Monday, October 9, 2017

Well, after two days in wacky Marfa, we decided we needed a change of pace.  We spent the morning at Ft. Davis and Davis Mountain State Park. I love the Davis Mountains!  We toured the fort and then drove up the switchbacks on the mountain to the scenic overlooks.  It was beautiful.

After lunch we stopped at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Garden.  Last week, in Tucson, we were in the Sonoran Desert and now we are in the Chihuahuan Desert.  This is considered high desert at 5,000 ft. elevation. It was a beautiful nature center, well laid out and very informative. We hiked through the small area near the visitors center today, but tomorrow we plan to go back and hike the Modesta Canyon trail. One of the best things about all of the things we did today is that Jax was allowed to go with us. Everything was dog-friendly, even the fort.

Saturday and Sunday, October 7&8, 2017

We arrived at our next camp site in Alpine, TX, another nice camp ground.

For several years Michelle and Rich have been telling us about Marfa, Texas.  It is a quirky little artist colony in the middle-of-nowhere, Texas. We finally made it and I have to say that quirky doesn't begin to describe it.  First we toured the Chinati Foundation. It is a museum consisting of 15 buildings and covering about 340 acres.  The founder of this and the Judd Foundation was Donald Judd, a minimalist artist.  Most of his works (and some others whose work is displayed here) needed lots of space for their art.  So Judd bought an old army base for this purpose. Judd also bought several buildings in town for more spaces. Some of Judds sculptures are displayed in the field and consist of 15 concrete boxes. When I asked the docent what they represented she told me they are not representational art.  They are spatial art. It is all about the space and the individual and the collective. Hmmmm,Okaaaay. Then we saw two huge building of aluminum boxes by another artist.   Two other large buildings had smashed car part sculptures. Another building housed the featured work of a new artist: all the walls were painted in stripes. That's it, just stripes on the walls. I can't begin to describe all of it. We toured several other galleries in town that had smaller works of art, but all of it was unusual. After the ragged toenail collection, I quit. Oh we did see El Cosmico, the wacky, but cute, campground with yurts, tepees and funky painted, refurbished airstreams. Wow, Marfa was definitely something to see!

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Once again we took advice from TripAdvisor, and decided to go to the tiny Zuhl Museum.  After spending an hour searching the New Mexico State University campus, we finally found it.  Closed for renovations!  Ok, on to Plan B. We went to the Old Mesilla Historic District.  This is a cute little old town situated around a square.  It has many shops, cafes, and galleries, similar (but much smaller) to Albuquerque Old Town.  One of my favorites shops is the Heart of the Desert Pistachios and Wine store. I also found a cute shop with some unique southwestern t-shirts that I love.

Have you ever seen water tank murals?  Las Cruces has several. I think it is really clever to turn an ugly water tank into a piece of Art.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Taking advice from TripAdvisor, we decided to go hiking at Dripping Springs Desert National Monument. Only two trails allowed dogs, so we chose Fillmore Trail. A short .9 mi hike turned into 2.5 miles. We didn't take enough water and it got pretty hot. The hike and view was beautiful, though. The clouds sitting on the mountaintops were spectacular. However, I think Jax got overheated. When we got back to the camper around 2:00, he slept all afternoon and evening.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

We took one last walk on the trail in the Western Way RV park saying goodby to the pomegranate tree. We then left for Las Cruces, NM.  About an hour outside of Tucson, we came to a area of huge boulders and rocky hills.  Once again I am amazed at how quickly the terrain can change.  About 5 miles later we were back to flat desert. Strange!

We arrived in Las Cruces in the late afternoon. The RV park is nice and, thankfully, has a good dog run for Jax. On the advice of a friend, we found a small local Mexican cafe for supper.  Well, I have to tell you that our gringo tongues are not up to the fiery New Mexican cuisine!  Our eyes were watering, noses running, sweat dripping off our foreheads and I am pretty sure steam was coming out of my ears!  We had to rush home for a bowl of orange sherbet to cool our mouths. Whew!

.Friday, September 29, 2017

In Tucson we have finally found the true desert!  This is like nothing we have seen before.  When we were in the red rock areas we thought we were in the desert, but this is the real deal. This morning we went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and it was amazing. We went early to beat the heat, but it was really hot by the time we left at noon.  You definitely need a hat, sunscreen, and water.  The museum is unusual because 85% of it is outside, a living museum.  There are about 2 miles of trails or pathways through the area.  It is beautifully laid out, though, with water and shade stations all along the trail. There are also many docents that share information and point out things that you might miss otherwise. In some of the enclosed areas we saw javelinas, coyotes, birds of prey, hummingbirds, and many other animals.  But the real stars of the show, in my opinion, were the plants.  When I was teaching third grade, we did a desert unit every year. One of the videos I always used was about this desert museum. It's fun to see the place in real life now.

After lunch we decided to take the scenic loop drive through Saquaro National Park (west side). The loop is 9 miles of paved road with many pull-outs/viewpoints.  The park is a desert wilderness with a "forest" of the saguaros.  But there are hundreds of other kinds of cacti as well. We were very lucky today to get to see the rare and unusual Crested (cristate) Saguaro cactus. This strange mutation only occurs once in every 200,000 saguaros and only in one portion of the Sonoran Desert.  It has a strange fan-like formation at the top and scientists are not sure why.  We took so many pictures out there that it will be difficult to decide which ones to put in the blog.

Thursday September 28, 2017

Today we took Jax to "doggy jail" and headed north to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Janie. We are camped in southwest Tucson and they live in North Tucson. It took us over an hour to get there, but we had a great visit. They live in a beautiful area with a view of the mountains from their back patio. Their house is lovely as well. We haven't seen them for several years so it was fun to catch up.  Lunch and hospitality was so nice that we spent the whole day. We thank them for the nice visit and hope we didn't wear them out. Unfortunately we have no pictures because BJ forgot the camera. We plan to visit again in March when we come back.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

We arrived in Tucson, AZ yesterday amid all the Saguaros.  This is really a desert here.  We parked at the Western Way RV Park.  This morning I took Jax out for his morning walk and watched a beautiful sunrise. The RV park is really nice, with only one exception.  We have to watch out for rattlesnakes!!!  Apparently 2 dogs got bitten last week, here in the park!  The park people said that if we decide to stay here for a month or more then we should take the dog to "snake school". It's a real thing.  They train the dogs to avoid snakes.  Crazy.  Oh, the are also wild Javelinas  and coyotes that sometimes wander into the park. Hmmmmm.

After breakfast today we went to a very nice shooting range.  Pops wanted to practice.  It was strange, shooting out there in the middle of the desert, with the tall Saguaros, and surrounded by the mountains in the distance.  Interesting place!

Monday, September 25, 2017

Sorry for some of the errors in previous posts. Pops published before I had a chance to edit.
Anyway, we arrived in Phoenix last Friday afternoon. I called Mike and Mary and we arranged to meet for supper.  I took my broken phone to the Apple Store to get worked on and had to leave it overnight. Mike and Mary came to pick us up and to tour our RV, then we went to supper. It was a nice evening. Saturday, we went back to get my phone, happy days!  That evening we went to Mike and Mary's for supper. They have a lovely house in a large gated community.  Mary made a delicious lasagna and we had another nice vist.
Today we left Jax in the RV and we went to the famous Heard Museum.  It is an amazing place!  It a collection of art, artifacts and history of the Indians of the Sonoran Desert.  It is the largest of its kind in the United States.  The docent said that the museum is dedicated to the advancement of American Indian Art. But it is more than that. Besides the art, the museum presents the history of these people, sometimes from a first-person perspective.  It had a whole gallery devoted to the history of the Indian Schools in the Southwest, the good and the bad (mostly bad).  That part was sad.  The Native Americans who served in the Armed Forces were honored, too, including 300 nurses in WWI and WWII .  Of course, the code talkers were represented as well.  All in all it is must see if you are ever in Phoenix.