MESA, AZ - MARCH 2011

We decided to return to Ambassador Downs RV Park as we found lots to do in the area last year. Our site backed up to one of the myriad of canals that run through the area.

Our space at Ambasador Downs

The system of canals and projects on the Salt River made a big difference in the development of this desert land. We had some noise from the paving project along the canal. The paths along the canals and in the many parks in Mesa make it a Mecca for bicyclists

One of many sculptures in downtown Mesa

In downtown Mesa we visited two of the “3 for Free Museums” sponsored by Target on the 1st Sunday of each month. In the Arizona Museum of Natural History we viewed Dinosaur Hall and its flash flood amid hordes of children and their parents.

Watching the kids working with the interactive displays was the most fun. They were putting a dinosaur skeleton together, then immediately trying to take it apart; stacking rope-like discs of different sizes attempting to form a traditional native pot; panning for gold; and unearthing fossils hidden under sand. We learned about Arizona’s historic 5 C’s: Cotton, Citrus, Copper, Cattle, and Climate.


At the Mesa Contemporary Arts complex, Mike listened to a concert taking place on the patio while Donna scouted the art inside. We will attend a concert with the Symphony of the Southwest at the Ikeda Theater, also part of the Mesa Arts Center.


While experiencing the artists and vendors downtown, we came upon a most unusual store for us, Milano’s. The inside was an explosion of musical instruments.

We were surprised at the different metals and the cost of the saxes

Guitars come in all sizes, shapes and colors

The bongo room

One day we decided to try Pete’s Fish and Chips for lunch because we always saw lots of people in lines outside. We like to try local places as sometimes they do common dishes in a different way. The price was right, but the food was disappointing.

Fish and Chips, Fried Oyster plate with Pete’s red sauce

Donna read about the Sonoran Dog (a bacon-wrapped hot dog with onion, tomato, avocado, jalapeno chiles, cotija cheese, mayo, mustard and pinto beans all inside a Mexican roll) being a popular creation. We will be on the look out for a place that serves this different version of the standard hot dog.

The beautiful building and surrounding gardens we spotted turned out to be the Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We had never seen it from this angle.

At the visitor center the charming Sister Mc Kee greeted us and answered all our questions, mostly about her family and her mission here in Mesa and in Jerusalem.

A visit to the Gilbert Museum gave us a glimpse back in time in one of Mesa’s neighboring cities which once was known as “Hay City”. The museum is located in what was Gilbert’s elementary school. We were reminded of our own school days when we spotted wooden desks with inkwells, 3 walls of chalkboards and a cloak room at the rear of the intact classrooms.

Donna spotted her favorite paper dolls among the playtime displays.

Pictures of the early town marshals had their duties listed. In addition to patrol duty days and nights, they also were ordered to shoot vagrant dogs, enforce curfew, sweep streets and sidewalks, turn street lights off at night and on in the morning.

When did he sleep?

In one memoir about early farming days called Chicken Every Sunday, the writer wrote that the greatest invention that rivaled the wheel was when, in the 30s, the hatcheries perfected a way to tell the sex of the chick and could guarantee a 10% or less rooster count. That meant his family did not have to eat as many of the useless roosters on Sundays as they did before!

The quilts exhibited throughout the museum were part of an annual event hosted by the museum with quilts brought from all over the U.S. and Canada. A favorite for Donna was the "I Bee lieve" quilt.



The stories of who, what, and why attached to the quilts make the quilts more interesting.

We revisited Old Town Scottsdale to see what we missed last year; the Schoolhouse Museum, the Old adobe Mission , and many art galleries.

Winfield Scott, Wife, Mule and Mike

One day we spent 3 hours riding on the Metro. We started at the last stop on the east which is in Mesa. We traveled through downtown Phoenix to the last stop on the west and then all the way back. It was entertaining to see the sights along the way as well as viewing the passengers. A man brought his bicycle as well as the trailer hitched to it carrying recycling trash. With orders from the security police not to bring his business back on the train, he left leaving a sticky mess on the floor. As we approached the station across from Central High School, we saw a humungous throng of teenagers waiting. The street was lined with dozens of police cars and there was a big presence of security officers on the platform with the students. Somehow everyone got on without much ado. Here are some the sights caught on camera as we whizzed by.

The wedding cake house near the red buttes in Papago Park

Home of the Diamond Backs

We took the Metro the next day to Tempe for the Festival of the Arts held in the Mill Avenue District.

It is the largest festival of its kind in Arizona with more than 400 fine artists and crafts persons from all over the U.S. and Canada. The train let us off right across the street from the festival--no hunting for that close-by parking spot. Mike enjoyed some of the street entertainers while Donna looked at the booths that had unique items not seen much elsewhere.
Jazz next to art

Fascinators have come to America

On March 19th we went to the air show out at Luke Air Base in Peoria. The Golden Knights, the Strategic army Command Parachute Team, opened the show. A helicopter that did acrobatic stunts was an awesome first-time sight for us, especially the inverted flight. The Heritage Flight was impressive. With the different era planes flying together, one can see the change in shape, size, and capability.

Clockwise from top: F18 Hornet, Worthog, F4 Phantom and P40 (WWII)

Thunderbirds

After waiting 45 minutes after the designated time for the Thunderbirds’ flying performance, we decided to get on the bus back to the parking lot to get a head start on the departing crowd. Soon as the bus left, sure enough the Thunderbirds were flying! However, we did get a good look at how they get into position for their runs over the crowds and airstrip.

This year we drove the Apache Trail from Apache Junction all the way to Roosevelt Dam. The Apache Trail was constructed so that supplies could be hauled to the dam site. After coming to the area to dedicate the dam in 1911, Theodore Roosevelt said, “The Apache trail combines the grandeur of the Alps, the glory of the Rockies, the magnificence of the Grand Canyon and then adds an indefinable something that none of the others have”. We found he was not exaggerating. Our camera could not capture the awesome sights that our eyes saw. Here are some of the stops along the way.

Here we were told some fact and fiction about the mountain

One can cruise Canyon Lake aboard a paddle wheeler to view the canyon and its wildlife

One of the larger of the six one-way bridges along the Trail

Tortilla Flat (Population 6) The last remaining stage coach stop on the Trail and a fun rest stop for visitors today

Can you spot the road below?

Road down to Fish Creek - Steepest winding descent on a one-lane gravel road

A little rest at the bottom after the very dramatic descent

A mini forest grows along the creek

One of the canyon walls along Fish Creek. Mike spotted 2 cars, one old and rusty, the other one still shiny, on the opposite vertical wall.


Apache Lake is more remote than others along the Salt River but we encountered boats being towed to get here.
Roosevelt Dam was the highest cyclopean-masonry gravity arch dam in the world at the time and was also among the last of the stone masonry dams built. A modification finished in 1996 raised the crest elevation by 77 feet.

Roosevelt Lake Bridge - The original bridge only allowed two Model-T Fords to pass abreast --- not enough for today’s RVs traveling to the many recreation sites along the lake.

Mining around Globe on the US 60 return to Mesa

On a hot 90+degree day we headed up scenic Hwy 87 to Payson. The desert showed more of its bright yellow and magenta colors on this trip. Payson, with a mingling of pinyon, juniper, and pine, sits at the base of the Mogollon Rim at an elevation of 5000 feet. When storms run into the great stone barrier of the Rim, they release the moisture they carry. The Rim drains much water through the Salt, Gila and Verde Rivers south for use in Phoenix. Zane Grey described the beautiful landscape of the west in his novels; some seen from a cabin he owned in this very area. On the highway what was first thought to be an ordinary junk yard, turned out to be a museum and resting place for all kinds of bikes.

We decided to return via the Apache Trail. At Pumpkin Center we saw hundreds of motorcycles parked and encountered still more heading toward that rendezvous. Bike mishaps on the miles of back roads, trails and highways up in Rim country must help keep All Bikes stocked.

While in Mesa we had another recall on our fridge done and had our dining chairs reupholstered.

Before

After

WICKENBURG, ARIZONA

After a short delay in leaving Mesa to await the parts for our fridge recall, we headed for the North Ranch in Congress, AZ. This Escapee park is located about 9 miles from Wickenburg, a city dedicated to celebrating the cowboy. At the park we listened to a well-done jam session and met up with Brooke, a solo lady RVer who we met rockhounding in Quartzsite last year. Here, she was into identifying birds and learning to play drums so she can join in the jams.
In Wickenburg we took the historical walking tour starting at the old wooden Santa-Fe Depot. One can stop and listen to the stories told at the bronze statues found along the way.
Here is Mike with Mrs. Elizabeth Smith outside the Vernetta Hotel she built in 1905 to accommodate passengers from the nearby railroad depot.

Here Donna and a newly-arrived school teacher look at directions to her new domicile

We went inside the drover caboose at the rear of the Old 761 Santa Fe Steam Locomotive. The Basners told us how the caboose served 8 or 9 cowboys taking 30 cars filled with cattle from Wickenburg to Chicago. High above some of the bunks were windows, the precursors to those in today’s observation cars. There was, along with the necessities for cooking, eating and sleeping, indoor plumbing which consisted of a pail hidden inside a wooden bench. When refrigeration came into use, the cattle could be slaughtered hereabouts and then sent to markets; no more need for cowboys and cattle cars.

A 200-year old mesquite tree served as the town jail


One has to look out for desert critters along the sidewalks too.

We had to try the chicken liver omelets served at the Twin Wheels Café. We found a nice city-sponsored campground out by the Rodeo Grounds. Along the scenic drive out to the Vulture Mine we spotted campers on the desert.