November 12, 2009
Some months ago my cousin Beverly and her husband Joe had contacted us to tell us that there was a Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce trip to China and would we be interested. We thought it over about 30 seconds and said "yes". Actually we gave it a little more thought than that. We had gone to Italy with Beverly and Joe and had a great time touring there and knew that we would have a good time in China if we went. After reviewing the itinerary and information about the trip we said of course we would go and signed up.
A visa to China was required and we needed passport type photos to send in with the application so we went down to the Akron AAA to get them taken since they don't charge if you are a member of AAA. During the course of getting the photos taken the person taking them asked where we going and we said China. She asked if we were going with the Akron Chamber of Commerce as there had been over a hundred people getting their visa photos taken. That was when we found out that the Akron Chamber was also sponsoring a trip to China. We had not seen the ad from the Akron Chamber but later we talked to a number of people who had. After visiting and reading the Citslinc tour company website that handles the trip we found out that thousands from across America make this trip every year. Citslinc apparently was founded and set up by a Chinese business man for the purpose of creating business connections between China and the US. Some think that the trips are subsidized by the Chinese govenment. We do know that the price for the trip was very reasonable and would be impossible to do on your own for that price. If you have a business here and would like to talk to someone in China that you might want to establish a connection to while on the trip Citslinc will set it up.
So, with that background we had to be at LAX the morning of 11/13/09 to meet the Palm Springs group and my cousins for the trip. We were to meet around 9 AM in order to allow plenty of time to get checked in for the 12:30 PM flight. We had decided to fly over to LA on the afternoon of the 12th and not have to worry about a late or cancelled flight from Phoenix the same day of the China flight. We made reservations at the Ramada El Segundo which is close to the airport and has a free shuttle. We had stayed there before on our trips to New Zealand but the place seems to be going downhill from the last stay there. The restaurant didn't seem to be in operation even though the desk clerk said that it was and we ended up eating in the bar.
The room was clean but worn and dated. It did provide a good nights sleep and time to relax before the long flight on the 13th.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Veteran's Day
November 9, 2009
This entry is meant to be a tribute and thanks for those men and women who have served and are serving in the US armed services. As Joan put it yesterday she is thankful that her father made it back from WWII for many reasons and if he wouldn't have she would have been an only child (she was the eldest and born before her father left to serve) and may not have ever had a sister and two brothers and the extended family as we know it today. Her father fought in Europe and came home with a Purple Heart. Fortunately the war was in the ending stages by the time he recovered and was deployed back to the States without having to go back to the front lines. We are very thankful that he was able to come back safe and sound.
So many have paid the ultimate price by giving up their lives or suffered serious physical or mental handicaps that they can never recover from. As the saying goes "Freedom is not Free" and so many have given so much so we here in the United States of America can enjoy the freedoms that we have. Unfortunately for every terrorist attack that occurs in some way we loose a little bit of that freedom and the cost goes higher. Will we ever live in a world where we don't have to worry about protecting our country from someone who wants to take our freedom away? Probably not. Will dedicated people continue to put their lives on the line to protect out country? Yes, and we need to thank those who do.
Coming back from Cave Creek we took a short detour through the National Cemetery of Arizona. It is a place of quiet, solemn, beauty quite different from say Arlington Cemetery with its green plush grass and white crosses. It is fitted to its desert environment with coarse granular sand that is maintained in pristine condition. The ground between markers is apparently maintained by equipment that rakes the ground smooth and I can only be curious as to how often this is done. When we were there we saw occasional cars entering and leaving and a number of people spending time looking at markers of loved ones or family members buried there. Every person walking there leaves their footprints in the sand as a record of their visit that eventually will be swept away by the wind or machine.
The cemetery consists of 225 acres and at the end of 2008 was the resting place for over 52,500 people. It was dedicated on 12/9/78 and the first burial took place on 3/19/79. Some statistician apparently calculated that the cemetery will last until 2030 meaning it will take that long to use up the space allocated. We can only hope and pray that it will not be necessary to make it larger or ever use all the space.
Below are a few pictures -
Wherever we have been in our travels both foreign and domestic and having the opportunity to talk with people we have found common desires. They want to be able to work for a living and safely raise and educate their children and have a safe and decent place to live. So in what ever way you can to help ourselves and others to do this please do. We tend to forget at times to be thankful for our country and the opportunities that we have. Don't criticize our system unless you do it to make it better.
Remember our veterans!
Life is good.
The Horny Toad
November 7, 2009
Weather: High 80's, blue sky.
We had read about a festival that was going on this weekend in Cave Creek a little town just north of Phoenix about 15 miles and decided to drive up and see what it was about. The activities sounded interesting and included an Art Fest and a lot of arts and crafts. Of some interest on Saturday morning was a horse back cowboy and cowgirl (cowperson?) poker run. Last year they had a reported 200 riders and this year they expected 250. The only problem was it started at 7:30 AM and ended around 11 AM. By the time we got up to Cave Creek it was around noon and we were too late to see the horseback activities. I would guess that a lot of well dressed cowpersons participated.
In general Cave Creek has maintained an old west town motif and uses that as a draw for visitors. They have a first saturday of the month arts and crafts flea market that is popular. The general area is not built up much yet but there are a number of large adobe homes sprouting up around and on the mountains there.
First order of business for us was lunch and the choice was large for such a small town. Probably a lot people head up there for lunch and dinners from Phoenix as a get-a-way kind of place. BBQ seems to be a theme there and we opted to stop at "The Horny Toad" for lunch. They have a pretty good menu and although BBQ is not their specialty I decided to have their BBQ pork sandwich which turned out to be a good choice. You might ask how they picked the name Horny Toad. The back of the menu explained that. The short version that for some reason they attribute to Easterners thinking is that it's a frog anxiouly awaiting an answer to a mating call. The more to truth version is that it's a type of insect-eating lizard of the family lguanidae whose body resembles that of a toad or frog with a rough body, short tail and it's head furnished with horny spikes. The actual restaurant name came from a lengthy story about a prospector in the area many years ago. If you want to hear or read that storyt you will have to ask to borrow the menu that we kept.
Below are Joan and I as we were leaving The Horny Toad.
The nice dune buggy below with the chromed V8 was in the Horny Toad parking lot. Pretty cool and the message on the back probably is a result of many people asking how much it cost.
After looking through a lot of gift shops and buying the required T-shirt we had a great root beer float at "Big Al's Drive-in". On a warm afternoon they were wonderful and consisted of two large scoops of vanilla ice cream and they gave us the can of A&W Root Beer to pour over it . The place would fit nicely on Rt. 66 somewheres. It was a converted old time gas station with the overhead awning that projected out part way to the street where the pumps used to sit. Now there are tables under it and since the inside of the building was small there were only 6 or 8 tables in there.
It was fun to sit there and adsorb some of the atmosphere.
Weather: High 80's, blue sky.
We had read about a festival that was going on this weekend in Cave Creek a little town just north of Phoenix about 15 miles and decided to drive up and see what it was about. The activities sounded interesting and included an Art Fest and a lot of arts and crafts. Of some interest on Saturday morning was a horse back cowboy and cowgirl (cowperson?) poker run. Last year they had a reported 200 riders and this year they expected 250. The only problem was it started at 7:30 AM and ended around 11 AM. By the time we got up to Cave Creek it was around noon and we were too late to see the horseback activities. I would guess that a lot of well dressed cowpersons participated.
In general Cave Creek has maintained an old west town motif and uses that as a draw for visitors. They have a first saturday of the month arts and crafts flea market that is popular. The general area is not built up much yet but there are a number of large adobe homes sprouting up around and on the mountains there.
First order of business for us was lunch and the choice was large for such a small town. Probably a lot people head up there for lunch and dinners from Phoenix as a get-a-way kind of place. BBQ seems to be a theme there and we opted to stop at "The Horny Toad" for lunch. They have a pretty good menu and although BBQ is not their specialty I decided to have their BBQ pork sandwich which turned out to be a good choice. You might ask how they picked the name Horny Toad. The back of the menu explained that. The short version that for some reason they attribute to Easterners thinking is that it's a frog anxiouly awaiting an answer to a mating call. The more to truth version is that it's a type of insect-eating lizard of the family lguanidae whose body resembles that of a toad or frog with a rough body, short tail and it's head furnished with horny spikes. The actual restaurant name came from a lengthy story about a prospector in the area many years ago. If you want to hear or read that storyt you will have to ask to borrow the menu that we kept.
Below are Joan and I as we were leaving The Horny Toad.
The nice dune buggy below with the chromed V8 was in the Horny Toad parking lot. Pretty cool and the message on the back probably is a result of many people asking how much it cost.
After looking through a lot of gift shops and buying the required T-shirt we had a great root beer float at "Big Al's Drive-in". On a warm afternoon they were wonderful and consisted of two large scoops of vanilla ice cream and they gave us the can of A&W Root Beer to pour over it . The place would fit nicely on Rt. 66 somewheres. It was a converted old time gas station with the overhead awning that projected out part way to the street where the pumps used to sit. Now there are tables under it and since the inside of the building was small there were only 6 or 8 tables in there.
It was fun to sit there and adsorb some of the atmosphere.
I will fill you in on the return trip on tomorrow's blog entry.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
El Dia de los Muertos
November 1, 2009
Weather: Another blue sky day in the 80's.
Abraham Lincoln established Arizona as a separate territory dividing it from New Mexico in 1863. Prescott was picked to be the capital apparently because gold had been discovered in the mountains nearby and like today politicians like to be close to the money. Below is the loghouse build to be the first governor's home. It remains today as part of a museum complex. A Victorian home was built just across from it providing a more elegant home later on.
The thing that I had probably forgotten or maybe never knew (sleep through class that day?) was that Arizona remained a territory until 1912 when it was admitted as the last of the 48 original states.
Below is the original windmill installed to pump water for the town in 1876. It was added to the National Register in 1981. It is called the Iron Turbine and was manufactured by the Mast Foos Co. in Springfield, OH. Very unusual blades to catch the wind. Maybe they knew something about the efficiency of windmills back then or maybe not as I've never seen another like it.
Prescott is a nice town with friendly people. We had a number of nice discussions with town members while there. We stopped in "Grandma's Bakery on W. Gurley St.. A real small bakery on the lower level of one of the older buildings. The lady there admitted that she was not Grandma but her assistant. Really good cookies and pastries and suggest a stop there if you are in Prescott. Talked to another retiree out for his afternoon walk. He said that it gets down to 15 degrees sometimes during the winter and usually stays about 10-15 degrees cooler in the summer than Phoenix. The altitude of 5,400 ft has a lot to do with that I would think. Some of the accolades given to Prescott include:
Okay here's an odd one - someone set up a display for the rapper Tupac.
Ending on a different note below, there was a lot of music and dancing by the folks of Spanish heritage. A lot of dancers in beautiful costumes, Mariachi bands, etc. that performed all afternoon.
Weather: Another blue sky day in the 80's.
Abraham Lincoln established Arizona as a separate territory dividing it from New Mexico in 1863. Prescott was picked to be the capital apparently because gold had been discovered in the mountains nearby and like today politicians like to be close to the money. Below is the loghouse build to be the first governor's home. It remains today as part of a museum complex. A Victorian home was built just across from it providing a more elegant home later on.
The thing that I had probably forgotten or maybe never knew (sleep through class that day?) was that Arizona remained a territory until 1912 when it was admitted as the last of the 48 original states.
Below is the original windmill installed to pump water for the town in 1876. It was added to the National Register in 1981. It is called the Iron Turbine and was manufactured by the Mast Foos Co. in Springfield, OH. Very unusual blades to catch the wind. Maybe they knew something about the efficiency of windmills back then or maybe not as I've never seen another like it.
Prescott is a nice town with friendly people. We had a number of nice discussions with town members while there. We stopped in "Grandma's Bakery on W. Gurley St.. A real small bakery on the lower level of one of the older buildings. The lady there admitted that she was not Grandma but her assistant. Really good cookies and pastries and suggest a stop there if you are in Prescott. Talked to another retiree out for his afternoon walk. He said that it gets down to 15 degrees sometimes during the winter and usually stays about 10-15 degrees cooler in the summer than Phoenix. The altitude of 5,400 ft has a lot to do with that I would think. Some of the accolades given to Prescott include:
- "Top Adventure Town" by National Geographic Adventure Magazine
- "Top Trail Town" by Trail Runner Magazine
- Courthouse Square made list of Top Ten public spaces in America
- One of top 5 places to retire by Money Magazine.
- And numeous others
A little bit about Whiskey Row. The full block on the west side of the courthouse is referred to as "Whiskey Row". Back in the "old days" the street side was lined with bars and popular with the cowboys and others finding their way through town. In behind the bars was more establishments that had something to do with "red lights"? And behind that a mini China Town.
In 1900 there was a bad fire of unknown origin and a lot of the bars caught fire. According to legend the drinkers merely took their drinks in hand and walked across the street to the courthouse grounds and watched the fire. An exception was the clients of the Palace Hotel and Bar were so endeared to the bar that they removed and carried the bar and the back bar out of harms way across the street. It was stored until the building could be rebuilt and then the bar was put back. Below is a picture of the entrance and swinging doors to the Palace Hotel and Bar.
We were in town on November 1st and the town was celebrating "El Dia de los Muertos", a highly celebrated day in Spanish speaking cultures. It's a day of remembering family members, friends, or anyone that you feel of importance. I would relate it kind of to Memorial Day. It's a day of praying for people who have died, decorating tombstones, etc. The interesting thing is that it has a real macabre angle to it. Skulls made of sugar or other materials are popular, skeletons, and other ways of creating a death image of who you are honoring or remembering.
Small altars are set up with trinkets or things of interest relating to that person. The museum complex had provided an area for people to set up these displays. Note below - great grandma maybe!
Okay here's an odd one - someone set up a display for the rapper Tupac.
Ending on a different note below, there was a lot of music and dancing by the folks of Spanish heritage. A lot of dancers in beautiful costumes, Mariachi bands, etc. that performed all afternoon.
Well it was another of day of adventure, learning, and travel enjoyment. Wouldn't it be great to travel across the country and spend time to learn the history and heritage of people. What we saw was probably just scratching the surface of Prescott.
Life is Good!
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