Phoenix - 4

December 23^rd – December 29^th 2013

Merry Christmas from the desert.

Next year, most likely, we will “enjoy” Michigan weather and Christmas. Work days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Anything special: not really. Family: a lot of talking over the phone and sadness on both sides. Somewhere, sometimes I (we) were told that in the end it does not matter so much where you live because you work, you care about people you love and like, and basically there is not so much time for that famous “free time” - in Detroit metro or San Francisco. There is much more to that thought, but … Life is life. Thursday. Easy and quiet day. Slow morning. About eleven or so, drive to Glendale (one of the many towns and communities of greater Phoenix) – the same drive (apartments, shopping malls, empty spaces, some houses, walls). Sahuaro Ranch – blooming rose garden and pretty large orchards – oranges and grapefruits. We got free (just two of us) tour of the house – ranch, it was mildly interesting. Wander around the ground of the ranch – old machinery, old buildings, and surprisingly almost no people. There were also about fifteen peacocks. Next to this ranch garden park, there was a public library – and peacocks were just flying around, jumping the fence and goofing off in both places, we even found some on the tree. There was a small garden next to the library.

On the way out WE PICKED SOME ORANGES AND GRAPEFRUITS, THAT WAS DECEMBER 26TH. It was pretty great. Drive along the outskirts of the city heading to the center. It is strange place – houses, industrial complexes. Almost ghetto area close to the downtown, within few blocks change to really nice houses with green lawns (being mowed, in the desert and in December). Japanese friendship garden – pretty much on the top of the interstate 10. Strange. Nice, sunny, green, and pleasant. Not the most beautiful or impressive Japanese garden we ever seen but a nice one. There was, however, pretty big pond in the middle and a lot of koi fishes. They were just jumping and swimming all over themselves. We were feeding them (like pretty much everybody else), they were selling the fish food in the gift shop. Quick stop at North Mountain Park (we wanted to take a walk), but there was (again) no place to park. Home. Movie – Love actually (I guess it is our Christmas tradition now to watch this movie). Friday. Easy and relaxed day – drive to smaller town of Globe. Same sprawling city of Phoenix – spacious and easy to navigate and pretty green for a desert, yet sprawling and strange. Nice and sunny day. Within an hour or so we were close to town of Superior and Boyce Thompson Arboretum. http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/ When we passed it last time (on the way to Tucson) it did not look like much from the road – a valley with bunch of trees and bushes, so we were kind of curious about it. And it was awesome. Some smaller gardens, a lot of cactus, incredible background (very close mountains) and very pleasant main loop. We briefly talked to some older couple who was enjoying a small pond/lake and were told that a duck diving there was also called coot (something he was called few times). Nice and funny couple (one would hope we will enjoy life like they do when we are of their age).

Thompson was apparently rich guy who was behind this oasis in the desert and also built the house that was near by (not open to public). Small creek – at one point we saw it just “end”. Pomegranate trees and bushes with fruits. Really great garden. Quick stops along the way in some “ghostly” towns, some antique shops and some wandering around. Arizona is strange and mostly pretty interesting. Globe – mining area. Visitor center. Bash Bah Museum – historical site of Salado Indians. A bit strange, mildly interesting. Walk on the top of the hill in the park – great views, evening sun creating really amazing colors of the hills and mountains. “Trading Post” shop – all kinds of monkey business, it was hard to believe what can be sold. A lot of copper souvenirs – clearly they are mining copper here. Evening. Motel. End. Saturday. Not very pleasant morning. The heater did not have proper thermostat so it was either too cold or too hot. Coffees. Gasoline. Leave the town of Globe. Breezy, sunny, cold (for Arizonians). About 25 miles to Tonto National Monuments – ruins of Salado people. Quiet and peaceful. In distance (in valley) the lake, the road, and a lot of empty space. Half a mile walk up to the ruins (covered by rocks – almost in cave like). Steep but nice and pretty walk – cactus, rocks, and great scenery. Older lady ranger on the top – few questions about the ruins and then the talk about life – variety of things: nature, people, travel, experiences, children … It was really interesting. Leave and head on the Apache trail – scenic road (partly dirt road) via Superstitious mountains. Roosevelt Dam. Paved road ending. Not too bad – pretty wide and flat road. River (real one) next to us. Breath taking mountains next to us, deep valleys and river down there. Few stops, incredible scenery, and nice drive (not the greatest driving, bumpy, later narrow …). Stop by the creek – breezy, airy, pleasant – again one would not say we were in the desert. At one point – final climb up – we saw something amazing – really narrow winding road going up with steep grade. It took forever to drive up. When we were up we parked and looked around – it was quite similar to Grand Canyon. We could see the road winding on the side of the mountain and in the valley. Well worth it. Drive toward Phoenix – finally paved road. Still many turns and declines. Tortilla Flat – some type of settlement with few stores and restaurants – so so many cars and people there. Goldfield Ghost Town – we were told that in a way it is a tourist trap but quite nice. http://www.goldfieldghosttown.com/ So many people. It was a tourist trap and it was not really nice. Only quick stop. Detour to the town of Tempe (not different from the rest of Phoenix area). Changing Hand Bookstore – nice one – even we should not buy the books (we are still on the road) we did anyway. Drive home – quiet evening. Sunday: monkey business and jackassing (technical terms for: errands, relaxing, reading, doing nothing, etc.).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY (AND SNOWY) CHRISTMAS!

Phoenix - 3

December 16^th – December 22^nd 2013

Monday and Tuesday, we spent those two days in Tucson and it is described below. For few days, there was a “heat wave” when the temperature was hitting around 80 degrees. Pretty nice. J. had two work days (she is still saying that people in the hospital are so nice) so I guess it is all good. I officially finished school (3.93 cumulative grade for this semester). Some practical stuff (papers, clean car, …). I took a walk in another part of North Mountain Park (really close to our place) and again, I was surprised by the steepness of the hill. The views were great. The way back was steep, rocky, and full of dirt dust making it really slippery. Anyway, it was really nice walk (I think I am getting a bit of sunburn). Life is fine. Those were Wednesday and Thursday. Cloudy day. It rained Thursday evening – interesting event in the desert. Slower Friday morning. We drove across Scottsdale to the Butterfly wonderland. It is apparently new facility that has several thousands of butterflies in the conservatory. Funny Arizona thing: we exited freeway, saw the building and withing hundred yards or so the road was blocked with big concrete barriers – there was no road for the moment. It is probably future expansion of the city. We watched 3D movie about Monarch butterflies – it was pretty great. After that we were let in – moist and warm garden with many butterflies flying around. It was very amazing experience. There was also koi pond in the middle with bunch of fishes. After we left the conservatory there were some tropical fishes, ants and bees but it was not as interesting as those butterflies.

We were planning to see a movie and had some time to kill so we drove to Anthropologie store in the nearby mall. Big mistake – apparently people are shopping like crazy and traffic within the mall was horrible. It seems that people in here like their malls and shopping. Quick visit and then movie – Dallas Buyers Club. It was very good movie – somewhat different – somewhat sad – somewhat funny. We got back on the road around 3:45 pm, it was still cloudy and the sky looked great – clouds, colors and images of something strange. We detoured to our nearby Lookout Mountain Park and were going to take a walk around the hill. It was pretty nice – unfortunately it was more ups and downs, more rocks on the path, and even longer then expected. Still – pretty nice day. Saturday. Nothing special actually. We had some plans but found out that Camelback Mountain is closed for some park improvements and we also did not really feel like some difficult hiking. J. got phone call from work as they were looking for people to work on Sunday (shortage of nurses). She decided to do some overtime. Apparently this job is so much nicer compared to NYC. We drove to the Roadrunner park and walked through the farmers market. We continued and got some groceries (J. needed to make some food for following work days) and also get some stuff for cranberry cake (we brought cranberries from Boston area). Home. Cooking. Relaxing. Reading. Anchorman movie in the evening (the first one, I guess it was fine). Sunday. Work. Otherwise nothing special. Almost Christmas. Sunny day in the desert. ((((Two days ago I received a phone call from my brother at 4:30 am, he told me that my father had a stroke. Today I talked with him and my aunt and tried to figure out what the situation was. Unfortunately he is still in hospital – since 11/27 and is physically disabled and barely able to communicate. Life …. I did not get all information and should know more within a week. Makes for a strange Christmas – somewhat.))))

Tucson

December 15^th – December 17^th 2013

It looks like most of the country is covered with snow – I have to say it is nice to have high 60's and sun in the sky almost all the time. We took scenic detour on the way from Phoenix to Tucson. It is quite amazing how much space there is in Phoenix area. The roads are wide and there are plenty of empty spaces. It is still somewhat amazing how much greenery there is in here (I thought it is desert). Sunday. The roads were pretty empty (nice and wide) and it was going to be really nice day. Sun was up. We drove east some (towards Globe) and then turned south to drive through the scenic copper country. It was pretty nice and hilly drive. Nice nature. Really trashy like trailer park settlements. Some nice house time to time. In the area of town called Ray there was active copper mine (open pit). It was very interesting look from the road, we also found their dirt road to “visitor viewing area” and went there. It was huge area of mining (according to posters it is about 1.5 miles long and 1 mile wide). Something different. Similar landscape. Biosphere 2 was our next stop. It was a home to an experiment in 1991 and then became research facility with different objectives. Currently it is owned by University of Arizona. Isolated. Amazing architectural marvel. Tour. 

http://b2science.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

We got there in time for 11:00 am tour. Short movie when I realized that it was the experiment of 8 people being locked there for two years that started this science endeavor. Rain forest. Ocean. Desert. Basement with the technology stuff. “Lung” that compensated for the air pressure fluctuation. Pretty cool. We also saw the kitchen and some remaining places from the initial experiment. Excellent visit. Continue along the road towards Tucson. Mountains in the background. Newer “pop-up developments” in the middle of nowhere. Big shopping malls. In a way strange area. Quick drive through industrial area, ghetto area, and we ended up in the downtown district where we looked for a parking for a while and visited information center. So, so for usefulness. Walked to the 4^th street fair (apparently big one happening twice a year). Pleasant walk, nothing special. 4^th street – incredibly long line of stands in the middle of the street. We walked most of it – art and other trinkets, food, and a lot of sun. Pretty pleasant. A bit of personal disagreement – took a while to get over that (life happens, hopefully live and learn). Historic district – a bit strange, older “Spanish style” houses but … hard to say. Back to the car. We still had some daylight left so we drove to the Sentinel Peak Mountain. Close to the town, a road to the top. Really great view – we saw there is almost no downtown. Sprawl. Surprisingly, again, a lot of greenery. And great views. Drive towards the motel. Grocery store. Motel. End of the day.

It was somewhat breezy but sunny and nice. Monday morning. We took city streets and left the populated area to visit Mission San Xavier del Bac, lonely church plus some other buildings on the side of the town. Next to it was the Indian nation building. Nicely restored, interesting information, good visit. We saw quiet a few areas of Tucson that are not so pretty. Sad. Back on interstate 19 and heading south (about 50 miles to Mexico). Very close to freeway was our next stop – Titan Missile Museum. It used to be one of 54 missile installations (1950s) housing Titan II nuclear bomb missile. During Reagan's presidency all the complexes got destroyed as a part of treaty between the US and the Soviet Union. Only this one was left as a museum. We got private tour as there was no one else wanting to tour this facility at 9.30 on Monday morning. http://www.titanmissilemuseum.org It was good place to visit, to see the test missile in the silo (over 100 feet long I think). They also described the destructive power of the bomb (over 500 miles radius). Glad we stopped. More I-19. Funny thing – the signs were in kilometers. Speed limit in miles. Along the way we passed another funny thing (still on the freeway). There was a structure (roof) and it was a border patrol check point. For us, going south, there were about 6 cameras mounted on the rail next the the road. Oh … security. Tubac – next stop. Smaller town and state historic park. We walked through the park – pleasant weather, interesting buildings, information, and displays. Few miles down the road was Tumacacori National historic site. Remains of the mission. In a way similar. http://azstateparks.com/Parks/TUPR/ In some way it is hard to describe all of that – one should see it. Apparently (in Tubac) the number of visitors compared to last year is really low (too bad). http://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm Talking with the staff people (nice ones), we learned that there is nothing to see in the borer town of Nogales so we did not drive there. We made a loop and were heading back north towards Tucson. It was pretty nice country (also pretty empty). There was few places that we could do some more serious hiking (not really developed areas) but we did not have either time nor desire to do that. We stopped in town of Patagonia, small visitor center where we talked with old lady who was working there (according to her it was cold and she head a heater running). We had a lunch almost next door and it was pretty good meal. The town looked a bit goofy and one would not expect such a decent restaurant. Continue along the road. There was a US border patrol checkpoint, we stopped (about 5 agents and one dog, some cars, chairs, etc.) and were asked if we are citizens (answer yes) and were let go. Somewhat earlier afternoon, we called Colossal Cave Park and were told that we should be able to make it for a tour. Drive. Park. Pay. Go. It was a guide and four of us (another older couple). The caves were dormant (do not grow the rocks anymore) and earlier people broke a lot of rock formations as a souvenirs. Strange. It was pretty interesting, cool, and somewhat warm (71 degrees all the time). Great views when leaving. City of Tucson, airplane “cemetery” (or more like storage field, apparently housing over 4000 planes). The city is not the prettiest one. Short walk in the park (were stiff and did not do much walking during the day). Amazingly pretty pink sky. Nice end of the day.

Slow morning. I finally got better sleep. Breezy. Sunny. Some wind. Another nice winter day in desert. Tuesday. (December 17^th 2013). Side roads to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. http://www.desertmuseum.org/ About 40 minutes drive. Outskirts of the city (not really pretty). Scattered suburbs. Seems be a thing here – drive for a while from the city and then built “pop-up” settlement (and probably drive to the city to work). Saguaro forest – windy road in the desert. It was pretty. The museum – we spent there almost four hours, desert plants, some animals, raptors in the flight, birds, it was pretty nice visit. There were too many children – it was noisy but again, that might be life. Hard to describe all of it. We talked with one of the volunteers about cacti. Very hard to get water from cactus to drink. She (not born in Arizona) said that it gets hot and famous “dry heat” is pretty much bull sh..t. 

People are really nice and we got to talk to quite a few people on our trips (and we have been here for less then three weeks). Short drive to Saguaro National Park. We bought our annual parks pass and drove part of the scenic loop. It was really scenic (and bumpy – it was dirt road). There was saguaro as far as we could see – it was great. We wanted to arrive “home” at reasonable time so we did not do any walking this time. Continued along another dirt road and later got to the interstate. Heading north to Phoenix. Pretty boring drive. Quick stop at Costco (along the way). Some heavy traffic but we could use commuter lane (2+) so it was not too bad. Home. Unpack. Clean. Relax some. Pleasant evening.

Phoenix - 2

December 9^th – December 15^th 2013

There was a period of time in Arizona with cold weather. The temperature was barely hitting 55 degrees and born Arizonians were freezing – they were even buying clothes for their dogs. So cold in desert. On the other hand, pretty much rest of the country is freezing and experiencing horrible weather – it is nice to be here. J. found this postcard (sent it to her dad) and we think it is pretty funny. Some work days, some practical stuff, some “normal life”.

Pretty much end of my school (finally). Some hiking in our area. Again, it is really interesting how green the city is. The parks within the city are also nice (mostly the hills that are here). I was remembering J. saying how Phoenix is flat and I was swearing because the path to the top was pretty steep and rocky. The views were great. The distances are greater that one thinks. On Friday we drove to the town of Fountain Hills (established in 1970's). There is man made pond with (apparently) really high fountain. It was interesting otherwise there was really nothing to the town. On the way there we saw two hump camel being walked on the sidewalk in the rich suburb. Real (and big) f...ing camel. It was unbelievable but it was real.

Small walk in the town of Fountain Hills. Another longer walk in McDowell Preserve on the edge of Scottsdale. Sunny. Pleasant. Pretty. We returned home, relaxed for a moment or two and later (6:21 pm) drove to Phoenix Zoo to see a winter event called “Zoo lights”. They set up several millions of lights in forms of animals and also decorate the trees, cacti, and so on. It was crowded. It was pretty interesting, the crowds were not very pleasant but … that is life. On Sunday we left for Tucson (described later). Well … so far it is pretty good in here.

Where's Waldo?

WHERE'S WALDO?

As I was walking along the Lookout Mountain Park I took few pictures with people in the distance. After the first one I was thinking about them as “where's waldo”. It was kind of funny.

PHOENIX - 1

December 3^rd – December 8^th 2013

Our second adventure in Arizona did not start very smoothly, unfortunately. We were really happy to go to the bed and be done on Monday. Sadly, the mattress is really firm. J. had her orientation from eight to four thirty on Tuesday and Wednesday. The hospital is about fifteen minutes from the apartment. Relatively easy and quick drive on the freeways. There is no snow here. Cactus. The area is surprisingly green. The orientation continued on Thursday as well. The traffic is relatively fine, compared to New York or San Francisco the traffic is just peachy. The roads are relatively new and well maintained. The hospital is on the north end of metropolitan area and the city continues to sprawl further. I unpacked, cleaned up the apartment, got oil changed, did some shopping, and homework. The school is almost over. Unfortunately we have a bit of cold spill here and the temperature is barely hitting 60 degrees. One day I went for a walk in a nearby North Mountain Preserve, I wanted to do some small loop but ended up walking over 4 miles. Uphill – the views were really (again surprisingly) nice – the city is flat and green, there are some small hills (parks) within the city and most of the horizon is covered with the mountains. It is quite interesting. Things are falling into the place and everything is getting more less normal.

On Friday we went to the Desert Botanical Garden. We bought the membership tickets as we are planning to go back there few times. Last year, when we were in Flagstaff we visited the garden, but it was about 110 degrees and J. was extremely cranky. It was much more pleasant this time. Thru out the garden there are glass art pieces from Chihuly, it was interesting. http://www.chihuly.com/ The whole garden is really cool place to visit. After that we drove to downtown Scottsdale. We found visitor's center and got some information and brochures. There was nice lady who was originally from the east coast. J. got phone call from the hospital about her schedule. She wanted to have her notes so we headed home – the distances are somewhat big in here, I guess they have enough space to build bigger. They asked her if she would not mind to work days instead of nights, at least for now. Great news – we went from really bad night shift schedule to really nice one with day shifts. And most of the country is fighting snow and ice – it is nice and sunny here. Saturday was the first unit orientation shift. I spent the day with papers – school, our documents, contracts, taxes and so on. It was really awesome. J. called me and repeated several times that everybody is so “nice, really so nice.” Kind of funny, it is interesting contrast after our stay in New York City. Nothing special on Saturday.

There are apparently 330 sunny days in Scottsdale, I guess this Sunday is not one of them. It was mostly cloudy, somewhat breezy but again when reading weather reports from the rest of the US it was more then pleasant day (ice on the roads of Texas). I got phone call from our parents at 7.00 am (she did not realize there was two hours time difference). I was already up but J. heard it too. Relatively early morning, slow one. Drive along Cave Creek road to the villages of Cave Creek and Carefree. A bit of city and later bunch of desert. Nice drive. We detoured just before the village to a Conservation Area of Cave Creek (it is regional park). It was over 4 miles out of the way and last mile was a dirt road. Really nice area, hilly, with sun creating interesting picture with shadows. There was an entrance fee collected by an older couple from Wisconsin (volunteers or workers of Maricopa County Parks). Nice people. Pleasant walk through the desert – a lot of Saguaro cactus. They can apparently live up to 300 years. There is also special pronunciation of the word “Saguaro” (watch this video). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1t7otKxIqg It was a bit breezy walk but the landscape was incredible, it was quiet and peaceful. It was really beautiful (who would think that about the desert, right?). We really enjoyed that. Town of Cave Creek – main road with many shops and restaurants (some more and some less interesting). We stopped in one selling art from metal, ceramics etc. - it was pretty neat. Another was rock and glass shop. We went in and realized it was a bit different price range – they were selling tables with some half cut rocks for 20000 dollars. And that was not the most expensive item by far. We talk with the guy who owned or worked there and it was good learning experience (where it is from etc.). They even had a piece of glass from the Manhattan project (not radioactive anymore). Really, people are so nice here. Carefree – empty, or almost empty. Interesting town square (relatively new) with desert garden in the middle. Really big sundial. Bunch of shops and restaurants. Couple visited – just fine. Antique store – I guess normal – the owner was really nice (originally from Midwest – I see the theme here) and was playing with two wooden gag toys. One was box that had sliding door – when J. open it the spider on the wire came out touching her hand. The other was disassembled and we helped her to put it together – it was exploding outhouse. There was a mouse trap inside and when a person opened the door of the outhouse the mouse trap went off and “blew up” the house. It was great visit. Drive for a while. Stop at the Sonoran Desert Park (when I looked at Google maps at home this road was still being built). New and nice park. We debated and in the end decided to take another walk. Less Saguaro cactus – more other cacti – nice hill offering almost 360 degrees views of the area – it was amazing (around two miles walk). Drive home after that and enjoy quiet evening. FIRST WEEK IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA: it did not start well but so far (knocking on the wood) it is turning to be pretty nice.