Valley of the Sun

This was posted out of order. It should have been posted about 11/15/07.

We went to Phoenix today and climbed (drove) up South Mountain City Park. It is reputed to be the largest city park in the nation. It is located right on the edge of Phoenix and we climbed rapidly up about 2000 feet on a beautiful road. The overlooks were stupendous! We were above the landing and takeoff paths for the busy, busy airport. I think they were using parallel runways because there was a landing and a takeoff about every 30 seconds. Beautiful to watch from above!

You could see the whole Valley of the Sun laid out before you. (If you have the ability to get your hands on a copy of the out of print book called The Weans , even try to borrow one, it would tell you what I am thinking as I write “Valley of the Sun”.) One of the lookout buildings had a wonderful sundial like brass plate with labels and directions to various cities and points of interest. I can tell you there is no dividing line between Phoenix and its surrounding cities. One blends right into another. The only clear demarcations were the desert landscapes and the imported trees landscapes.

We then drove to Scottsdale and toured on the free city trolley. Wow! Now I know how the other half lives. Pricey and then pricier!! No trailer parks or RV parks in that city!! Lots of art galleries but these were the real thing. Not tourist traps. One gallery was advertising that it had Andy Wyeths for sale!! Anyway, all parking in Scottsdale is free – no meters and even parking garages are free. The mall stores were like Nieman Marcus etc!

It was very nice but still desert with an average of 100 days in triple digits!!

This whole area is known as the Sonora Desert. It extends from Northern Mexico into Arizona. We drove to the Desert Museum and to the Saguaro (sah-WAH-row) National Park in Tucson. On the way we saw a large group of airliners parked in a field. It turns out this is called the Pinal (this county) Air Park. Apparently a place to drop off excess or not currently used airliners. Every color of the rainbow was represented but all seemed to be of the same make or model, the ones with the high dorsal fin tail.

Anyway, the Desert Museum. If you ever get to Tucson, you MUST go here. It is unlike any museum I’ve ever been to. A couple of buildings but basically a huge Southwestern garden. Native plants, bushes and cacti!! Now for a little flora lesson ( you’ve had the geology lessons right along). Cacti were always just THEM. A group of undifferentiated stuff but now…

First, everyone knows Kristi’s favorite, the saguaro but do you know the rest?? We saw spiny ocotillo which looks dead but as soon as it gets some rain, will burst into little green leaves which it drops as soon as it gets dry again so it usually looks like dead spines. Peggy liked the fluffy Teddy Bear Cholla (Choya) which you would never want to hug! I liked the Buckhorn Cholla which reminded me of stiffly braided rope. Similar to it is the Chain Rope Cholla which is like braided cable. We can identify Organ Pipe and Senita which is like organ pipe but is six sided rather than round. I almost left out the Chain Fruit Cholla (also called Hanging Fruit Cholla) which is like the Teddy Bear, fluffy, but has fruit hanging from under its top. Now be sure to look at the pics and see what they each look like.

In addition to cacti, the museum had loots of bushes. The palo verde is seen thoughout the desert. It has green bark so the entire bush is green. The turpentine bush is also prevalent. It has white or yellow fluffy flowers on the top. The tree or bush with fern-like leaves and thorns is acacia of one variety or another. The jojoba (hohoba) is used in shampoo. Last but not least is the creosote bush which gives off a pungent odor when wet. People say this is the smell of rain in the desert!!

Then we visited the National park and enjoyed the views of thousands of saguaros marching up and down the hills. No two are alike but the “normal” is not the two armed picture seen everywhere. Normal is multiple arms pointing in multiple directions! Loved it.

Today Mike and Peggy took me to a surprise! We went out to Florence AZ (30 miles) to see a Greek Orthodox Monastery which was founded 11 years ago. Wow!! I’ve never seen anything like it. There is a main church building (see pics) and about 5 other chapels so far. Three or four guest buildings, a dining hall and a building for the 45 brothers. You have to report to the bookshop on the way in where a strict dress code is explained. We were inappropriately dressed so… They provided long pants and shirts with long sleeves for Mike and I and a long skirt, long sleeved blouse and a kerchief for Peg. We got a guided tour of the main church and a self guided tour of the rest. It is a marvel to see the beautiful gardens surrounding every building and walkway. Fountains everywhere. An interesting marriage of Spanish Southwestern architecture with traditional Greek. Beautiful, beautiful everywhere you looked.

We were driving East on I-8 in AZ when suddenly I noticed cars coming toward us on a road to our right!! It seems that at one point to put the road through some mountains, I-8 split and Westbound crosses over Eastbound and continues up the mountains on the right of the Eastbound. Wild feeling!!