Carlsbad Caverns Nat. Park

El Paso

From Tucson, we drove on to Texas to visit with Dave's parents. Anna Lee and I have been having a debate as to whether or not we had slept in Texas before. This was important because sleeping in a state is necessary to have that state's sticker put on the side of the RV. Anyway, we are finally now legal because El Paso qualifies. Not only that, we had a great time. Joe and Nan took us on a tour which included a great view spot where we could look a long way into Mexico. Then we went to tour the UT El Paso campus. Saw some great art in their museum and spent time in the library. Then we had a delicious dinner and went to their house where Anna Lee actually won at "fizbin," our name for a game they never let us win. We all called Dave and Cheryl to annoy them full blast with both sets of parents, such fun. After dessert, Joe had to have a rematch which he won.

Jerry, Anna Lee, Joe & Nan.
The unique Bhutanian architecture in the library entrance of UT El Paso.

Biosphere II

We have enjoyed four wonderful days with friends from our Maritimes trip last year. Bonnie and Joe gave us the king’s tour of Tucson. We started with another architectural vision, Biosphere II, which is now a laboratory for Univ. of Arizona. The idea of living within the confines of a glassed enclosed miniature earth is both revolutionary and controversial. The tour covered both of these views. The interpersonal relationships are still being studied as members of the team write their own books with their own views of what happened in the two years they resided in Biosphere.

Ted de Grazia’s home and museum

Artist Ted de Grazia’s home and studio was filled with charming paintings of Tohono O’odham children and dark paintings of personal and political protest.

Kitt Peak

Our tour of the four-meter telescope at Kitt Peak was probably over my head but the guide was patient with my questions and we did learn a great deal. Of course, the view was good, too.

Cacti at the High Desert Museum and in Tucson

A blooming cactus or two.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Mission San Xavier del Bac is a beautiful late 18th century church still serving the Tohono O’odham.

The bad guys won the toss and elected to receive

Our last tour was into the depths of a decommissioned Titan Missile Site. This tour also had a great guide though the subject matter was again over my head.

Dinner with friends

We dined well with Bonnie and Joe, enjoying delicious meals in their home as well as sampling wonderful Tucson cuisine. They are cat lovers, so we invited one of their cats to join us at Miguel’s. We all licked our plates clean.

The next morning

The view west

The big dust storm

This blog entry is beginning to be a weather channel report. We spent our first night in Phoenix surround by lightning and thunder. All 360 degrees of the sky put on a light show for us. The second night we stayed in as a thirty-mile wide sandstorm blew in. We were on the outskirts but our pictures show the missing mountains out our window and their return the next morning.

The Suite at Arcosanti

The Vaults at Arcosanti

Arcosanti

Architecture is one of our themes as we travel. Acrosanti, a creation of Paulo Soleri, is a work in progress/lab for alternatives to our dependence on cars in our daily lives. The plan is to live, work, shop, and have entertainment all within adjacent buildings. This project was started in the seventies and interns come to work and test their own ideas. There is a wonderful suite (a bit rugged) with an amazing view that would be an unusual place to stay (Francis Ford Coppola stayed there).

Sunset at Wupatki Nat. Monument

Door at Lamaki Pueblo

Wupatki Pueblo

Wupatki National Monument

Well fed, we toured Wupatki National Monument. The ruins were photographic as you can see, but we were disturbed by the fact that the Park Service kicked out the last residents in this area in the early sixties after promising them they could stay until they died. It seemed they didn’t have deeds to prove their people had "owned" this land for over 800 years. A display in the Visitor’s Center has letters written as recently as 2005 from Native People wanting to move back.

Bicycle Mural

Flagstaff

Our entrance to Flagstaff was announced by the closest lightning and thunder we have ever experienced. That led to a typical rain storm for the evening.

We started our day with a lovely 10K walk. This mural was fitting as we shared the trail with bicyclists headed to the university.

Hungry from all our walking, yes food again, we enjoyed Navajo tacos at Cameron Trading Post. They were big enough for two, so leftovers tomorrow.

Las Vegas

All I intended to say about our second stop was "Las Vegas, HOT". Then we dined at David Burke’s at the Venetian. This was the best combination of food, service and presentation we have experienced in years. There are no pictures so visualize a room primarily in red with Humpty Dumpty’s scattered about. Hang in there, this is not a foolishness. The servers and busboys have real personalities, not the cloying kind, the conversational but unintrusive kind.

And the food. Starting with a Crunchy and Angry lobster that was mmm (mouth too busy for words). Then it was a contest between Jerry’s sesame crusted white tuna and the salmon on a artichoke/carrot reduction stew with spinach gnocchi. My mouth waters at the memory. Though the dessert menu added great temptation, we were virtuous. Then the waiter brought out a brandy sniffer overflowing with cotton candy. Now I don’t like cotton candy though Jerry does. To limit his consumption, I sacrificed and ate more than my share.

This post may be a tease but for anyone headed for Vegas, we cannot recommend the restaurant too strongly.

Devil's Postpile

 

Rainbow Falls

 

Inyo Crater

 

Mammoth Consolidated Mine

 

Fishing on Lake Mary

 

Mammoth Lakes, California

Well the best pictures were not taken, the one of the brown bear who ran across the road in front of our car then up the trail ahead of us on the trail we were going to take. Also of the three (almost only two) deer that ran in front of the car. Instead we have beautiful shots of great scenery and blue skies. We have enjoyed hiking in this area. This is a great time to be here, few others are.

On our first day in the Mammoth Lakes area, we drove around Lake Mary and stopped to take pictures of fisherman and women. We then hiked up to the Mammoth Consolidated Mine, a 1920s era mining venture that did not strike it rich. The mine is what they call a preserved ruin where the park service is just allowing it to decay. We then hiked up to Inyo Craters which are very impressive for a hole in the ground. .
Today, we spent most of the morning at hiking to the Rainbow Falls, a really beautiful waterfall, though no rainbow for us. Then we went to look at the Devil’s Postpile which is a must see. It is unique in that it is one of the few places in the world where you can see this type of basalt lava flow. A dip in the jacuzzi cured our aches from hiking at 9000 feet.