Phoenix - 12

February 17^th – February 23^rd 2014

Monday, Tuesday 17^th and 18^th

Work. Small stuff. School. Getting ready to leave.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 19^th, 20^th, 21^st

Tucson, described below.

Saturday 22^nd

Another slower day. We did not really have any plans and we felt somewhat tired and lazy. It was nice to open windows, watch blue sky and sunshine and listen to birds chirping. It is hard to believe that we are driving from desert in Arizona to Alaska (end of winter, more less). On the other hand, it is Alaska – still very unique and special experience (even if we have to fight some cold and wintery weather). Downtown Phoenix had its annual Japanese festival - http://www.azmatsuri.org/ - Arizona Matsuri. It was in downtown area called Heritage Square. Few streets closed, some construction, a bit of traffic – we parked in the garage just next to the festival. Another beautiful day. So so so many people. Music. Sword and other fighting. People in all kinds of costumes and dresses (impossible to describe, one has to see it). Food stands with 20 – 30 foot lines. And again, so so so many people. Stage with some music group playing Japanese music – very interesting. Other stands – arts, bonsai, toys. Stands of local high schools that may have Japanese programs. More people in very unique dresses. It is hard to believe that this was Arizona (state viewed as conservative and gun loving). It looked more like “hippie” New York. Or San Francisco. I guess we should be too fast to judge things without deeper knowledge. It was also pretty nice part of the city. Trees. Older buildings (not many of them). Interesting structure for markets and gatherings. http://phoenix.gov/parks/parks/heritagepk.html It got pretty warm. We were thinking about some hike or desert garden, but we were too warm and tired. Home. Few blocks from Heritage Square we found empty lots, goofy streets, and very sad looking parts of town. Poor Phoenix. One of the last days in Phoenix, good one.

Sunday 23^rd

Work. Nothing special.

Tucson (again)

TUCSON (AGAIN AND LAST TIME)

 Greetings from Arizona (this is picture of me).

Wednesday 19^th

Heading to Tucson. Not too early, not too late, but we still hit some heavier traffic. Luckily there is a commuter lane and it is usually pretty empty. There were some stupid people driving way too slow but it was still relatively close to normal drive. Sprawling Phoenix. Airport. Few hills – parks within city limits. Some developments and malls really far from the city (what the hell is going on?). Drive. Drive. On the north side of Tucson we were visiting Tohono Chul gardens. Nice and smaller botanical garden. It was pretty but unfortunately it was surrounded by the city so the magic of nature was not really there. There were nice places to sit and relax within the garden and it would nice to go there if we were living somewhere nearby. We found two ponds with tiny blue fish (apparently native to Arizona rivers before people helped the environment and made it more civilized). Without knowing much about Sabina Canyon, we decided to go and visit. It is part of some national agency and it was packed. We looked around a bit and decided to take a private tour (the whole canyon is about 6 miles long, there are some trails around but nothing really interesting for about two hour walk. The drive/guide talked a bit rigidly and J. was making fun of him (making robot voices). It was interesting place, really nice landscape but (unfortunately for us) we saw so many beautiful and interesting places in Arizona that this place looked just too normal. And so many people. On the way back (it was drive to the point in the canyon and back) we got off the trolley and walked back some. A bit lost. After that we drove through the city to Pima Air Museum. Some construction. Sadness from so many parts of the city – airplane graveyard, air base, trailer parks, … Museum. 4 hangers – second war, space, and something else. Really huge space outside with hundred or more planes there (a lot of money just fading into the trash or history). Some really interesting creations. J. was not really excited about the museum. I thought it would be even better, but it was quite interesting. Unfortunately no plane was “open” to explore. It would be much nicer if we could go into the planes. Kind of goofy time after we were done with the museum (4:30), too late to start something else. We found Mexican restaurant more less on the way to our motel “Crossroads” so we figured out we would have some nice dinner. Found (in sketchy looking part of town). Parked. Colorful and overdecorated place. Excellent dinner – it was not very spicy but it was really tasty. J. had some margaritas. Nice day.

Thursday 20^th

Morning coffee. Sunny. A bit breezy. About an hour drive to Tombstone. Sprawling city, kind of ugly and sad when there is a subdivision in the middle of nowhere. Nothing really special or pretty along the way. Tombstone – hard to describe the place like that. Smaller town (with some colorful history) currently catering mainly to tourists. Hard to say how much stuff is authentic and/or real. On a plus side, there is some life and the town is not complete ghost town. On a minus side, it is kind of unreal and pretentious. Might be just life. It was way too early, around nine o'clock, so there were almost no people and the shops were just getting ready to open. We walked along the main street, apparently featuring gunfight daily, and were kind of sad with the offerings – same stuff one can buy almost anywhere in Arizona (boots, trinkets, Indian art, shirts). As we were expecting there was not much that would be interesting for us. We went to state park – Tombstone Historic Courthouse. It was a destination for people who were early in town. It was lightly interesting, there was nice collection of barb wire, court room, and bunch of small stuff from that time period. It is however not that old so many of those artifacts can be found in antique shops or elsewhere. Still, somewhat interesting. Another half an hour to Bisbee. The landscape got more interesting (hilly, more diverse). There was a mine tour that we wanted to take (closed mine). Kind of goofy and small place next to the main road, parked, went inside to see times for tours with signs “sold out”. We discovered that several school groups were taking a tour and that meant there were no more spaces on it. Highly disappointing. We looked around (children were getting lamps and helmets) and left. Oh well … (I was not happy about that.)

Again, very disappointing (did I say that before?). We drove (very short distance) to the town, parked and walked around. It was nice smaller town nestled around the hills. Narrow streets, relatively lively scene of stores and restaurants. Much nicer than Tombstone (no offense there). Several antique (junk) stores, walk up and down the street and leave. We were heading to Coronado National Memorial. http://www.nps.gov/coro/index.htm Almost 30 miles from Bisbee, few towns and not much else. Coronado is mostly protected land with some camping and hiking, relatively primitive and next to the Mexican border. Heading to the visitor center we saw something dark in the desert and were guessing it was “the fence”. Visitor center – nice old gentleman (volunteer) in nice building in very quiet and serene area. We asked about the fence – and it was fence. Here is the picture of it, together with some special surveillance truck that we encountered on the top of the mountain. 

As we had plenty of time (thanks to no tour of the mine in Bisbee), we decided to walk up to the cave and go in and than cross the mountains (dirt road for 15 miles) to Tucson (longer by about 1 and ½ hours). Really nice walk up to the cave, great landscape, incredible views and no people around. The cave was relatively small (600 feet long), but there were some cool rocks and overall it was great experience (except one lousy flashlight). There was also pretty nice view of the fence. Continue along the road (changed from paved to dirt) to the Montezuma Pass (highest point in park, almost 7000 ft.). There was the spying truck (probably border patrol). 0.4 mile long walk to the top of the hill, windy with amazing views. Strange country. After that too many miles of dirt road. We encountered road work (grading the road). Dust. A lot of dust. Other than that – it was interesting landscape and nice drive but after a while it just got too tedious and a bit boring. We were happy to be back on the paved road. Go, go, and go to Tucson. We were tired and kind of lazy, so we had a dinner at In-n-Out fast food restaurant. Pretty good. Done for a day.

Friday 21^st

Slow morning. We did not really have any solid plans so we leisurely left the motel and drove to Saguaro National Park – East. Construction. Planes grave yard – we saw this place quite a few times. Park. Visitor center. Paved loop (around 12 miles). Small recommended walk (hike). The park is just below the mountains but unfortunately also next to the city (that keeps sprawling and sprawling). We had mixed feelings about it. It was still pretty nice place with luscious vegetation (for the desert) and we enjoyed it. Most shorter hikes were unfortunately flat and not really exciting for us. In the end we just drove the loop, stop few times, walked up some rock formations and left the park. There are some interesting things and places in and around Tucson but all in all it is not the prettiest city, unfortunately. And it is sprawling. For a while driving on I-10 towards Phoenix. We made smaller detour and were heading to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm We were not expecting much and it was more less on our way, so there was no harm. The road to the ruins (about 25 miles) was really boring, flat, some farming and the rest just nothing at all. Sad. Ruins – parked – some display – tour. There was a lot of older people, it was longer talk while we were sitting and some more information next to the big house (when looking at pictures it is the one with the structure around it. The monument was not the most impressive (flat field, some walls and one great house, city in visible distance) but the tour was quite interesting. History of the ruins and people associated with them. Some current notes about water and Arizona. Apparently Central Arizona Project http://www.cap-az.com/ transports water from Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson areas (over 300 miles and 2000 feet of elevation changes). Especially with current weather, it is interesting to think about Arizona (or South West in general), its future, and water. How many more people can live here without destroying the environment? In the end, we were pleasantly surprised by the visit to Casa Grande. Home. Phoenix. Freeways. We had to unpack, do some cleaning, homework, cooking and baking. Easy and pleasant evening. 

 

Phoenix - 11

February 10^th – February 16^th 2014

We were told few times that Arizona is strange state. Arizona is viewed as conservative and gun loving somewhat backward state. Few days ago (apparently medical marijuana is legal in AZ) on the radio they were talking about ballot issue that would legalize recreational marijuana. AZ has also one of the toughest drunk driving laws (who knew). I guess I am trying to say that AZ may be strange state but there is more then enough to balance it (landscape, great people, many great things). It has been more then enjoyable stay.

Our trip to Flagstaff is described below. Once again I have to say that we were quite disappointed by lack of snow. It was still great trip but we were really looking forward to some snow.

Work days. Errands. Preparation for our ultimate road trip (to Alaska). Five places (out of six between Vancouver, BC and Anchorage, AK) were available for online booking. So it is probably not that wilderness that it used to be 20 years ago. We will see.

For my “American government” class I had to “do something” for at least three hours that would qualify as improving the government. It was not easy to figure out what and who would help me. I ended up contacting Arizona Democratic Party and spending four hours doing “opposition research”on a candidate for Arizona House. It was interesting experience, obviously I could not learn or see much but it was still quite informative. Among “the odd ones” was information that Arizona has a state gun. And there are three more states with state gun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_firearms Believe it or not. Week eleven is over and our stay in Arizona is almost over.

Flagstaff

Phoenix to Flagstaff, Wednesday February 12^th

Normal morning. Took as forever to get ready and leave (bad sign for our upcoming long journey). It is getting old to repeat that it was sunny, blue sky and pleasant temperature. The rest of the country is experiencing strange weather (snow, drought, frost …). We basically took long and somewhat tedious drive to Grand Canyon, almost four hours. Nothing really special – we were revisiting Flagstaff area so nothing is really new. We were hoping (after we secured an assignment in Phoenix) to visit Flagstaff and Grand Canyon and experience winter wonderland. When we were in Flagstaff we were told so many times that whole area gets so much snow and it is magical. So, that was what we were looking for. Unfortunately there was no snow in Flagstaff and the area was suffering one of the driest periods in very long time. The experience of Grand Canyon was still incredible. There was less people and we could drive all the way along it (allowed only in January and February, the rest of the year one have to take a shuttle). Several stops, enjoying the beauty of this unbelievable natural wonder. Again and again, it is hard to believe that it does actually exist. Even there was no snow it was still great visit and we had so much fun. Anyway, who does not want to visit Grand Canyon (several times in two years)? And limited number of people made the visit even more pleasant. After all that fun we drove to Flagstaff. A bit less then two hours, amazing views of San Francisco peaks (at least there was some snow on the top). As the days are longer and we had time before dark, we drove up to the Arizona Snowbowl. The base of the area (almost 9500 feet elevation) had no snow whatsoever (what the hell). There was some snow on the sides of the mountains (higher up) but it was still so sad to see it like that. With so many memories from our previous stay here in Flagstaff, we drove through the town to have dinner (pizza) at Fratteli. http://www.fratellipizza.net/ It is probably one of the best (if not the best one) pizza places ever. And we were not disappointed. It was as good as we remembered. At least something did not change (for now). Great day.

Flagstaff, Thursday, February 13^th

The night was fine. We were just off historic route 66 and train track, so it was a bit noisy. Slow and relaxed morning. Drove to Sunset Crater National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm Again, we were just revisiting places that we have seen before. And again, we were hoping for winter magic scenery. It was sunny, breezy, and quite warm. It was just few minutes after nine o'clock when we arrived at the visitor center. Talk. Map. Walk within the lava rocks. Walk lava trail – no people whatsoever. Incredible views. It was (even without snow) magical, quiet, San Francisco peaks prominently displayed in the distance. It could hardly be any better. Continued along the loop road to Wupatki National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/wupa/index.htm Walks to several ruins along the way. Walk on the top of smaller volcanic hill. Same incredibly amazing experience. Back to Flagstaff. We had lunch at Criollo restaurant. http://criollolatinkitchen.com/ Again, pretty much nothing changed. A bit of “goofing and wandering” around the town. Walnut Canyon National monument. http://www.nps.gov/waca/index.htm No snow. Walk the trail. Enjoy it. Lazy and quiet afternoon and evening.

Flagstaff to Phoenix, Friday February 14^th

Another nice day. Mostly sunny with few clouds – Flagstaff sky, enormous and beautiful. Driving to Sedona. Still as amazing as we remembered it. Driving down the canyon, steep sides and slowly growing amount of red rock. Again, unfortunately, not snow. It was still pretty. We did not make any plans for this day so we ended up only driving through the town and enjoying the scenery. We stopped few times along the road and soaked the landscape. As we did not really do anything in Sedona, we figured out that we would try to attend eleven o'clock Arcosanti tour. http://arcosanti.org/ Interstate 17 for a while and 1.5 miles of dirt road leading to Arcosanti. Apparently they are making profit on bronze bells and wind chimes. This profit partly pays for the whole complex. A bit of waiting. Short movie – it was interesting piece about urban living and architecture and Solari's visions (he started Arcosanti). How current state of urban planning is flawed and impossible to sustain. Walk through the complex of Arcosanti – according to Solari it was supposed to be some kind of “urban laboratory”. Now it is kind of community that is promoting his ideas and selling bells. Hard to say. It was somewhat interesting, J. liked it very much, I was missing more information about Solari and his visions and so on. Oh well … Shortly after midday we were back on the road and heading home to Phoenix. Nothing special along the road – unpack, eat, watch some funny shows, errands, cleaning …. normal stuff.

Extremely fake holiday – Valentine's day (calling for strict boycott!). 

Phoenix - 10

February 3^rd – February 9^th 2014

Slowly but surely getting ready for our next adventure.

New tires for our car. We already bought snow chains.

Work days. Homework. Packing. Planning. Errands.

Practical life, the real one.

THURSDAY. Heard museum in Phoenix.

http://www.heard.org/

Interesting oasis in the urban jungle.

Guided tour – it was just fine.

Good collections. Some amazing pieces.

One hall dedicated to descriptions of current tribes in Arizona.

It was quite sad story – another one in our history.

The museum was a bit like a maze

Indian boarding schools exhibition.

Another sad story. Do people actually learn from history?

 FRIDAY. Camelback Mountain.

http://phoenix.gov/parks/trails/locations/camelback/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelback_Mountain

Slow morning. Took longer to leave the house than expected.

Drive. Sign “Lot full”. Annoying.

Maybe 10 loops around the roundabout (just before parking lot).

Annoyed. Few cars left so we were hoping.

Got in. Parked. So busy.

Later we learned there was a charity event.

People were walking/running the trail as many times as possible.

Walk/hike to the top (about 1200 ft elevation change).

It was incredibly busy. 

It was pretty steep and strenuous trail. 

The views were (of course) great.

It was also great exercise.

Pretty much all of our interesting stuff for the week.

Good weather (some cloudy days).

Cold snap (of low 60's for high) is over.

Actually, Sunday was quite warm (low 80's).

Life is good.

Phoenix - 9

January 27^th – February 2^nd 2014

Time is flying. We are at the end of 9^th week in Arizona and it feels like we just got here (more less). It is strange to watch crazy weather running all over the country (and have very pleasant and steady climate). I guess we are missing one of the coldest winters in Michigan in decade or two (so bad). J.'s job is still so nice (even she had one rough day this week). It looks like she may have hard time to have “normal” job after this one. Phoenix in winter is extremely pleasant. We had few days off but they were not all together so we stayed “local”. I still have school and do not enjoy those three classes at all. I also had to have some maintenance work done on the car (still some left to do). Planning our trip to Alaska (pretty much done, we leave 3/3 from Phoenix and arrive 3/18 in Anchorage). On Tuesday we went to MIM (Musical Instruments Museum). http://mim.org/ It is hard to describe it all but it was definitely worth doing. Very extensive collection divided by regions and countries. Probably third of the exhibits had also “television screen” playing samples of the music connected to that country. We received headphones and when we were close enough the music was transmitted (interesting). Towards the end we were really tired and could not believe how big the museum was. By accident we got to the showing of “mechanical music box”. There was quite big collection of those machines and they were really remarkable creations. At the (real) end we had some fun in the “play room” with some drums, guitars and other instruments. We even played the theremin. Some errands and monkey business afterward.

Piestawa Peak. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piestewa_Peak

North Mountain. http://www.northmountainvisitorcenter.org/

South Mountain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Mountains_%28Arizona%29

Other free days, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday we were somewhat active and did bunch of walking. Piestawa Peak and North Mountain are part of pretty large North Mountain Park. Piestawa seems be very popular and busy one, it is the one that I drove to few times to find no parking. This time it was relatively “empty” and we parked by the peak trailhead. There is nice network of trails but it looks like people are mainly interesting in going to the peak and back. About 1.6 miles round trip and about 1200 feet elevation gain. Great views. Many people going up and down. Rocky. Steep. Several fake summits. Very nice. North Mountain is about one mile from our apartment, we were going just for the walk but did not communicate that properly and ended up walking to the summit. Windy. Empty. Steep. Difficult. Rocky. Same great views of the valley in all directions. Cloudy – made it kind of charming. We invited J.'s friend and together drove to South Mountain Park in southern part of Phoenix. There was interesting event happening in the park: Great Canadian Picnic. http://www.canadianpicnic.com/Home.html Flags, music, some food carts, and stands with bunch of monkey business. Very odd. We drove into the park and walked along the trail. At the end we probably walked more than we wanted but it was really pleasant. We ended up on the National trail that was going along the ridge of the mountains. That gave us incredible views (all directions again). Total walk was a bit over 5 miles. This time there was nothing extremely steep. Phoenix in winter is really nice. We drove to Texas BBQ house for early dinner (or late lunch). Pretty good food. And home. We have to get ready for cold spell coming to the area, the temperature will be in low to mid 60's. Really chilly.