13 Apr An old bucket list item put to rest :)
Wanna laugh? Remember I complained about the snow birds confiscating valuable campground real estate? Guess where we ended up outside of Phoenix. A 55+ RV community. He he!! We have become them. In my head I’m in my early twenties. Not sure how life has zipped by so fast that we have adult children and we qualify for discounts at Arby’s (shhhh, don’t tell Dave, he actually like this place), McDonald’s, IHOP, and an AARP membership.
So we find ourselves at this super clean, super close to the highway campground, with a wonderful pool and jacuzzi that made us both very happy. After a quick setup, we zip off to visit the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument built more than 700 years ago by the Desert Sonoran People. It had been abandoned around 1450 and was rediscovered by Father Kino. Remember him? I’m loving learning about the Indian culture and people. Here we took a sweet docent led tour. Ya know how I know that I really do fit right in to this “older” lifestyle. Because we take these tours and I love what we learn, and soon after, my brain retains oh so very little of what we just learned. Good thing I write down notes at the end of every day.
Casa Grande Ruins
Happy Birthday from this very happy Junior Ranger
We are so happy to have extended family in the Phoenix area. Josh and Allison have become family since our Sara married Allison’s brother Matt, our most awesome son in law. These two good hearted souls received an Amazon delivery for us, encouraged us to use their laundry room, and shared an awesome lunch at Arizona Wilderness Brewery. The icing on this sweet cake of a day was sending us on our way with lemons and oranges from their backyard trees and a delicious bottle of their homemade Limonchello. We were both so grateful for great conversation and tremendous hospitality.
Family 🙂
Even before we were married almost 33 years ago, Dave and I have marveled at the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW). Our first cross country trip years ago with our kids out to Mt. Rushmore had us stopping in Oak Park, Taliesin East, Johnson Wax Headquarters and Falling Water, all homes and structures we saw designed by FLW. Full disclosure here, I didn’t get to tour Taliesin East, because at that point on that journey we had seen so much FLW architecture and Emma was done. Can’t blame a pre-teen for not wanting to tour yet another old house. So Dave and Sara toured, while Emma and I hung out at the gift shop. Fast forward eighteen years and we get to enjoy more FLW. Phoenix is home to several of Frank’s masterpieces. We visited the First Christian Church for a Sunday service. Astounding! We stopped at the Biltmore Hotel where his influence is tremendous.
First Christian Church Phoenix
Biltmore Hotel Lobby
Biltmore Hotel Pool
So a big gift to me was going to Taliesin West for a 3.5 hour Desert/Insight tour. Emma, I promise now I will stop moaning over my not seeing Taliesin East. Well it was everything I hoped for and then some. Taliesin, which means shining brow, was the winter camp for FLW and his family. It was built around 1934, basically into the side of the mountain. FLW was amazingly ahead of his time with a valued use of organic and locally sourced components and open concept designs. It was a school, and still has a Masters Program, where his apprentices were required to spend time camped out in the desert to see how nature influences the process of architecture. An interesting point we learned from our terrific guide Jake, was that FLW believed that Taliesin would ultimately be a temporary structure, eventually decaying and returning to nature.
Taliesin West
Zoom in. Glass added later on per FLW’s wife.
We were also introduced to a cactus on the desert walk of this tour called teddy bear cholla (choy-a) which is referred to as jumping cactus. This cactus looks soft and cuddly. Don’t be fooled. Get close and its pointy spines will hurt you! It was hard for Dave not to reach out and touch these cuddly little cacti. He so badly wanted to see them jump.
Teddy Bear Cactus
Dave’s medicine isn’t quiet doing the trick yet. So we take some extra time to chill when we can which is what we did at this 55+ RV park. Enjoying the pool and soaking in the sun.
For Us, It’s Not Abad Day 🙂