A Visit to the site of the Tucson shooting

On Thursday, January 27, Jack and I along with our friends, Dan and Barb, drove two hours south from Mesa to Tucson. On Saturday morning, January 8, a mentally disturbed gunman, came to a local Safeway grocery store and shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the head and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. Six people lost their lives that day including a nine year old girl, Christina-Taylor Green. Ten more were wounded. Gabby Giffords remains in hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to the head but appears to be making good progress.
We drove to the Safeway store and looked at the memorial that has sprung up there. A truly sobering scene when one realizes that people actually died on the pavement in front of that store. There are no words to express how you feel when you stand there. Such senselessness! Such evil!
Then we drove to the nearby University Hospital to see the memorial on the front lawn there. So many expressing desires for peace, understanding and an end to violence.

It is sobering to realize that six people lost their lives on the pavement now covered with flowers and wishes of people shocked by the violence that happened here.

A light breeze lifts the strips on the cross with the prayers of those who care deeply about the random violence that happened at this local grocery store.

On the front lawn of the Arizona State University Hospital, the memorial is extensive. Most of the survivors were brought here for treatment after the shooting including the Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She was moved just a few days ago to Houston, Texas for continuing rehab after her brain injury.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Our next stop, south of Tucson about 20 miles, was the Mission San Xavier del Bac - The White Dove of the Desert - is a blindlingly white adobe building rising from the sere brown landscape of the desert. Built between 1783 and 1797, it incorporates Moorish, Byzantime and Mexican Renaissance achitectural styles. The church was never actually completed - you can see this when you look at the 2 bell towers - one is topped with a dome while the other has none. In recent years, the church has undergone an extensive renovation and it is beautiful. The interior is spectacular with paintings on plaster that are gorgeous.

The interior of faux marble is painted plaster

Wooden cross in the Mary Chapel. The walls are plaster and wood painted with the gorgeous designs

The door is faux painting on the plaster wall, as well as the other decoration

As we leave, we have a taste of Indian fry bread

Tumacacori National Historic Site

We continued south to within 20 miles of the Mexican border at Nogales and stopped at Mission Tumacacori along the Santa Cruz River. It was first established in 1691 by Father Francisco Keno, the same priest who began the mission at San Xavier del Bac near Tucson. This mission was never a thriving one because of long distances from Spain for funds and the priests were attacked frequently by raiding Apaches. In 1850, a fort was built at nearby Tubac. The Presidio and its soldiers were there over the next 50 years but it is now only a few walls and a good museum explaining its role in another era.

The Mission was never completed because of lack of funds from Spain and the priests spend much time ministering to the Pima Indians (today called the Tonoho O'Odom) by raising corn and other crops to feed them while they taught them in the mission school.

Interior of the church

As the mission used to be in 1770

Bullet holes in the wall of the mission from the Apache attacks

Our last stop of the day was the nearby Tubac Presidio. Extablished in the 1850s to protect the Mission at nearby Tumacacori from attacks by the maurading Apaches, all that is left are a few walls and subterranean excavations by archeologists.

Tubac has become quite an artist colony.

A Taste of Old Town Scottsdale

Our good friends, Dan and Barb Bloem, were given a gift certificate for Christmas by their daughter for a "Taste Tour of Old Town Scottsdale". Dan and Barb graciously invited Jack and I to come with them as we did a walking tour of downtown Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix. The first settlers were retired Civil War General Wilfred Scottsdale and his wife Helen who came to the area and began ranching. Scottsdale is now a busy metropolis and the old town is an intriguing place to do a walking tour. Full of art galleries, statues on the street corners of horses and cowboys, souvenir shops and high end jewelry, clothing and hair salons, it made for a very interesting tour. As we walked, we were guided by Zach who took us to six different resturants for tastings ranging from chipotle sliders at the Rusty Spur Saloon, samplings of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, local wines, Mexican sopapillas, and ending with an ice cream sundae at the Sugar Bowl. History, food and a nice sunny day - wonderful!

A buddy of yours, Jack?