June 30, 2012 Tucson AZ to Saguaro National Park, Senora Desert Museum, Tombstone AZ and Las Cruces NM

We woke up at 5:30am breathing in the fresh mountain air knowing we had to get moving because the 100+ degree weather would be upon us before we knew it. Watching the sun hit the peaks of the mountains in the early morning was so very peaceful. As we drove down off of the mountains, we went by tons of bicyclists out enjoying a ride up the mountain before 6am.  They looked really happy.  We could understand this. 

We wound our way through Tucson to the other part of Saguaro National Park.  The drive through the park was spectacular, with lots of stops for photos.  We even took some pictures of Patti with “the biggest, tallest, prickliest cactus” and a copy of her book, How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl.  We were intrigued by watching some people harvesting the fruit off of the large cactus with long poles.  We had learned this was a Native American tradition where they make jelly and wine from the fruit.  It was so interesting, we could have taken pictures of varieties of cactus all day, but we had many more things to do.

Next on the agenda was The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, a zoo and gardens devoted to life in the Sonoran Desert.  We were so happy that we arrived in time for an hour and half guided tour by a very knowledgeable docent.  We learned much more about cactus, reptiles, mammals, plants, and insects.  It was with a small group and we had plenty of opportunity to get all of our questions answered.  Patti was happy to discover an outdoor labyrinth, and so had a nice meditative walk on it while Dick took a rest in the shade.  Because by now, it was again over 100 degrees.  After an ice cream shake, we hit the road again, this time headed for Tombstone, AZ.

Both of us had always heard about Tombstone and so were anxious to finally visit.  It was definitely an old West town.  We took a peek at The OK Corral, but decided to skip the shootout there…..Trip Advisor told us that that show was very HOT, and that there was a gunfight show at Doc Holiday’s Palace that was excellent and INDOORS with Air- Conditioning.  This was a plus.  We did enjoy the show.  Talking with one of the actors, he shared that all of the guys in the show had worked as stuntmen in Hollywood and chose to work at this show because of its fine quality and historical accuracy.  They did a really nice job, not full of cheesy inaccurate skits.  We walked around the town, and took a tour of the historic courthouse. 

And then….we were ready to leave.  It had been a very full day, with the plan to camp near Las Cruses NM.  The heat made us decide to find a hotel, which we did and pulled in for a shower and AC and a good night’s sleep.

June 29, 2012 Home to Yuma, AZ to Tucson AZ

4:15 am comes very early, but we both worked hard to get moving at that time of the night. (For Dick, he sometimes is still awake then with his night owl working habits, but rarely gets up early).  We officially hit the road at 5:30 in the morning and got through San Diego before rush hour traffic. 

We have been watching the weather map with dismay.  We are leaving the coolest place in the country into record heat nearly everywhere else. The weather report said it could be 108 today in Tucson.  Wow!  That is some change from our perfect summer weather of mid 70’s when we left home.  We can safely say, over 100 is really, really hot!

 Although we didn’t get the jumpstart on the trip on Thursday night, we still pulled into Tucson within a half hour of our originally planned time. The early afternoon brought us to Saguaro National Park. 

This was named for the famed giant cacti with the large arms raised up in the air. This park is filled with many thousands of these giants.  They can live to be a couple hundred years old, and are truly impressive, magnificent…who can describe them?  But they are fabulous and we are again so grateful for those who have over the years devoted their lives to preserving so many of these precious natural places.

In cooler weather, we would have done some hiking, but at nearly 110 degrees we had to be satisfied with only brief excursions from our air-conditioned car, with lots of photos, some shot through the car windows.  It really was hot, did we mention that?

The heat made looking for an indoor activity quite inviting, and we found our way to The Museum of the Horse Soldier.  This privately owned museum traced the use of mounted horsemen in the US Army from the mid 1850’s to the present.  The displays were very interesting, but the highlight was a private tour by the Assistant Director, Rae Whitley, www.Horsesoldiermuseum.com . He was so knowledgeable and quite an enthusiastic storyteller, willing to share his love of history with a couple of fellow history majors.  He responded so well to all of the questions that we had.  This will add another whole dimension to our visits to Civil War battlefields.  One of their claims to fame is that they have the only complete Rough Rider uniform and gear set that exists in the world (from a soldier who served with Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish American War.) Dick really enjoyed watching a WWII Army training film on how to saddle a horse and mount and dismount.  Another hidden gem that Patti found in her searching on-line.

After a meal at an air-conditioned salad bar restaurant, we followed the recommendation from a ranger at the national park to camp up in the mountains overlooking Tucson, with great hope that it would be cooler.  She was right!  We climbed 4000 feet into lovely mountains and enjoyed the drop of temperature, and went to bed early.

A new driving game:  watching for the lowest gas prices.  At home we filled up at $3.59, the lowest it had been in a year.  We thought this was likely the highest price we would see in the country.  So far we have seen the lowest price at $3.17.  Hoping for even lower prices.

June 28 The Trip Prequel

Okay, after over a year’s worth of planning, the evening of June 28^th finally got us out of the house and down the road for our 6 week, 11,000 mile extravaganza!

Actually, that was our plan.  The reality included finding that our last minute responsibilities lasted to beyond our planned departure time, so we “recalculated” and decided to set the alarm for 4:15 am on Friday June 29^th to finally set out on the trip.  We hit the road about 5:30 rested and ready.

The car is packed. We have three large loose-leaf binders filled with maps, directions, tourist info, hotel and camping reservations, tickets for attractions, coupons, and lots of miscellaneous info.  We are ready to roll!  Our minivan is loaded up with food and snacks, clothes, a great double bed sized foam-rubber mattress, lights, cameras and action….okay we are going to have to supply the action.  We have plenty of sunscreen, insect repellant, rain gear, and umbrellas.

Our time will be pretty evenly split between camping in the min-van, hotels with a couple of nice resorts thrown in, and stays with friends and family along the road.  The trip will take us from San Diego to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and home. 

We are feeling really good about our planning for this trip…. which has to be to keep on schedule and get us back home in time to return to work on August 13^th.  And we have commitments to people we are staying with, as well as hotel reservations, and special events we plan to attend.  So this is NOT one of those kick-back on the beach vacations.It is more similar to one of those graduate level, interdisciplinary travel seminars, studying and learning many different topics and then writing a reflection journal as you go.   

However, do not worry.  We are still allowed the flexibility (within the larger structure) to find the pleasant surprises or to skip something because of weather or it just didn’t hold our interest.  Our plan is our guide, not our taskmaster.

Are we ready to roll?  Oh yes!  The Adventure awaits!

Dedication of Peace Pole on 9/11

Today we attended a wonderful interfaith events at a local United Methodist Church. They invited the leaders from their neighborhood synagogue and mosque to help lead a service dedicated to peace among all. It was a beautiful gathering with people who were old and young, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish.

One of the readings said:
We commit ourselves to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and terrorism are opposed to all true religious spirit and we condemn all recourse to violence and war in the name of god or religion. We undertake to do everything possible to eradicate the causes of terrorism. We commit ourselves to promote the culture of dialogue so that understanding and trust may develop among individuals and peoples as theses are the conditions of authentic peace.

Having this truly multi-cultural/mutli-religious gathering of good people committing together to work for peace….that was truly a blessing.

My peace fill the earth.

Bandelier and Los Alamos

One of the side trip days took us north and west to Bandlier National Monument and then on the Los Alamos. Bandelier is one of the numerous places that the Ancient Pueblo people built homes and huge building complexes between 600 and 1000 years ago, throughout the South West.

Bandlier was peaceful and very beautiful. We were very pleased to have a lovely walk through a valley, and then had the chance to climb up a number of ladders to get to a place where there was a powerful kiva there. We climbed (and climbed) and were then very grateful to have a chunk of time without anyone else around. You could feel the ancient spirits.

Although we noted that the fire danger was rate as extreme, we had not a clue that a few days later, this whole area would be engulfed in flames.

Our visit with Los Alamos was interesting, but in the end rather creepy. We spent a couple of hours at the main museum in town there, had the chance to see a fabulous movie about the town's role in WWII and the secret development of the nuclear bomb. It was super top secret, even people in nearby Sante Fe had no real idea what was going on there. Actually, some of the people were worked there had no idea.

One woman said when she asked what they were doing, she was given the official line that they were developing windshields for submarines;-) Seeing some actual bombs like the ones that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were very sobering.

A couple of hours were as much as we could handle, and we were both ready to leave. the whole area of the laboratory had these signs about explosives....scary!

Can you say MUSEUM?

Two history majors on vacation, armed with a family membership to a consortium of Santa Fe museums....we took full advantage of the opportunities. We made it to the Palace of the Governors, The new Mexican History Museums, The International Folk Art Museum, Georgia O'Keefe Museum, New Mexico Art Museum, the Museum of Indian Art and Culture.

So many beautiful pieces of art, and interesting a provocative displays and videos. We especially enjoyed seeing the huge collection of folk art from around the world, and the actual O'Keefe paintings (after our field trip to the landscape areas.) And at the Indian Art and Culture Museum they had astounding oral interviews of New Mexican native peoples talking about their culture, and lives. We could have sat for hours and days longer listening to some of these articulate people sharing.

We also took advantage of being around Santa Fe on a Friday evening which gave us the chance to go down Canyon Road for the gallery crawl with many of the galleries having openhouses or openings. Some really beautiful and fun art, as well as the chance to interact with the artists and gallery owners. Artists generally LOVE to talk about what they are doing and answer questions and we were so glad to be able to be in such an art rich environment!