Las Cruces to Phoenix

Day 118 - Tucson / Tempe / Phoenix, AZ - Sunny Low 70's:

Did I mention that the camp sight in Tucson was located right near a naval air station, was more of an RV park than a campground, and was within earshot of a railroad? Needless to say sleep was not the easiest thing to come by. So with that said we were up before 8am today and on the road by 9am. Our first stop was DUNKIN' DONUTS! These are not easy to come by and if you know Ben you know he loves a french vanilla coffee from DD. After our breakfast stop we headed toward Phoenix. As we drove I read online about the must things to do in the area. One of the top suggestions was the Apache Trail about 25 miles east of town in the Tonto National Forest. This worked well for us as we were coming from the east. We took the drive which is on the list of National Scenic Byways. It was so beautiful. The road is windy and steep taking you through some of the most beautiful terrain of Arizona. Our first big stop was at Canyon Lake. It appears that this is a big camping and water sport area. There were people out jet skiing (in wetsuits) and boating all over the river. From there the road led us to Tortilla Flat (Ben sang the commercial repeatedly). Current population of the town is SIX. Tortilla Flat started out as a stage stop in 1904 and neither fire nor flood has been able to remove this historic stop. The town was PACKED. Part of this was due to the fact that the road was washed out and the river was running across the road just past the town store and restaurant. Many cars and trucks drove through the water but Ben and I were not comfortable with this idea. We are often reminded that this is the only mode of transportation we have and we don't really want to spend our money fixing it! Instead we walked through the VERY SMALL area. Ben got a prickly pear ice cream and we visited the gift shop. If you look at the photos you'll see that the walls are covered in one dollar bills. No one is real sure how this started but the walls are estimated to hold over $150,000. We then headed into the museum. It is on the spot of the first school ever in Tortilla Flat. It was soooo small! We left Tortilla Flat and headed back down the Apache Trail. We were disappointed that we were not able to drive all the way to the Roosevelt Dam but happy that we could be sure the car would still be running at the end of the day!

We continued our journey towards Phoenix. We made a quick stop at Target to get a Tripod for the camera. Thanks Pam and Mike...your giftcard came in handy!! We had to take a detour due to construction and ended up in Tempe home to Arizona State University. We decided to get out and take a walk around town. It is a GREAT town. We both said we could see ourselves living there...in the winter...we aren't too sure about the summer considering it was in the 70's today! We walked Mill Avenue (the main street) which is full of bars, restaurants, and shops. It was a very nice area. As we walked we saw a huge golden A in the side of a hill and noticed people walking up to it. We decided to check it out. The "hill" is called Tempe Butte but is more often referred to as A Mountain. The A is in reference to the University. The mountain has an elevation of 1496ft. After some hemming and hawing, we decided to change into workout clothes and get some exercise. The plan was that I would walk up the trail and Ben would run...Mt. Washington training! Well let's just say that this trail was as steep as Mt. Washington. I think the trail was about twenty-five tenths of a mile and by the time I walked to the top I was in a sweat and breathing heavy. Ben didn't make it too far in the run...he had to walk...it was VERY VERY STEEP. He compared it to Mt. Washington...just not nearly as long. We figure he and Melissa should vacation here about a month before an just do repeats!!

On our way down from the short trip up Tempe Butte we noticed a trail along some water. We headed over to what turned out to be Tempe Beach Park along the Salt River. The park was very nice and we hit it running. Ben headed out ahead of me (big surprise I know) but we both did about three miles along the water. The trail was right by the water and on the other side was the University. Once we finished we headed to our hotel. There was nowhere near Phoenix to camp so it was to the hotel...turns out to be a good thing as there are thunderstorms and lots of rain for the overnight. We arrived at the hotel and made some dinner. Ben cooked while I worked on the blog! He even made popcorn for a snack...such a treat!! Now it's relaxation time. We are both working on our computers trying to get things straight and figure out the next couple of weeks in our schedule. Tomorrow it's museums and maybe a hike...it all depends on the weather.

Hope everyone is safe, warm, and with electricity! Love to you all.

Day 117 - Tucson, AZ - Sunny Low 70's:

We woke up early today with a plan to hike one of the trails right at the campground. We quickly found out that the trails were more like walking paths so instead we headed to Saguaro National Park. When we arrived we stopped at the visitors center where the ranger told us about the Douglas Spring Trail which would connect us to the .... trail. The ranger was quite sad that she had to work and could not join us as there is waterfall at the top. As you can imagine waterfalls are not very common in the desert and with recent rain the river was flowing! Much to our surprise when we arrived at the trailhead there were TONS of cars. The parking lot was full and the street was lined. We ventured up anyway! We started the trail by signing in...it's the first time we had to do that...and then headed up. It was a fairly steep trail and with the heat it felt even steeper. It was beautiful hike and we were surrounded by cacti. I think it was referred to as the cacti forest. Ben loves the cacti and often touches them! I keep telling him that one of them is going to get them...he doesn't care though. After about a two and a half mile hike we reached the waterfall. It was a great sight and we enjoyed it for a few minutes in peace before about twenty others joined us. We headed down the trail taking pics...Ben with the cacti...and enjoying the scenery. Once back in the car we traveled the eight-mile loop road through the park. It was not the most exciting trip we've ever taken but we did it!!

We headed back to camp for showers and then headed into town. Our first stop was the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona. We had read that they had a large collection of Ansel Adams photographs and wanted to check them out. Turns out the museum opened in 1975 with the purchase of five photographer's archives. The five artists archives that they hold are Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer. Today "The Center for Creative Photography holds more archives and individual works by 20th-century North American photographers than any other museum in the nation. These holdings include a research collection featuring the archives of over 50 photographers - Ansel Adams, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Richard Avedon, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, W. Eugene Smith, and Edward Weston among them. Archives include photographs, negatives, albums, work prints, manuscripts, audio-visual material, contact sheets, correspondence and memorabilia. CCP's art collection totals more than 80,000 works by 2,000 photographers." (http://www.creativephotography.org/collections/, February 26, 2010)

Their current main exhibit is called New Topographics. Here is how the website describes the works: "The exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape, held in 1975 at George Eastman House, signaled the emergence of a new approach to landscape photography. A new version of this seminal exhibition re-examines more than 100 works from the 1975 show, as well as some 30 prints and books by other relevant artists to provide additional historical and contemporary context. This reconsideration demonstrates both the historical significance of these pictures and their continued relevance today." (http://www.creativephotography.org/, February 27, 2010) The photos were so impressive and they had a whole section of Boston photos which was nice because I actually was able to recognize most of the locations. From the main exhibit we headed up to view some of the Ansel Adams photos. Everytime I see his work I am more amazed. If I could afford it I would decorate my future house with his work...instead I will likely choose from the much more affordable Anna Lacasse gallery! While there we learned that the Art Museum of Phoenix has an exhibit of Ansel Adams work which we will likely check out.

After the museum we headed to dinner at El Charro Cafe. Lonely Planet our constant travel companion had suggest it so we thought we'd give it a try. Ben had margaritas and shrimp tacos which he thoroughly enjoyed. I had a salad (delicious) and their original tacos...they were not good and I would not recommend them. It was so disappointing but what can you do...sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

From dinner we headed over to the University of Arizona to catch a pre-season baseball game. Did you know that Terry Francona went to school at UA? We stayed for about five innings...the Wildcats were winning...but we realized that we had no interest in actually being there. Lesson learned: unless you know someone or have some investment in the team don't go to a sporting event!

We headed back to camp and caught a few minutes of the Canada/Slovakia hockey game before they kicked us out of the rec room at 9pm. We headed for our tent and did some reading before falling asleep!

Day 116 - Las Cruces, NM / Tucson, AZ - Sunny Upper 60's:

Today not a whole lot went on in our lives. We awoke, ate breakfast, and hit the grocery store for some grub! We then hit the road for Tucson. It was a long, WINDY, and not very exciting drive along I10. It took us around five and a half hours to reach the city. Once there it took us a bit to figure out where we were going to stay. Eventually we found a campground and set up. Ben made a great dinner of hamburgers and green beans before we hit the sack for reading. It was a boring day to say the least but hey not everyday can be exciting....right?