Why People Come Here

There is nowhere in the world like this and it is hard to experience it completely on your own. One highway runs through and there are a couple of streets that go to hotels, restaurants and shops. To really see it, you need to go into the dirt and sand roads of the back country, something you dare not do alone. It takes a local guide and a heavy four wheel drive vehicle.

We booked a full day trip with Phillips Photography Tours. I cannot say enough good about them and our driver-guide, Tully. Mrs. C and I saw things the bus tours could not imagine. A few Navajo live in isolated homes that had no electricity until the coming of solar panels. There are still some hogons, traditional dwellings in the shape of a dome, made of intricately interlaced juniper logs and covered with dried mud. That is where we met Cecelia, spinning local sheep's wool and making exquisite wall hangings and blankets.

I took about 1,500 shots so there is a lot of editing to do We have no early morning tour today so we will rest a little longer and eventually head towards Second Mesa, Arizona, and the Hopi Reservation.       

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En Route

The first leg of the trip is done. Obviously, we're heading west but about 90 degrees off course. 

Got some good pix of the Grand Canyon from the air, plus crop circles, I don't know what (space aliens tracings in the desert?), a big city and the next airline. A longer leg coming up.

These photos have lots of color distortion from the plane windows.                         

Tucson To Phoenix

I'll get back out on the streets of The Lou this weekend but I want to finish up some Arizona stuff. Saguaro National Park, which we saw just over a week ago, has another branch northwest of Tucson. It's a perfect stop on the way back to Phoenix.

This is typical landscape for middle and southern Arizona. My feelings about it seem to change over time. I used to view this as beautiful country, very spare and clear. This trip my reaction was that it is more harsh and unforgiving, unsuitable for cities without great manipulation of the environment. It felt good to come back to the pastel softness of Midwestern spring. I dunno, maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.

The bottom photo has some of that manipulation, a strip of irrigated emerald alfalfa between desert dirt in the foreground and sand-blown mountains in the back. I'm a climate pessimist. Your opinion may be different.

One last Arizona post tomorrow, probably. Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song ages ago about the owner of the place.                        

Tohono Chul

There is a stunning desert garden, Tohono Chul, on the northwest edge of Tuscon. We spent a pleasant afternoon there yesterday. We met one of the docents, Don Eagle, a retired physicist, who became our private guide. Those of us in temperate climates think of deserts as barren. You have only to open your eyes to learn otherwise.

Oh, and watch where you step.

Tucson notes:

Many of the place names are Spanish. We passed a common-looking residential side street called Calle Sin Nombre - Street Without A Name. I can find no explanation online.

The weather forecast for this afternoon includes the possibility of a dust storm. Better get back to Phoenix, which is, in fact, the plan.