Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Doing some catch up posts here, cause I have been MIA for quite some time and I am sure I have something to say. In March we went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park. We hadn't been there in quite some time, like a few years, some things have changed and some have remained the same. It is still a great place to walk around and enjoy the beauty and quiet of nature. Some photos of the trip for your viewing pleasure:

 

 

In addition to the beautiful scenery, there were a few Chapunga statues scattered around the grounds. We first saw a Chapunga exhibit at the Chicago Botanical Gardens in June 2003. They are beautiful stone statues and so it was fun to see one again when we least expected it.

 

After we finished walking around the Arboretum, we went into Superior to take a look around. We have been here before, but never to the "business" area of town. Like most mining towns around here, it was a very depressed area. It is so sad to see all the abandoned buildings and businesses. What was once a thriving area, where people built their homes and lived their dreams, is now just left to decay.

That's all I got for now, Au revoir 

Tuzigoot National Monument

Early AM last Sunday we headed to Tuzigoot National Monument in Clarkdale, Arizona. I enjoy exploring Indian Ruins. There is something about the history of the ruins, that calls to me. I try to imagine myself living in that time and I don't think I would have lasted long. I would have been the one they left behind when they moved along because I couldn't make the trip. It was a simpler time, but I think a much harder time to live. What no running water or electricity? Those are kind of basics to me. Clarkdale is just up the road from Old Cottonwood. It is an old mining town, big surprise I know. The temp in the car went from 50s to 20s in a flash, however, by the time we got there while windy and a bit chilly it was really quite pleasant with the sun beating on us. Here are a few photos of the ruins:

 

 

As always, please stay on the trails there are many things that creep and crawl and bite and sting and RATTLE!

After exploring the ruins, we did a quick cache. There I am making the find.

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Took a quick tour through Clarkdale and saw this church. In case you can't read it, it is St. Cecilia's Mission.

That was pretty much the day, quick trip up and back with a stop at Portillo's on the way home. 

Daytrip to Globe

Let's get this out of the way. 

• Yes, it is still over 100 degrees most days here
• Yes, I have had more than enough
• Yes, I know it will probably last at least another month
• Yes, I am still whining about it 
• Yes, I know we are all sick of hearing me whine about it
• Yes, I am sick of hearing myself whine about it. 

So we took a daytrip to Globe, if you think that stopped my whining, wrong you are. It is just as hot there, but at least it was new scenery. We are doing the 31 day Geocaching challenge. Which means we need to find at least 1 cache a day for each of the 31 days of August. Check out the Instagram photos on the right for progress of the 31 day challenge. I am determined not to miss a day no matter the heat and I may extend it to a year long (or more) challenge. We found a couple caches in Globe, there aren't that many in that area that don't involve hiking and I don't hike in 100 degree weather. We did find the old Globe cemetery, which proved very interesting. Since Globe is an old mining town (big shock I know) it is situated on hills and parts of the cemetery are so old that it is in a state of disrepair and it appears graves are slipping down that hill.

 

 Stopped in Superior looking for a cache, this was a park full of old mining equipment, we didn't find a cache here but it was fun to look around.

 On top of Globe, found the cache up here and a nice view of the town!

 This is what I mean about history in the cemetery. A prospector killed by Apaches in 1876 (that's a bit before my time) and first to be buried in the Globe Cemetery.

 Some grave sites were very well tended and even had recent "additions" to them.

 A much older section of the cemetery, not that well tended.

 The children's section was very sad, there were multiple graves, some very old and some newer, but all had new  toys left at them.

 There was a section for Confederate Veterans and Buffalo Soldiers. I am not even going to pretend I know anything about that.

All in all it was a fun trip, we got 2 caches, spent some time exploring an older section of Globe, well all of Globe is old but we hadn't been in this area before, and we stopped for lunch at the Mexican restaurant we found last time we were in Superior.

Miami - AZ that is

A couple weeks ago as the thermometer crawled near 100 degrees, Pat and I took a trip out east to explore in the Globe/Miami area where it is usually 20 degrees cooler. We are no strangers to this area, for some reason I am drawn to Miami. Check out one of our earlier trips to the area here. It is another old mining town that has seen better days. Even though they have resurrected mining in Miami, most of the town is filled with rundown and abandoned buildings. I have a photography project in mind that has me looking for interesting doors and Miami had plenty available.

 This pharmacy was for sale. A lot of buildings/businesses are for sale in Miami.

 One of my favorite doors.

 This one actually is a private residence, or so that little sign says if you could read it. Do you see Pat in the reflection?

 On the way home we stopped at Los Hermanos in Superior for dinner. This place was featured in Arizona Highways Best Restaurants 2013 edition. It is a small town tavern/restaurant popular with locals as well as tourists. The food was really good, authentic homemade Mexican food. I had Chiles Relleno, more than I could finish; Pat had a burro and cup of green chile and a large margarita. Everything is reasonably priced, I believe our bill came to sixteen dollars and we were stuffed. Definitely will stop here again when out in the area.

Debbie's Visit

First stop Friday morning was Tempe Towne Lake for a Segway tour. They claim you don't have to have any athletic skills, Debbie confirmed this saying she has done it before at Navy Pier, so I gave it a try. Well, could just be me, probably is just me, but I say you need some sort of coordination to do this. I was, to put it nicely, the special needs person of the tour. I was last in line and not because I was being polite and letting others go first, but because I couldn't grasp the concept of my feet are moving it not my handlebars. There were a couple times during the tour that the worker assigned to work the end of the line had to pull me to catch me up to the group. I am laughing now, but I wasn't then. I finally felt comfortable on the segway when there was about 2 minutes left to the ride.

 

This is about as close to the water I dared get for fear of going right in. After all this fun, I needed a drink, so we headed to Mill Ave for lunch. We ate at Gordon Biersch, sitting out on their patio over Mill Ave, sipping our cocktails and well for me anyway recovering from my morning. After walking around town a bit, we took a drive around the area and headed home.

Saturday morning we were up and at it, we had a busy day ahead. First stop hiking on South Mountain, quick lunch, then a tour of the Mystery Castle. After we got home from all that we headed to Tia Rosa's for happy hour. 

 Debbie on South Mountain

 

Debbie on the porch of the Mystery Castle, 

you can see Phoenix in the background.

 

The Mystery Castle.  

Sunday morning we were up again and ready to roll. We took a drive (thank you for driving us, Pat) to Jerome to explore the town. Jerome is a Ghost Town, an old mining town set in the mountains. Since the miners left in the early 50s, Jerome has turned into an artists colony. There are lots of shops to look through and history to see.

 

That was our weekend, it was short but busy and fun. Here are five fun facts about Debbie that I did not know before: 

• Debbie has never baked cookies from scratch;
• Debbie likes butter in not on;
• Debbie doesn't like melted cheese;
• Debbie doesn't like fresh salsa it must be from a jar; and
• Debbie doesn't like cinnamon or tequila