Musical Instrument Museum

   We had heard lots of good things about the MIM or Musical Instrument Museum and decided to go and visit on Thursday. Jack was a reluctant visitor but we were both blown away by this wonderful place. It is a result of the philanthropy of the CEO of Target Stores. He had seen a museum in Europe several years ago but found it's presentation very Eurocentric, so he wanted to set up a museum that would represent all the instruments of the world.

Truly this is the case - music stirs our hearts and recreates memories and links us to others and around the world.

We are given headphones and an electronic box to wear. There are proximity speakers that play different music of the instruments and genres represented in each display. You hear it only when you stand nearby. As you move to the next one, the music transitions to the new display. If you take off your headset, it is totally quiet, but all around you one can see people standing in front of displays, moving and rocking to music and nudging each other to say "listen to this!!". It was marvelous.

You can make music with strings and an oil can - drums made from skins stretched over a gourd, shakers made from loose seeds in a gourd.

A Dutch street organ played by turning a wheel to move the hole punched paper through the wires that will make the pipes play the music.

       The piano that John Lennon used to compose "Imagine".











 

Music from Ireland.

    They even have a room with lots of instruments you can hit and gong and bong and rattle to make your own music - both children and adults.

           This is an absolutely wonderful museum - memories of music we have heard throughout our life, bringing back great memories as well as new things we learned about different music and traditions from around the world. If you ever get to Phoenix, this is a must-see!

Snow in the "Supes"

Wednesday, February 20 brought rain overnight and overcast skies and the occasional passing shower. The temperatures also plummeted to the low 50s during the day. We had planned to go to a museum - deeming it an indoor activity day - when we got a phone call from friends to "take a look at the Supes". They meant the Superstition Mountains to our east. We often hike here and are well acquainted with the different pikes. We have occasionally seen some snow when it has rained in the valley, but never this low on the peaks.

  So, we turned around from our planned museum trip and drove to the mountains to take some pictures.


This is Siphon Draw and to the right is the Flatiron. We have hiked up here and it is amazing to see snow all the way down.

This is Weaver's Needle.

We decided to continue along the Apache Trail to get more views of the snow scenery. Our home is at 1200 feet elevation and the Apache Trail takes us up to 2300'. What we saw here......

.......snow even at the roadside verges. Almost like home - right here in Arizona.

At the Canyon Lake Vista, we could see lots of mountain ranges in the Superstitions that are snow covered. An unusual and beautiful site here in Arizona.



We headed home from here and took a nice dip in the hot pool and warmed ourselves up!

Our Tuesday Treat!

Our Tuesday treat is going to the Golden Spoon. Introduced to us by our friends, Dan and Barb, we to there every Tuesday because.....we get double stamps on our card. Every 8 stamps - and that is every 2 weeks, we get a free frozen yoghurt!

What can I say .... we are weak human beings ... so we often add extra sweets to our treat - yummm!

Monday, February 18

Hiking time again - and this week is MUCH better than last week's rain and cold. The sun is bright and the temperature is 55F when we begin and 75F when we return to the trailhead at 1pm. This hike will be 5.2 miles (8km) but will have 750 feet of elevation gain.

This promises to be a rocky trail!

   With a bit of elevation gain, we can look back and see Canyon Lake. To the left of the black cave-like "hole" you see in the center of the picture is a bend in the lake and the dam that has created this gorgeous lake on the Salt River. There is a paddle boat that tours the lake twice a day in the winter season.

This is Boulder Creek just after it enters Canyon Lake.

And we keep climbing up!

   A cairn of rocks marks the top of the climb - but we continue up and over the washes as we hike along the trail to Boulder Canyon 

 When we get to our turn around place, we can overlook the canyon. Boulder Creek is now just a small stream. If we had elected to hike down into the canyon - another 3 miles return trip, we could have seen a Indian Paint Mine - a pool of deep red mud that the Indians used in their pottery making. But we have had enough and turn around  after our snack and head back down the trail.

 But heading back was not all down hill!

A special treat awaited us on the return trail - the sun was over head and it had warmed up enough for the Mexican poppy to have opened up fully. This is one of the treats that we wait for in the Spring here in the desert. The 10 little ones we saw today are hopefully the harbinger of carpets of wildflowers that will coat the desert floor in the next few weeks.

Sixth Street Block Party

  On Saturday, February 16, our street was closed off and tables and chairs were set up in the middle of the street for our block party. We had pizzas and everyone brought a dish to pass.
We had LOTS of food - mainstays of these get-togethers. The weather was fantastic - sunny and 75F - in fact some sought the bit of shade that the grapefruit trees afforded.

After the food and tables were cleared away, boards were set up and we had a bean bag tournament. I tried to throw but it was not good for my torn rotator cuff, so Jack represented our family and did quite well.

This is how seniors enjoy their winter in the sun!

A wet hike!

We had taken the Vissers to the airport at 6am, so we got ourselves ready for our usual Monday morning hike. The weather was overcast, chilly and windy when we left Mesa Regal at 8am but we were layered with clothing and ready to go. When we arrived at the Trailhead - Dutchman Trail #104 at the First Water Trailhead - the clouds were low but we thought the sky was a bit lighter to the east, so we began our hike. Within the first 30 minutes, it began a light drizzle which became a steadier continuous light rain as we continued. By this time, we were well into it so we kept going to our turn around point.

Often the streams in the desert are only a dry wash but today the stream is flowing well - we had to cross this steam 5 times!! in and again 5 times on the return. Most of the crossings involved using stepping stones - only one person got a "soaker" and it was NOT Jack or I! Jack is in the red jacket.

Notice how green the desert has become with the rain. We hope the wild flower display will be really good this spring.

Lunch stop - making the best of a cold and soggy hike. When we got back to the parking lot - 10km later - it was only 39F! When we got home we headed for a warming soak in the hot tub -lovely ending!

The Vissers Visit

  Bob and MaryAnn Visser have been our friends for many years and we were especially pleased when they accepted our invitation to come and visit us in Mesa this winter. They arrived from Ontario late on Sunday evening, February 3.
They were great guests to have in  our RV - a smallish place for 4 adults but you would not hardly have realized it because the pull out couch was stowed away before Jack and I got out of bed each morning!

  On Monday morning, after a good sleep, we took them on a walking tour of our RV resort and all it's amenities. In the afternoon, we took a car drive to Red Mountain - in the background on this picture - and to Saguaro Lake.

    Because they had never been to the south west before, Jack and I had a good time explaining about the different types of cacti found here in the desert.
   The grandest cactus and the state symbol is the saguaro. This cactus grows only in the Sonoran desert - and this area is about it's most northerly reach. They grow slowly and do not develop "arms" until they reach 50 - 75 years old. This cactus has a rather "quirky" arm.

Saguaro Lake is the result of the damming of the Salt River and has a large marina and daily boat trips - though we were there just to take a look.

On Tuesday, we packed a lunch and took the Apache Trail. Named for the Indians that lived here in the 1800's, it is a scenic route that begins at Apache Junction and follows the Salt River  up to Roosevelt Dam. From there, we continued along Route 87 to Globe, Miami and Superior and back to Mesa. The trip is about 100 miles but 22 of them are on unpaved, but graded, roadway so it took all day. We stopped frequently because the views are spectacular!

   The first vista point was the overlook for Canyon Lake - another of those lakes formed by a dam on the Salt River.

Tortilla Flat is a unique place. It has been a mining and cowboy community since it began more than 150 years ago. Now it is a tourist stop with saddle seats at the bar, cowboy music with your burgers, and dollar bills that cover the walls with not an inch of open space. The road has a dip and the water is almost always flowing over the pavement. Today it is only a few inches deep but we have seen it 10 inches - and in December is was dry!

From here on the pavement stops and the road is graded gravel. But they do add guard rails on the down hill portions!

From the top, we look down into Fish Creek Canyon. If you look carefully, you can see in the foreground, how the road winds down and eventually becomes that windy road on the canyon floor.

 Eventually, we reach the bottom of the canyon and cross Fish Creek. Lots of shadows here because the canyon walls are high and not much sun reaches down here.

After passing Apache Lake - another result of damming - this time by Horse Mesa Dam, we arrive at Roosevelt Dam. Built in the 1920s it continues to be a source of hydroelectric power for the greater Phoenix area. When it was not high enough, it was rebuilt in the 1990s and  20' was added.
But this time, we found the river levels as low as we have seen them and the lake behind the dam very low as well.

Near Roosevelt Lake is Tonto National Monument. This is a cliff dwelling of the early Puebloan people. It was built about 1200 AD and occupied for only about 50 years by an extended family. No one knows why the cliff dwellers abandoned their carefully built home in large caves on hill sides - perhaps a drought or enemy invasion, or just deciding to move on. We had to climb a  pathway up 300' of elevation. We had to hurry as it was closing soon - so we panted our way up the hill. MaryAnn lead the way - Bob and Jack brought up the rear.

The following day, we invited Dan and Barb Bloem to join us in a trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens. The sun was bright and the temperatures were lovely, so we enjoyed meandering through the gardens and learning names of some to the desert flora. These are Organ Pipe Cacti - all stems growing from the common base.

 And these were interesting little guys named Mammileria 

   On our way to Sedona on Thursday morning, we stopped briefly at Montezuma's Castle - a name that is a complete misnomer. The Spanish came through the area in the 1500s and saw this cliff dwelling - empty and abandoned since 1300 and named it after the great Mexican king - Montezuma. But, again, it was the home of the Pueblo people. It was built in the cliff face near the edge of Beaver Creek as a source of water to raise their crops and later abandoned for no reason that we have been able to discern today.

   We leave I - 17 and take #189. After 10 miles the vista opens up to the gorgeous red rock territory around Sedona. The cliffs and hills are breathtaking as the red layers contrast with the blue sky and white fluffy clouds.

Bell Mountain

Hiking path

 

Chapel in the Rock

   


Blue birds against the red rock!

Coffee Pot Rock

 



Cathedral Mountain

   An interesting thing about Sedona is that it has attracted many different people with different views of who is in control of this creation and this world. Free thinkers and New Age believers have all come to Sedona and many have felt an energy "force" there. They are looking for something outside of themselves that they can put their trust in - and decided that vortices are in evidence in many places in the Sedona area. These little piles of stones indicate one of these vortex (or energy) sites. Too bad they cannot see the God of creation in the breathtaking beauty of the red rock canyon and cliff walls!

   Our last stop and look back at Sedona is at the Oak Creek Canyon bridge. From here we follow Oak Creek as we climb out of the canyon to the high mesa level at an elevation of 7000'. At the top, we find remnants of last week's snow (we are only about 10 miles south of Flagstaff). It has been a day of great beauty and we begin the two hour drive back to Phoenix giving our Creator the praise He so rightly deserves!!

On Saturday night, we take Bob and MaryAnn to the Rock'n R Ranch for a good cowboy supper and some cowboy songs and humor. Our dinner is served on tin plates - and we are told to be careful how we hold them - the applesauce goes first, then the BBQ beef and beans and chicken and biscuits are added. If we do not hold our plate under that cold applesauce, we may just burn our fingers and drop the plate!

After church at Phoenix Christian Reformed Church and a restful afternoon, Monday morning - dark and early, we take Bob and MaryAnn to Sky Harbor Airport for their return flight to Toronto. We had a great time and I think they saw some pretty interesting things here in Arizona.