Trekker: October 16, 2005

My latest travels...

Once again, the travel bug bit me and in order to temporarily stop the continuous biting, I had to go on a trip. This time, I found myself landing at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, AZ, to visit a dear friend.

I arrived LATE Oct. 5, and spent four wonderful days dragging April all over Arizona...thanks, Doc! Hmmm...not sure how "wonderful" and "dragging" really fit in one sentence where both parties benefit, but the last I checked, we both had a whale of a time.

Where was I?? Ahhh, yes...on Thursday, we drove down to Tombstone. This mining town's claim to fame involved the 30-second shootout that occured at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Clantons & McLaurys. If you've seen the movies "Tombstone" or "Wyatt Earp", or have some knowledge of Wild West history, you know what I'm talking about. It was a great day to be there! We discovered the narrow window between tourist season and snowbird season, and the weather was PERFECT. Saw a reenactment of the shootout, watched historama of Tombstone's history, wandered in and out of shops, and visited the cemetary where the Clantons and the McLaurys are buried. Good grief, you wander up and down the paths and most folk were either shot or hung. Drove by Tucson both ways. The last time I'd seen Tucson, I was on my way to Mexico for ten days. That was back in 1989. I remember thinking how Tucson looked like a truckstop. Those thoughts haven't changed. A piece of trivia...Federico José María Ronstadt was one of the early pioneers of the city of Tucson, and his granddaughter, of Linda Ronstadt fame, started her muscial career singing in the local coffee shops.

On Friday, we hung around town, toured the ASU East campus where my friend is a History professor. That afternoon we picked up some items for a picnic lunch and headed home. In the evening I put my chef skills to work and helped cook up dinner.

Saturday, we headed north to Sedona. This area of Arizona is famous for its red rocks. We found a "scenic" route to get to the town. Instead of taking the highway, we took an unpaved road that started at the ridge overlooking Oak Creek Canyon, and we slowly bumped and jolted our way into Sedona. LOL...most people would not have taken that road in the sedan we were driving, and we got plenty of stares, but we'd just smile or wave and then bust up laughing. I would not drive into Sedona any other way except on this road. The views were STUNNING! I've included pix, but they don't do the view any justice. You've got to see it for yourself. About halfway down the ridge, we stopped and had a great picnic. Nearly got blown away in the process due to some fairly strong "breezes", but it's those things that add to the memories. The actual town of Sedona is nestled amongst these towering walls...tourist trap alert. However, if golf is your thing, you have to play at the Sedona Golf Resort. Be sure to have your picture taken at the 10th hole.

Sunday, we went to the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix. This museum has one of the most exhaustive and complete collection of Native American artifacts in the country. It also does a very good job of detailing the governmental policy of assimilating Native Americans into the American mainstream. This was attempted through boarding schools, the first of which was instituted in 1879. During the height of the assimilation period, it has been estimated that there were hundreds of such schools in operation, four of which are still being used today. A piece of American history you don't really hear about, but it's history nonetheless.

After touring the museum and having a wonderful lunch at the cafe, we did a walking tour of the ASU Tempe campus. I enjoy visiting university campuses. I suppose it's probably due in large part to my love of learning. Perhaps I feel like I can gain more knowledge through osmosis by just treading the grounds of an educational institution. Seeing students grinding away, or should I say, typing away in computer labs brought back a lot of memories. That used to be me in those labs, except my problem was that I usually had WAY too much stuff in my research papers and had greatly exceeded the page limit. So I spent more time than I care to think trying to decide what I could delete. But it was all so relevant and important, Professor!! The good thing is that during my graduate work, I wasn't alone with that problem. Several others in my study group suffered from the same excessive verbiage syndrome, and one of our strategies was to stretch the page margins as far as we dared. I know my professors knew what I was doing...thanks for humoring me and letting me get away with it. Wait a minute...how did I get off on this tangent???

Well, folks...that was my latest adventure. I'm in the process of trying to decide what I'm doing for the holidays. Can you believe Thanksgiving is next month? It'll be time for me to dust off the Christmas cds in about three weeks. Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? I hope you are, 'cause I can't hear them in Florida.

Speaking of Florida, it's now springtime. We have opposite seasons here. Summer is winter. We stay indoors down here during the summer. Now, it's cooling down, the humidity is dropping, we venture outdoors. Come winter, it's summer - the weather is perfect, it's all about cycling, golf, inline skating, the list goes on. I'm all backwards down here, but at least it gives you something to laugh about. C'mon, humor me, will ya?? :)

I saw the funniest thing today...you know those ribbons that people put on their vehicles? Ones that say support the war, cancer research, for who knows what else? There's this truck in my parking lot with a green ribbon sticker showing cannibas plants, with the phrase, "Support my habit". ROFL!!! Now that's really funny!!

See you in the funny papers...