for posts about our Oregon stay.

We left Fern Ridge Shores at noon on October 15 and arrived in Bakersfield California on the 17th.     That was pretty fast for us -- we don't travel long days, but we have been over this road many times and there was nothing we wanted to spend any extra time visiting.  We stay at Orange Grove RV Park whenever we travel to California and it really is a very nice place.  Usually when we're there, we've been able to step outside and grab a few delicious oranges right off the trees, but it was too early this time -- they were still green.  

We rented a compact car so that we could drive to Long Beach to see my Aunt and cousins.  We left the Freightliner at the Rental Agency Parking lot; the guy in the RV next door to us took a look at the little white car and said  "Looks like your truck shrunk." 

My Aunt's home is in a beautiful neighborhood on a Canal.  The streets are narrow and winding and certainly not made for baby Freightliners, so renting the car made sense. 

My Aunt is 100 years old and is more informed on politics and current events than we are.  She is also generous about sharing her knowledge of old family history.  She's a great role mode and we had a wonderful visit. 

Because it is on the water, there is no smog in my Aunt's neighborhood, but it was heavy the whole time we were in Bakersfield and on the trip to her house and back. Although Orange Grove is a great park, we wouldn't want to spend too much time in Bakersfield because of that depressing smog.

Our next and last stop in California was in Needles where we stayed at Desert View RV Resort.   This was a nicely designed park with flowering hedges between each spot -- and nice long spaces.  It was definitely still summer here (maybe it always is).  Quite a few people winter in this area because it is very close to the Colorado River and Laughlin, Nevada (so you could have your choice of outdoor or indoor sports).  But although the park was very nice, the scenery around it is barren and desolate.  And still a little bit smoggy, so we were happy to be leaving California after one night here. 

We were now traveling on Route 40.  It overlaps or parallels the old Route 66, so all of the towns sounded very familiar. 

We stayed the next night in Flagstaff Arizona.  It wasn't a long day, but a hard driving one -- all mountain passes and lots of construction projects and wind most of the way.  Quite a difference from Needles -- we were up in the mountains and the air was beautifully clear, but (no surprise) cold!  We had to dig out the fall clothes again in order to take an evening walk. 

We stayed at a park called Black Bart's.  It's an older park, but the spaces were long and we didn't have to unhook, which is always what we aim for on overnight stops.  The RV Park is adjacent to Black Bart's Steakhouse and Saloon.  Of course we had to try it, especially since we received a 10%-off coupon for dinner upon check-in.  Dinner was a fun experience.  The waiters are all performance students at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and they took turns performing in a music revue.  Our waiter sang the signature tune "Route 66" and whenever he came to the line about Flagstaff, all of the locals cheered.  The food was good too and service excellent (even though the staff was doing double duty with the entertainment plus serving a couple of long tables of bus tours).  So this was a very fun overnight stop. 

On Thursday, October 23, we reached Grants, New Mexico.  This is where we visited the Acoma Village of Sky City.  (Click on the link to read our post about it.)  We loved our visit here.   We stayed at Bar S RV Park, a small and very reasonably priced park (about $15.00 per night).  There's no website, but this was an excellent place to stay for a few days.   There were some train tracks nearby, but they didn't really disturb us at night and the park was clean and convenient.  

When we left Grants, we got on Route 40 again and it was long, straight and monotonous.  There was no interesting scenery and very little traffic.  I was afraid Bill would fall asleep out of boredom.  (I don't think he did, but I'm not sure, since I slept a lot of the day.)  That night we were at Tucumcari, one of the very few places in New Mexico that I haven't fallen immediately in love with.  The name seemed to be the cutest thing about it.  So that made it easy to leave the next morning and head on to the second part of this road trip, which would bring us into some states where we'd never stayed and a whole bunch of new places to explore.  

TRAVEL -- REAL AND FICTIONAL

JA Jance writes an enjoyable mystery series that's set in Cochise County.  Her main character, Joanna Brady, is the County sheriff.   Jance's descriptions of the country-side (and the passages about the length of time the officers spend in their cars) are spot-on.  The author lives in Tucson and in Seattle (where she has set another mystery series).  But she grew up in Cochise County and obviously knows and loves the area.  One day when we were driving around looking for the post office we happened on the sheriff's office complex at the outskirts of Bisbee.  You almost expected to see Sheriff Brady and her deputies.  We wondered what the real-life officers think about their fictional counterparts.  So this got me to thinking about other places we've been where favorite books are set. 

This is the "Little House on the Prairie" in DeSmet, South Dakota.  In September, 2004, we actually drove quite a few  miles out of our way to stay in this little town, where there is the church that the Ingalls family attended and a little museum dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books.  It was a pleasant little town and a nice drive out to "Laura's Living Prairie" the homestead claim where the family lived.   (This was the second place the family homesteaded -- maybe the last five or six books).  Bill didn't mind the trip and enjoyed looking at the old home and farm tools -- but it would have been a good place to be with somebody else who remembered reading about and loving the family; the Little House series really is kind of a a girl-thing.

Later on that same Fall -- across a few states and after several other interesting stops-- we stayed at the Mark Twain Caves RV Park in Hannibal, Missouri.  The park is located near the cave that Mark Twain is said to have visited and written into his story (the Becky Thatcher cave).  From Old Town Hannibal, we took the Mark Twain River Boat Excursion for beautiful views and an overview of river history from the guide.  The next day we toured Sam Clemons' boyhood home and a museum in the old Hannibal drugstore.   In the visitor center, we bought new copies of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer to re-read and then to give away, because it had been such a long time since we'd read those wonderful books. 

Bill really likes the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke -- those are set in the Bayou country of Louisiana, an area which we both love. 

Pre-retirement, we spent quite a bit of camping time in Steinbeck country in California -- and he's one of our favorite authors still.   

It's fun to see places that you've only read about and interesting to realize that the fiction we enjoy most is regional -- we get travel books and good stories all in one that way.

And then, of course, there was our trip to England.  Here's where there are people who plan all their travels and recreational time around their favorite authors.  We just stumbled across these places by accident.  We saw where Jane Austen lived in Bath.  And a whole lot of places where Charles Dickens hung out and wrote.  The Trafalgar Tavern here is one of them.  And then there was that other guy, William, whats-his-name ... oh, Shakespeare!   

So, that's the end of the post because I've worked up from books we read now to books we read in the past, to books we re-read, to books we should read someday, if only we live long enough!

COCHISE COUNTY AZ 2008

We wanted to spend some time in Cochise County to visit Tombstone and Bisbee.  We had a good time and -- as often happens -- we found places to see and things to do that we didn't know anything about until we got there.   We stayed at Tombstone Territories RV Park in Huachuaca City.  http://www.tombstoneterritories.com 

It's a clean and friendly little park with great mountain views from every angle -- and tons of backyard birds.   It's just 10 miles from Tombstone and 16 miles the other way to Sierra Vista, which is not a tourist destination, but has all the things you need for living.  (A good supermarket, of course, and at this particular time a place to get our hair cut and a place to get the oil changed in the truck.)   

This is BIG country!  We put about a thousand miles on the truck, criss-crossing the area.  The drives were beautiful, though, with the mountains seeming to float on the horizon.  We really enjoyed hiking around the Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains.  Cochise was a chief of the Chiricahua Apaches and these rugged mountains served as a fortress, home, and base of operations for him and his followers.    They would have been able to see for miles.  Cochise was said to be a master strategist in planning raids of ranches and stagecoaches and was never conquered in battle.

Tombstone (The Town Too Tough to Die) was fun in the hokey sort of way that makes people our age recall a childhood spent playing Cowboys and Indians.  The shootout at the OK Corral hapened here and there are a lot of actors everywhere in the town, putting on re-enactments as Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and others from the 1880s -- the town's heyday.  There are "shootouts" everywhere and  such added touches as people in old west clothes being thrown out of real saloons on a fairly regular basis.  Big Nose Kate's is a pretty good place to eat and watch the action. (It is named after Doc Holliday's girlfriend -- or one of them, anyway.)

The Birdcage Saloon is the only entirely original building in town.  It was a saloon, honky-tonk, gambling house and "house of ill repute" -- entirely legal then.  The "birdcages" are the tiny rooms that were occupied by the working women.  The town was a major stop for famous Vaudeville entertainers; there was a lot of money floating around here back then.

Bisbee, about 30 miles south of Tombstone, is an old mining town, a mile high in the Mule Mountains.  It's all built in narrow canyons and the old Victorian-style buildings are pretty well preserved.  We toured the now-closed Queen Copper Mine.    It's been left as it was when copper prices dropped and it ceased operation.  I thought about my grandfather, who had been a mining engineer and used to tell me stories about working in the mines.  I really hadn't understood very well what it would have been like until this underground tour. The town part of Bisbee is very counter-culture, a real throw-back to the (19)60s.

We drove into the mountains to see the Chiricahua National Monument and did some short trail-walks from off the road.  The scenery was magnificent but we'd like to come back sometime to see more of the back-country.  There's a bus that takes you to the top and then you can hike down.  We didn't get there early enough in the day to do that -- we drove both ways.   This was the area that we hadn't really heard much about until we got to Cochise County.   I'm glad we found out about it.

WHITE DOVE OF THE DESERT (one more from Tucson)

San Xavier del Bac Franciscan Mission (the White Dove of the Desert) has been an active mission since 1692, when it was founded by Father Kino, the Jesuit Missionary who founded missions all over the southwest.  It has been a Franciscan mission since the 1700s.  I think that the restoration and renovations have been going on since 1700 as well.  It seems a never-ending project and we like to check on the progress whenever we're in Tucson.  (We have a special interest in long-term remodeling projects.)  The part on the left, where you can see the construction, is supposed to be finished by this summer.

The Native people of this area called themselves the Tohono O'odhams, which means that they were descended from the 'old ones' who lived in what is now Sonora, Mexico.  The missionaries renamed them the 'Pima' (now that is the name of the county in which Tucson is located).

According to a sign in the Mission museum, when the Europeans first came to this area in the 1600s, they "failed to understand the people's nomadic lifestyle" and condemned their mobility as "heathen vagabondage."  Really, the nomadic lifestyle was a sensible adaptation to the harsh semi-arid environment.  But the missionaries worked at turning the 'Pimas' into farmers.  If they stayed in one place, it made their job easier.  Today, the people have their own real name back.  The mission is the parish church for the Tohono O'odhams.  But they never did get back their real life as nomads. 

So the history of the Mission causes us to have mixed feelings, but it is the best place we have found in Tucson to learn any history of these early inhabitants.

This is the altar dedicated to St Francis Xavier.  People pin tokens onto the statue that represent something for which they wish to seek special blessings.  We have seen medals, report cards, snapshots, letters and even sonograms.

It's a bit too dark inside to get great pictures, but clicking on these two will show some of the detail work, most of which dates back to the 1700s.  The candles are a special, smokeless kind that do not cause damage.  The candles that were used for centuries did smoke, and they are part of the reason that restoration is needed inside.

The missionaries always built churches as ornately as they possibly could.  It was like putting on a good show to impress the locals.  And, in spite of mixed feelings, the work and craftsmanship that went into the building are certainly impressive.  The parishioners are very proud of the church and many of them have been and are employed in the ongoing restoration projects.

There is a very nice view from this walled garden at the back of the church.

TUCSON PART 2, 2008 (and 2005-06 and 2003)

We’ve been in Tucson three different times and certainly don’t feel as if we’ve exhausted all its possibilities.  This was our second stay at Voyager RV Resort and it doesn't hurt a bit that Voyager is a great place to live.  People are friendly, the resort is well run and nicely located -- easy to get to anyplace in Tucson -- and there is so much to do that you really wouldn't have to leave the resort at all to have a good time.  You can read about some of the available activities at this website -- it really has something for everybody. http://www.voyagerrv.com/home.html

But we still enjoy spending some of our time exploring the surrounding area. Here are a few more Tucson area attractions that we especially enjoyed.

Tucson Botanical Gardens:  It's a beautiful garden oasis in the middle of a lovely old residential part of downtown Tucson.  The non-profit garden is dedicated to xeriscaping and natural plant education.  In 2005, we visited when it was decorated for Christmas with luminarias.  http://www.tucsonbotanical.org

Pima Air-Space Museum and tour of airplane graveyard:  This is a huge and well-done museum dedicated to the history of flight, military and civilian.  It includes a tour of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARG), also known as the Boneyard, which is on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.  http://www.pimaair.org  The airforce base and boneyard are located on the same side of town as Voyager. 

Titan Missile Site:  This is a short day trip from Tucson -- located 20 miles away in Green Valley.  During the cold war, Titan missiles circled the city of Tucson.  When they were deactivated, the Pima Air-Space Museum received permission to keep one and to make the site available for the public to tour.  You can also access more information about this slightly chilling but very interesting place through the the Air-Space Museum site above.

Biosphere 2:  In Oracle, about 30 miles from Tucson.  It was an artificial ecological system that had wetlands, oceans, plains, and people all living within the 3+ acre completely enclosed atmosphere.  (It is called Biosphere 2 because Biosphere 1 is the Earth.)  The purpose was to explore the interaction between life systems for ecological purposes and to gather information for possible space colonization.   It functioned as a closed system from 1991 through 2005.  After running into financial problems, the original foundation sold the structure.  It was run for a while by Columbia University.  It now serves as a huge research lab and has been taken over by the University of Arizona. http://www.b2science.org

Baseball Spring Training:  When we stayed for the entire Winter season in 2005-06, we went to several games that the Seattle Mariners (our favorite team) played with the two teams that train in Tucson.  (The Mariners train in Phoenix.)  Great fun and we would do this again if we are in the area during the right time.  We might even go to see some games that the Mariners weren't playing in!

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum  More a natural history botanical garden than a museum, it is pretty much all outdoors, with plants and animals in natural desert settings. We learned the names of many desert plants that we'd been lumping together under the all-purpose title of "cactus." The bright colors in this picture of an agave plant have not been touched up at all.  On a sunny day, this is what the desert looks like.   

We had seen most of the desert animals before in real natural settings (even the mountain lion, although that was many years ago), but the cunning little coati was one we'd never seen before, so we took some pictures. 

This Museum is a great place to walk and to observe and to learn about life in the desert. If we lived here, an annual membership would definitely be worthwhile.

TUCSON'S GREAT OUTDOORS

We like Tucson.  The area is rich with things to do and see.  It's a good place to live, with all the big city amenities, but also many easy opportunities for getting out into the great outdoors -- a perfect combination for us.  Except that there's no ocean in Arizona and after a while we miss being near the water. 

Apparently it's too dry here for bugs as well.  I'm sure this means something serious ecologically, but on the short-term, it's a plus for people living here.  You can sit outside or leave your screen door open during the middle of the day and on into evening (when it's warm enough) and you get no insects at all.  Nor do you see them much at all when you're out in the parks walking.

Here are some of our favorite places to explore.

Saguaro National Park  East and West .  The two parts of Saguaro National Park border the east and west city limits.  You can drive straight down Broadway from the main part of the city and end up at a trail-head to Saguaro East. Here are some varied descriptions of the giant saguaro cactus, from literature in the Visitor Center:  "the monarch of the Sonoran desert, a prickly horror, the symbol of the American Southwest, and a plant with personality."    Their fanciful shapes can seem almost human.  (Except that they can grow up to 50 feet in height.)   

The desert grows on you and after a while and you really start to really appreciate it's different kind of beauty.  (The Sonoran Desert has the greatest variety of plant and animal life of any North American desert.)  

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On one of our visits to Saguaro East, we saw a whole family of javalinas feasting on cacti. Their feeding habits are kind of harsh.  It's easy to see where they've fed, because you can see bent over, dying plants where they've been nibbling.

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The Sky Islands (Sky Island Scenic Drive in the Santa Catalina Mountains)  Sky Islands are isolated mountain ranges rising from the desert the same way that islands rise from the ocean floor.  Driving the 7,000 foot climb from Tucson to the top of the Santa Catalina Mountains takes less than an hour, but is the equivalent of going from the desert to northwestern Canada. You pass giant saguaro cactus, then oak woodlands. Then, about halfway up, there's the first sign of a cooler climate, with ponderosa pines.  There are plenty of places to get out and take short walks.  You need a jacket by the time you get to the top.

Sabino Canyon.  This oasis is located in the southeastern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains.  The canyon begins at the top of Mt. Lemmon.  There is a lot of plant-life and birds and even some water (the river does actually have some, unlike most Arizona riverbeds).   

For a small fee, you can board a guided-tour shuttle bus, which takes you into the deep crevice along the winding river.  You can choose to hop off and on at any of several stops, but if you ride straight through to the top and back it is about a 25-minute ride.  The presentation by the guide is informative.  We got off at the top and then walked the 3.8 miles back down.  All down-hill is our idea of a good way to go mountain hiking.  

Madera Canyon, Agua Caliente, and Tohono Chul Parks :  These are three different city or regional parks that are well kept up and have wonderful birding opportunities.    They are easy drives from Voyager.  We like that it is possible to drive to any one of these parks (or Saguaro NP for that matter), walk a little, maybe watch birds or wildlife for a while, and still have time to buy groceries  -- or go swimming or visit with friends and neighbors back home at Voyager.   

Comments

[Geoff]

This is, I think, the difference:
Crazy Horse is a fantastic, beyond-belief story of a man struggling against insane odds. And accomplishing an amazing amount. Way more than you'd expect.

Mt Rushmore is the story of the federal government putting everything they had into a sculpture. And getting about what you'd expect.

The Rushmore story just isn't as neat.