Our 1996 Drive Through Arizona: Sedona

 

    We then drove on to Sedona, a town surrounded by large, pink,  dramatic, sandstone formations. Even in the 1990’s, Sedona had become a trendy place, known as the “Most New Age Town in America”.  

    Supposedly there are seven major “vortices” in the Sedona area, places where “vital energy is emitted in great abundance. The vortex centers have an aliveness and intensity of life-force energy that is amplified and concentrated. This spiraling energy flowing from the earth has been documented by human experience over the years and has been responsible for spontaneous healings and spiritual awakenings for hundreds of people.” 

    For us nonbelievers, this was a lot of bunk, so we passed up the many shops hawking crystals, mystic music, and physic readings but we did visit an artist coop, full of unusual and intricate and colorful objects, which of course were very expensive.  We splurged and bought some copper plates for our light switches (photo below).  There was a Peruvian Andean band performing at one shop, playing flutes, and guitars in their catchy rhythmic  ethnic style.  

    The Sedona shop that did peak our interest was a restaurant where we indulged our appetites and bought some Tex-Mex fare: sandwiches with jalapeño cheese, and jalapeño mustard, along with some taco chips with jalapeño dip.  We ate our meal at a picnic area just outside of Sedona.

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Self-Reliant Like J.J.

     See the guy in the white shirt, that is J.J.  The photo was taken in 1980, during my first experience as a fire fighter.  J.J. had become one of the fire camp’s cooks.  

    When my wife and I bought our house in McBride and moved to the Robson Valley, we had no experience in maintaining a house, and had very little money to do it with, so we quickly learned that we had to figure out how to do things ourselves.  This was before the internet and youtube, so we couldn’t just watch a video to see how things were done.  Luckily, J.J. lived just down the road in a small log cabin, and he was a wealth of knowledge.

    J.J. had lived in the Robson Valley for a while, and I was amazed at his abilities.  He seemed to know how to do everything, including construction, electrical wiring, pumbing, gardening, chainsaw work (I was surprised to see him clammer up a birch tree to cut off its dead top).  Living in the rural isolation of McBride, he had gotten by, doing a myriad of odd jobs, and had learned a lot.  I always admired J.J. for all of his useful knowledge and abilities.

    As I look back at my life, I realized that, now, I also have become a lot like J.J.  Living in a place where I had to do most things myself, I have learned a lot.  When we bought our place I was a school teacher and a novice at just about everything else I needed to know about living a rural life.  Certainly rebuilding our entire house by myself had really expanded the range of my experiences.   

    I thought about that yesterday when I had to pull up the toilet to replace the wax ring underneath it.  I also had to deal with our satellite TV which had lost some stations.  When I called the corporation for help, at once point, the helpline suggested I have a satellite maintenance man come to our house.  I had to explain that there were no satellite maintenance personnel who would come to our remote area. (Twenty-plus years ago, I had to figure out, install, and aim the satellite dish myself.) 

    Fortunately, the satellite corporation was finally able to correct the problem on their end by doing some tweaking.

    Looking back, I am proud at how self-reliant I have become, however now with the restrictions of old age bearing down on me, I am having to accept that there are now a lot of things I can no longer do by myself, and I will have to start depending more on others to get things done.

    

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Neighborhood Current Events

     I have mentioned before how important the changing of the seasons are to me.  I look for signs that signal those changes, and yesterday we experienced one.  It was the first day of autumn that we had ice form on the pond.  It was a thin layer of ice but it covered the whole pond.   If the weather warms up it may melt away, but right now there is no indication that it will get disappear.

    I blogged about the strong winds we got last Friday that blew down the big cedar near our house.  I guess I am not the only one in the neighborhood that had a tree blow down.  Last night when I picked up a friend to take her to the jam, she was anxious to tell me the news that had happened to her.  Two big spruce trees close to her house also blew down last Friday.  Luckily, like me, the trees fell away from her house.

    A couple of weeks ago, one of her horses died.  She had a backhoe come and they buried it.  Last night she told me that a bear had come, must have sniffed out the buried horse, and dug up and was eating the corpse.   Not the kind of experience one wants while still grieving her beloved horse.

    

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1996 Arizona Road Trip: Jerome and Tuzigoot

      Further along Highway 93 we stopped at an interesting antique shop run by a lady who had moved there from Monterrey, California, trying to escape the influx of “rich people” who were starting to destroy the area.  There were other roadside vendors and a bead store along the highway.  I bought a gold nugget for $30, and two African belts.  

    While talking to the antique shop owner, she recommended that we take Highway 89 whose route went through the “dry country”.  We eventually got into mountains and a National Forest.  The highway was very hilly, with hairpin curves and switchbacks.  Past Prescott, we took Highway 89A, which continued to be very steep, curvy, and amazing.  We climbed quite high in elevation, and began to wonder if we had made a mistake, when we came upon a sign that said, “Jerome, city limits”, because we were still on a steep mountain side.

    We rounded a tight curve and there was Jerome, with building clinging to the side of the mountains (photo above).   Its Main Street switched-back through the seemingly vertical town .  It was a neat place, full of interesting shops.  After looking around, we got back in our rental car and descended the mountain to Clarksdale, where we found a motel for $45.

    Since I was a kid I have always been interested in Native American history and culture, so I was happy when the first stop we made the following day was at Tuzigoot National Monument (photo below) with its stone remnants of an old Indian Pueblo which had been two or three stories high.  The pueblo was inhabited from 1100 to about 1400 and had 110 rooms.

         We toured the museum and were surprised to learn that among other relics, archeologists found the remains of parrots there.  The residents of the ancient settlement had evidently traded with peoples very far to the south. The ruins that clung to summit of a ridge overlooked the Verde River and a swampy area.  It looked like an excellent place for a settlement.  We were disgusted to see that some developer was putting in a golf course right up to the boundary of Tuzigoot National Monument.

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1996: Our Drive Through Arizona

      For our Spring Break vacation in 1996, we planned an escape from still snowy BC to do a trip through Arizona.  We had made reservations at a La Quinta Inn for our first night.  After our flight to Phoenix, we drove to the motel in our rental car.   I remember the night being so warm and pleasant after our still cold weather at home.  

        As we entered the lobby, we immediately felt sorry for a guy that was being turned away because the motel had no vacancies and he had no reservation.  We felt a bit cocky about planning ahead and making a reservation.

    Our mood quickly changed when I got to the counter and told the desk clerk we had a reservation.  I gave him our name and he started typing it out on the computer, then looked up and said, “Nope, sorry, we don’t have a reservation for you.”  Our hearts sunk.

    Before we totally collapsed in distress, the clerk said, “Maybe you made the reservation at another La Quinta Inns in Phoenix.  I’ll check.”  

            He got back on the computer and much to our relief, that is what we had done.  We got back into the car and drove onto the Interstate headed for the correct motel.  We noticed as we drove that all of the hotels we past had their “No Vacancy” signs lit up.  We soon found the right La Quinta and were ecstatic to soon be in our motel room after our long flight from Canada and the scare at the other Inn.

            The following day we began to explore Arizona.  We avoided the Interstate, preferring to drive Highway 93.  We came upon Hassayampa River Preserve (photos) and pulled in.  It was an oasis-type area of plants and wildlife habitat beside the river.  We walked two trails and saw a flicker and hummingbird.  While we were sitting on a bench, we watched a fox sneak up and make a kill (bird or mouse?) on the opposite side of the river.  That was a bit distressing, but the Preserve was an interesting stop, being such a different environment from what we were used to in the Robson Valley.

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Happy Day of the Dead

          Okay, I realize that “Happy” is not the appropriate word to use for Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday, and I certainly didn't mean any disrespect, but I thought I’d use it anyway to get your attention.  

       Today is the Day of the Dead in Mexico.  In 1981 my wife and I traveled to Mexico to look at the Aztec and Mayan ruins and experience the country.  We weren’t aware of the Day of the Dead when we made our arrangements, and were quite surprised to suddenly come upon all the displays of gruesome foods:  sugar skulls, chocolate coffins, and “Bread of the Dead”, arranged in the stores of Mexico City.  

        Eventually we found out what it was all about.  On this day it is customary for families to pack up some food stuffs and have a “picnic” lunch at the graves of their ancestors, eating their meal among the tombstones, and talking to their deceased family members.  Marigolds seem to be the flower of choice for the occasion.  It all seemed a bit strange to us, but I guess foreigners viewing our “Halloween” might have similar feelings.  

    While it seems a bit bizarre to North American culture, I think it is very worthwhile to dedicate a day to think about those ancestors of yours, whose struggles have led to you and your situation.  There are holidays dedicated to soldiers, why not have one dedicated to your the people that directly led to you?

    Below are some photos of some of the food items we saw in Mexico City as Day of the Dead approached.

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Wild Swans and Other Events of the Day

     Yesterday was one of those days when a lot of memorable things happened.  We experience the very strong winds which blew down the big dead cedar tree in our yard (yesterday’s blog).  We had noticed the downed tree as we went outside to drive to McBride to cancel our house insurance because they would not except our wood stove.  

    On our way to town we were surprised to see a pair of wild swans swimming around in Bircher’s field.  While swans visit the Robson Valley during their migration, we don’t usually get to see them.  I was really happy to get the “Bottoms up” shot shown below.

    Once in town I went into the insurance office to cancel our house insurance, because of restrictions on wood stoves that the insurance company had made.  At the office they told me I was the third person to come in that morning, to cancel because of the wood stoves.    They ask me to just hold on because they were seeking other insurance companies whose policies might help me, so I am waiting.

    The next memorable thing of the day happened  when I went into the hardware store to buy a tape measure.  I used to have five measuring tapes, but anymore, I can only find one.  I went to the measuring tape section and looked at what was available.  I didn’t like any that were displayed.  They were all so big and bulky, and only showed inches, instead of both inches and centimeters, like all of my other tapes.   Also all of the measuring tapes were really expensive, $32.

    As I was walking out of the store empty handed, Scott asked if I found everything, and I told him that, no, there weren’t any measuring tapes that showed both Imperial and Metric units.   He was surprised and walked me back to the measuring tapes to find me one.  When he saw that I was right, he said, “Let be go into the back, to see if we have any there.”

    He came back with one and sure enough it had both inches and centimeters, so he rang it up at the counter.   The tape was big and bulky and looked just like the others hanging on the display, so I was very surprised when he said, “That will be $13.”

    “Are you sure?” I asked, figuring he had made a mistake, but then Scott replied that “They are on sale.”

    Looking back I realize that it had been a pretty good day.  Yes, my beloved cedar tree blew down, but it blew down without damaging any of a number of important things.  I saw some wild swans.  For now, we still have house insurance, because they are checking on other policies that might enable us to use our wood stove which is pretty much a necessity for us in the winter.  And of course, I unexpectedly got the measuring tape I wanted on sale.  Overall, things went well yesterday.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca