Arcosanti, San Tan Mountains, Jerome, and Tina Turner

 

Scott couldn't resist this vendor selling honey and
pecans along the side of the road.

We had a great lunch at San Tan Flats, an enormous
restaurant/music venue. Our hiking trails at the 
park were open to horses as well. We chatted with
a couple at the next table who "stabled" their
horses in the parking lot!

Heather up ahead on the trail at San Tan Regional Park

We were lucky to have a lot of 
flowers blooming. The sides of the
roads were blanketed with them.

I'm covering a lot of territory in this post.  Since our visit to the Monastery, we've hiked in the San Tan Regional Park south of Phoenix, and visited the Musical Instruments Museum there. Then we drove north to Prescott Valley where our cruiser friends Marsha and Rick live. We visited them on our first trip west and they came last fall to see us in Vermont. They sold their boat, "She Wolf" not long after we sold "Scott Free". 

This was our second visit to the Musical Instruments Museum.
Last time we got through the Mechanical Instruments and 
Europe and the U.S.  This visit we managed to get through
Africa and Asia. We'll need another visit to South America! 

Our first full day with them we drove a little south to tour Arcosanti. This is an experimental town based on a concept proposed by Paolo Soleri. He taught and influenced generations of architects and urban designers who studied and worked with him there to build the town. Construction began in 1970 with an idea of demonstrating how urban conditions could be improved while minimizing the destructive impact on the Earth. It supports itself with tours, guest residences, and a bell casting business. About 50 people live there full time, either staff or artists. Our tour guide was a charming local woman who moved there a few years ago. 

I've stolen this image off the web to give you a better idea of the whole town. More photos we took on our tour are at the end of the post. 

The night before we drove over to Prescott to see a Tina Turner Tribute Band at the historic Elks Theater, built in 1905 and beautifully restored. The ushers all dress in period costume and every seat has a good view. It was a fun lively performance with a mosh pit in front of the stage (no we didn't feel up to that!). 

Two of the beautifully costumed
ushers at the Elk Theater.

A view of the Tina Turner Tribute Band performance.

The next day we did a lot of chores: shopping, laundry, cooking, swimming in their beautiful community pool and soaking in the hot tub. There were showers on and off and it was a bit cool but it didn't interfere with our plans. Then in the afternoon Rick drove us to Jerome on a twisty road that crossed over the mountain cresting at over 7,000 feet. Jerome is an old mining town that clings to the side of the mountain. It was rescued from "ghost town status" by artists and now is thriving. Marsha & Rick introduced us to the Nelly Bly Kaleidoscope Shop and it was amazing. Honestly I'm not a shopper, especially "gift shops" but this was an exception. You could try out the thousands of them and we did a lot! And I made a bunch of purchases - gifts for grandchildren. It was Marsha's birthday so they made reservations for a special dinner out at the beautiful Clinkscale Restaurant. The food was wonderful and we were so glad we could celebrate with them! And we were also glad that it was Rick driving back over the mountain in the dark!

There was a large porch hanging out over the
mountain side filled with metal sculptures -
that's a pterodactyl flying above. We had cool
cloudy weather with occasional showers during
our stay with  Marsha & Rick but it was better
than the weather predicted at the Grand Canyon

Just a few of the hundreds of kaleidoscopes
at the Nelly Bly

Heather, Scott, Marsha and Rick at the Clinkscale Restaurant in Jerome for Marsha's birthday. 

It was sad to leave the next morning but we were finally going to the Grand Canyon South Rim for 3 nights. We had to cancel our original plans to go the last 3 nights when snow and freezing rain were predicted. But we managed to get 3 more nights at the Mather Campground, although 1 night in 3 different sites. But we're not complaining - the weather report for our stay is great! More on that in my next post.

The entrance to Arcosanti

The pottery workshop - they make bells of all
sizes in pottery and metal.

The architecture takes advantage of the 
seasonal changes in the sun to heat and cool
the city. 

The city stretches along the mountain side looking
down at the canyon and river. 

There were several indoor and outdoor concert
spaces.

A view from the metal casting space over the
canyon. They have orchards and vegetable 
gardens down by the river.

A section of the restaurant, which is used by the
community and is open to guests. They have
a number of guest suites and rooms.