Remembrances of things cool

We have finally learned, through hard experience, that the best time to see most of Arizona, starts about the end of September and extends until the end of April. Summer can be nice above 5,000 feet but even at altitude the winter is the best time to see Arizona. Any day that there are clouds and a storm is a good day to see the Grand Canyon. Even if you have to hold onto a tree to keep from being blown away. The views are decidedly more dramatic and impressive.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind the heat at all. I grew up before air conditioning. I was in my last year in high school before we moved into a house with air conditioning. I didn't have a car with air conditioning until I was married and had several children.

When you live in Phoenix it is easy to avoid the heat almost entirely. You go from your air conditioned car, to air conditioned homes and businesses and only go outside when it is absolutely necessary. There is also the almost universally present swimming pool. There are dozens of public pools and tens of thousands of private swimming pools.

Then there are those who have to be outside in the heat. All of the service and support people whose jobs require outside work. You see them cutting grass, digging, building and walking. No one who doesn't have to be outside, is out on the streets. Usually, except for the cars, the neighborhoods and streets look deserted. One time I came home from living my summer on the Colorado Plateau and found the house full of water. This was before air conditioning. One of the toilets had run and flooded almost the entire house. It was probably 110+ outside and inside and with the water, the humidity was nearly 100%. I had to move all of the water soaked books and stuff outside and clear out all the water. That was the hottest I ever remember being in my life.

When you have to go outside and stay for a while, you begin to notice that 100 degrees is not that hot. They (whoever they are?) always joke about Arizona having a dry heat. Well, dry or hot, once the temperature gets above 110 degrees, the air is hot. If you are driving in a car and the temperature is around 100 degrees, you can put your hand out the window and feel a little bit of cooler air. But if it is 110 or higher, the air feels hot and actually feels like it is burning your hand.

During this hot summer, it helps to remind yourself of cool mountains and rain, even snow. Although, most of the time when I think of snow during the summer in Phoenix, I have a really hard time believing that it really exists. One summer, we loaded all the children in the car and I said we were driving north until it got cold. We kept driving until we reached Jasper National Park where we had frost on our tent when we woke up camping next to the Columbia Ice Field.

Petrified Wood

Petrified wood is found in every county in Arizona. The theory of its origin is that wood buried in mud or sand had the organic portions replaced by minerals in a process called permineralization. The petrified wood preserves, in some cases, the structure of the wood down to the microscopic level. This piece of wood is sitting out in front of the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum.

The most common mineral in petrified wood is quartz in its myriad forms and colors. Pure quartz (rock crystal) is almost colorless, but contaminating elements can radically change the color:

• carbon - black
• cobalt - green/blue
• chromium - green/blue
• copper - green/blue
• iron oxides - red, brown, and yellow
• manganese - pink/orange
• manganese oxides - black/yellow

 I spent a lot of my younger years in a small town on the Colorado Plateau. It did not take me long to recognize the type of clay formation that had petrified wood. I lived only an hour or so away from the Petrified Forest National Monument, (now a National Park) near Holbrook, Arizona. The Petrified Forest National Park is an amazingly diverse area with one of the world's largest concentrations of petrified wood. It is illegal to remove petrified wood from the Park and there is a large pile of wood near the entrance from the Park Rangers' confiscation of people's attempts to steal the wood from the Park.

It is ironic that people will spend money to purchase a small piece of petrified wood. In Arizona and other states, the Bureau of Land Management set the reasonable limits for personal use of up to 25 pounds per day, plus one piece, with a total limit of 250 pounds per year. In both Holbrook and Winslow, there are a number of mineral dealers that will sell huge 1000 lb. plus tree trunks of petrified wood. I am sure that many people are absolutely amazed at the price of the larger pieces of petrified wood.

Some of the ranchers in the area surrounding the National Park have discovered that by digging down to the strata containing the wood, they can uncover huge pieces of the wood. I had a friend, long since dead, who owned a rock shop. He had worked all his life scrapping out a living on the Plateau and for his retirement he purchased this Rock Shop. Through an agreement with one of the mining ranchers, he obtained a huge piece of highly agatized wood. He rigged a huge mineral saw and spent months sawing the hard quartz into a giant slabs. He then spent many more weeks and months polishing the slabs. He told me that he sold one slab to the Smithsonian and one to museum in Japan. He said in those two sales, he made more money than he had in many years of entire working life.

We have always had chunks of wood around our houses both inside and out. Most of which we have found ourselves. I do not believe I have ever spent a dime for a piece of petrified wood.

I know of some areas that have concentrations of petrified wood that rival the National Park although I am not likely to tell you, or anyone else, where they are.

Phoenix Freeways

No one could live in the fifth largest city in the U.S. without driving the freeways. The picture above is the 202 Loop Freeway, heading east, just east of Scottsdale Road. When I arrived in the Valley, about 1953, there were no "freeways," in fact, there were not many paved streets. (compared to 2010). Here is a copy of the Street Arterial Plan for Phoenix in 1949.

The northern most visible arterial east/west street is Indian School Road. The furthest west street is 23rd Avenue, the furthest east street is about 32nd Street, but it isn't marked on the map. The furthest east marked street is 20th Street. In looking at the map, it is interesting that Madison is marked as the major one-way east street south of Jefferson. What happened is that Washington became the major street and now does not end at 17th Avenue but continues on around the capitol building to 19th Avenue. Roosevelt did not become a major arterial, today it is definitely a local city street. McDowell, Thomas and Indian School are definitely major arterial streets. Also interesting is that the State Route 51 Freeway/Interstate 10 (south from the 202 to the Papago Freeway) is approximately along the corridor shown as 20th Street.

Phoenix's Freeways are extremely efficient, there are times when travel is restricted during rush hours, but most of the time you can travel at the posted speed limit all the way across and around the city. One thing I have noticed is that if you have to travel to get to a freeway, it is almost always just as fast to travel the main streets, I never go out of my way to use a freeway. Phoenix is laid out on a north/south/east/west grid and there is no advantage to taking the freeway if there is not one close to your starting point and destination.

Arizona Roads -- crossing the river

This picture was taken about 1916, the exact location is unknown but looks like Northern Arizona. If it is a river it is possibly the Little Colorado somewhere east of Flagstaff, but it most likely a wash and not a river. The hills are like those east of the Grand Falls.  In the lower left corner of the photo you can see a rope that was being used to pull the cars across the river. In another photo, showing the same process there is a large tractor being used to pull the cars, one at a time, across the wash. 

Do you think Arizona road builders and drivers learned anything from these early experiences? Have you driven across the Salt River when there is water? The answer is not much. Arizona roads seem to close down for all sorts of reasons, lately for forest fires. I cannot count the times I have been in a long line of cars, waiting for some remote event to happen, usually clearing a traffic accident, but the experience is essentially the same and has been for the last hundred years or so.

What you can do with time and Photoshop

Think about doing this with Photoshop!



Big Pine Mountain, San Rafael Mountains, Santa Barbara in California

Washington Palms

There are about 202 genera with around 2600 different species of palm trees in the world. There are several varieties of the Washintonia but only one, the Washingtonia filifera is native to the Western U.S.  As the leaves grow, the older leaves die and form a skirt of dead leaves around the trunk. This dry skirt is a nuisance and in the summer thunderstorm season it is not uncommon for lightning to strike the palms and start a fire. Growing up in the Salt River Valley, I expected palm trees. I would guess there are well over a million of them growing in the city. It would be difficult to take a picture of the city and not show at least one palm tree, unless you tried to do so on purpose. One of my most intense memories was waking up in Argentina on my first day there. I arrived in the middle of the night and could not see anything on the trip from the airport. That morning I woke up early and opened the door to the room where I was staying. It was on the second floor, and right in front of the door was the top of a palm tree. I knew I was not going to be homesick.

One of my favorite Spanish poets is José Martí, who wrote:

Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece la palma
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma.

This quote is from Martí, José. Versos sencillos de José Martí. La Colección "El ciervo herido". La Habana: ["La Veronica," Imprenta de M. Altolaguirre, 1939. Martí was a revolutionary poet in Cuba and a national hero. Quoting from Wikipedia, "Martí is considered one of the great turn-of-the-century Latin American intellectuals. His written works consist of a series of poems, essays, letters, lectures, a novel, and even a children's magazine. He wrote for numerous Latin American and American newspapers; he also founded a number of newspapers himself. His newspaper Patria was a key instrument in his campaign for Cuban independence. After his death, one of his poems from the book, "Versos Sencillos" (Simple Verses) was adapted to the song, "Guantanamera," which has become the definitive patriotic song of Cuba."

Goodbye, Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum

One of Arizona's lesser known attractions is one of its best. Quoting from its understated website, the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum has over "3,000 minerals, rocks, fossils and mining artifacts are on exhibit. Highlighting the collection are the colorful minerals from Arizona's copper mines. Among the spectacular individual specimens on display are an eight-foot specimen of native copper, a large quartz geode - each half weighing 240 pounds, rocks from the first Moon landing, and a fragment of Meteor Crater's meteorite weighing 206 pounds. Exhibits of special interest encompass cases devoted to the lapidary arts featuring cabochons made of minerals from throughout Arizona, faceted gemstones, carved semi-precious bowls and spheres, well-known Arizona specimen localities, displays on mineral crystal systems, habits, causes of color, fulgarites, and fluorescent minerals."

I have seen some of the largest and most impressive displays of minerals in the U.S. and the Arizona museum ranks up there with some of the most spectacular mineral specimens I have seen, including the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. My favorites include a number of stunning examples of dioptase and some other incredible copper minerals. I also enjoy the meteorite collection.There is an impressive collection of fulgarites (fused sand or minerals from lightening strikes) and many other rare and interesting items.

It helps to have a basic understanding of minerals in order to begin to appreciate what you are looking at. It also helps to have gone to a lot of mineral shows so you can appreciate how much money some of these specimens would command if sold on the market.

Unfortunately, the Museum is presently embroiled in a legislative controversy. Please read this blog post entitled "What's Happening to the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum." Essentially, the State passed Arizona House Bill 2251 which will destroy the Museum and which established the 5C Arizona Centennial Museum which is to be constructed in the building currently occupied by the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum. The new museum will purportedly celebrate the 5Cs (citrus, climate, cattle, cotton, & copper) which presumably were the origin of Arizona’s economy, and are claimed to be depicted on the state seal. There are a lot of politics going on with this bill, none of which will ultimately benefit either the current Museum or the State of Arizona.

So what will happen to the valuable and beautiful minerals? Nobody is saying. How about selling them to the highest bidder? At least those who bought them would appreciate what they had, unlike the State.

The Arizona State Capitol

Hmmm. Somewhere in this picture is the Arizona State Capitol building. Sitting high on a hill overlooking the verdant Salt River Valley, the Arizona State Capitol building is known for its Greco-Roman-Territorial design. People travel from all over the world to see this magnificent building. Dream on. Actually, you can drive right by it and never even notice it. If you look really carefully, you can just see the top of the copper coated dome. This picture is take from in front of the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum which is housed in a much more impressive structure than the capitol only about two blocks away. OK some of what I said at first isn't exactly correct, but it is Neoclassical territorial in design. 

From the Wikimedia Commons

Asked why Arizona has the ugliest state capitol in the United States, John F. Kennedy's Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall commented, "Because we missed the boat and muffed the ball when we rejected the Oasis Project designed by Frank Lloyd Wright." Wright had designed a fantastic Oasis for Arizona and donated the plans to the State. As set out in a site about Wright,

The plan called for a 400 foot wide area of fountains, gardens, and reflecting pools covered gazebo style by a hexagonal latticework dome of crenellated concrete.  An enormous spire similar to that of the First Christian Church would top off the dome.  Two hexagonal copper-domed halls, one on each side of the garden oasis, would be the House and Senate chambers.  Other wings would house the governor's offices, the Supreme Court, legislatures' offices, and a 250 seat restaurant.  The plan for a 212,000 square foot complex had a drawback greater than its estimated 1960 cost of $5 million:  It would require moving the capitol from its 1700 W. Washington location to Papago Park.  In true Wright style, he had selected a location whose spectacular land formation would compliment the unique design.  Instead, the state opted to erect conventional box-like buildings in front of the original 1900 capitol building to house the legislature, and a high rise box behind the capitol building for the governor and executive offices.

Surrounding the present Arizona State Capitol are some of the worst and most run down industrial districts in the entire Salt River Valley. Unless you stand right in front of the capitol building you can hardly see it. Too bad about Wright's design.

Eastern view of the Superstitions

The Superstition Mountains form the eastern-most boundary of the Salt River Valley. In the far center of the picture above, you can just see the top of Weaver's Needle. Just to the left of the ocotillo (large plant which looks like a bunch of sticks) is Miner's Needle, another prominent feature of the southern edge of the mountains. The large yellowish clumps of cactus are cholla. Also, along the right edge of the picture is a prickly pear cactus. The yellow-green bushes in the front of the picture are creosote bushes. Also visible around the base of the ocotillo are a number of brittle bush plants. There are quite a number of saguaro cactus in the background and quite a few palo verde trees (which look more like bushes). This picture was taken from the edge of Highway U.S. 60 just north of Florence Junction, some time ago (actually 1997).

The red dot is about where the picture was taken. The area called Florence Junction, used to be the place where Arizona State Highway 79 went south from U.S. 60. But now, as you can see, it is a freeway interchange and the gas station/store at the crossroads is now off the highway.

This is one of the best views of the Superstitions.

We were walking in the air

We were walking in the air, actually floating, but it was the most amazing and disorienting experience. A much as you can dream of flying, this is the closest you can come without leaving the surface of the earth. With an exact copy of the hills and cliffs below your kayak, you lost the normal perspective of up and down and literally felt like you were in the air. This once in a lifetime experience happened on a perfectly calm day when Blue Ridge Reservoir was almost full. Since calm days in the Arizona high country are rare and a full reservoir is even rarer, this combination will not likely happen again.

The reference to "Walking in the Air" comes from a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs' 1976 children's book The Snowman. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy, and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. In the film the song was performed by St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty. For the subsequent single release, which reached number five in the UK pop charts in 1985, the vocals were sung by Welsh chorister Aled Jones, who became a popular celebrity on the strength of his performance. Jones' version was not an official The Snowman tie-in though it was authorised by Howard Blake.

You could spend a lifetime just looking at sunsets in Arizona. Whenever I go to the east coast of the U.S. I always miss seeing sunsets. When I first started taking pictures, when I was about twelve, I ran to get my camera when there was a beautiful sunset. I guess as I got older, I realized that sunsets were progressive, they constantly change as the clouds move and the sun drops lower below the horizon. Film never did preserve the essence of the sunset and even digital images look washed out and tame compared to the real thing. I think sunsets are there to remind us that beauty has a purpose in turning our hearts towards eternity. A person only becomes poor when they can no longer appreciate the sunset.

The picture was taken at Rock Crossing in the Coconino National Forest, near Blue Ridge Reservoir.