Evolution of lights

Changing lights

Changing again

And changing yet again

Unfortunately, despite trying a number of settings on my digital camera, the photos don’t do justice to the inventiveness, whimsy and movement of the light displays that use over three million lights – mostly LED – we are assured, so they use less electricity.

An elephant

An elephant that playfully squirts water

There is a horse that seems to move, trotting along as each subsequent display is set up.  An elephant playfully squirts water. There are “dancing trees’ that are the most impressive display with colors flashing red, green, white.  There is an orb that changes colors while floating shimmering on the lake.

Dancing trees

There are hundreds of different sculptural lights displayed as everything from flowers to an enormous orangutan arch.   Children seem to be the most awed by the exhibits.  And, there are other things to experience –  Camel rides, a “Polar slide,” wagon rides, a merry-go-round and other rides.

However, in the entire zoo, only a real komodo dragon was available to be seen, since the other real animals were tucked away for the night.

ZooLights is held annually from around Thanksgiving until early in the new year during the evening hours after the zoo is closed.

Other cities have a zoolights event and it could be one of the more delightful family events that people can share.

Catch the light show next year!

Sometimes, it is just a good idea to relax, take a walk and enjoy nature.

If you are visiting the desert, it is surprising to find that there are actually spots with water and ducks.

Ducks, ducks, ducks!

Riverview Park - a small park with water, picnic areas and playground

(Riverview Park is located in Mesa at Dobson Road and 8^th Street.)

And, if birds are your thing, head to see another park that has an even greater area and an abundance of birds, the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, Arizona.

See more on my other website,

http://hiking.forthecouchpotato.com/hiking/

(We have had some “technical difficulties” and the website is not quite as complete as we had hoped, but you can check this link and see three great images.)

Strawberry

Strawberry, charmingly named, has a much smaller population (in 2007 – only 1,000-plus!) and has a few amenities.  According to http://www.city-data.com/city/Strawberry-Arizona.html, Strawberry residents are older, richer and have more expensive homes than the median Arizona population.

One tourist magnet with some charm is the Strawberry School, the “oldest standing school in Arizona.”  According to a representative of the Pine/Strawberry Archeological and Historical Society, the school was almost razed when a developer bought a large tract in the area.  A local informed the crew that was about to raze the school as they were removing the roof, that the building was the old school house.  The developer decided to spare the school and the roof was rebuilt.

Strawberry School - the "Oldest Standing School in Arizona "

The original building’s walls were constructed in 1885 with logs that surround a one-room area dominated with a wood-burning stove.  The historical society rep commented that the old wooden desks were not the original furnishings.  Instead, tables were used.

Closed in 1916, the school is a reminder of what schools were like a century ago.  However, the furnishings were considered more opulent than was normal with wainscoting, wallpaper, slate on the wall as a blackboard, a world globe, an organ, a dictionary and a clock.  The school was also a meeting location and social center.

Interior of the one-room Strawberry School

For many in the area, the school was part of their heritage, so residents were integral in having it declared a Historical Monument in 1981.

There is no charge to view the school, but a donation is requested.

Pine

Another small town with a lot of activity the weekend we visited is Pine.  Again, as in Strawberry, the median age and income levels are higher than the median for Arizona.  The population tallies just under 2,000. Can we say, “retirement community”?

An arts and crafts fair was sprawled out along the road as well as in a community hall.  The variety seemed to be strongly focused on food.  However, we enjoyed the crafts and most especially our chat with Bob Gleason, a basket weaver, who was weaving as we spoke.

Bob Gleason weaves baskets right in front of your eyes.

Bob is from Phoenix, but enjoys demonstrating his craft, which he finds relaxing and has recently begun more elaborate baskets.  The colors and craftsmanship are top notch.  The materials are rattan and can be extremely light, but sturdy.  Bob’s business, with the URL of bobsbasketcase.intuitwebsites.com, (602-317-0644), shows he has a sense of humor.  He has to with some of the dumb questions that people ask – “Who makes the baskets? –He does – “I’m making one now!” (I’m sure he’d like to tell people to pay attention.)

Another crafter, Ron Lepore with Melted Bottles (928-443-8865), uses recycled bottles to make very attractive serving pieces with knives attached.  Great for serving cheese, crackers, fruit and other edibles, the pieces show the whimsy of the bottles he recovers from peoples’ discards.

Ron Lepore exhibited his recycled "Melted Bottles" - great for serving and gifts

Other items sold included emu meat, quilts, and other attractive art.

When we finished, we stopped at the Gingerbread House for some ice cream.  At the old-fashioned style soda fountain, the flavors were great (I had black cherry cordial and my husband had cookies and cream).

Gingerbread House - ice cream treats and collectibles

After we ate every bite of the ice cream and waffle cone, we headed to Payson.

Next week… We’ll give you a short tour of Payson, home of rodeos and other pastimes.

Coming soon!   We will be launching a new site for all of  you Couch Potatoes out there – who want to get up and get going!  More soon…

With a population of over 200,000, Boise still seems like an accessible and people-friendly place to live, raise children, work, and enjoy leisure time.

Boise Zoo entrance

Within a few blocks, there is a lovely park with a rose garden, a zoo, both a historical and art museum, an impressive university campus, a river, and a very moving memorial.  The city has a 25-mile green belt, so there is space to breathe and stretch, as you walk along the river.

Rose Garden in Boise

We spent an afternoon trekking around, just walking and seeing the city.  We left our car behind and took in the sights, which we’ll share with you –

Idaho Historical Museum

After a quick visit to scope out the library, usually one of our first stops, we walked through the Julia Davis Park where we saw the Idaho Historical Museum, the Discovery Center (an interactive science museum) and the Boise Art Museum.  As we passed the Art Museum, they were setting up for a private party on the rear lawn.

The Municipal Rose Garden provided a few eye appealing minutes as we walked through the profusion of roses in bloom.

We walked by the Boise Zoo, but they were going to be closing soon, so we continued on.

Morrison Center for the Performing Art at Boise State

We crossed a bridge leading to Boise State University, where the architecture was modern and appealing.  In this day of budget cuts, it was good to see the campus, obviously well kept.

Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial

Our last stop before we headed to dinner was the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, a sculptural center with waterfalls, interactive exhibits, and evocative statements showing the evils of war from a human perspective.  It was a somber and moving experience to read the words of those whose lives have been less fortunate, the innocent victims of war.

Another child victim of war speaks

If you are in the northwest, don’t miss Boise.  When we have more time, we’ll be back to visit …

Come back next week for a visit to an impressive dam.

Leaving Jackson Hole after we whisked through (it is was very early and nothing was open, not even the visitors center), we headed north to Grand Teton National Park.  Before you arrive at the toll booth, a side trip to Craig Thomas Discovery Center puts the natural wonders of the area in perspective.  The land seems open and vast, a series of mountains with wildlife tucked away.  Friendly Park’s Rangers are happy to explain what there is to do and see, but the exhibits themselves are worth a few minutes to understand the forces and creatures (human and otherwise) that have created this area. The architecture of the Discovery Center is gorgeous and on a grand scale, befitting the land of which it represents.

Once on the road again, we paid our toll ($25 for a week pass that also gave us access to Yellowstone National Park) and saw deer just a few miles up the road.  It is telling that the sign said, “Elk, moose and buffalo crossing next 20 miles.”

A short side trip to Jenny Lake

We decided to take a little respite from driving and visit Jenny Lake.  The views were breathtaking and the area had very few people.  This was in late May, but the area was still chilly and we wore warm clothing.  (A pleasant change from the temperatures in our home state of Arizona where temperatures were soaring to the 100-degree mark.)

We walked along the lake, watched the boat (rides are available, but there is a fee and we didn’t want to spend the time or money) leave a wake in the water and enjoyed the stillness.  There were few people about, so we could really appreciate the scenery.

We’ll let our photos tell the story of our visit to Jenny Lake.

A camping store and a few amenities are available at Jenny Lake, but they are near the parking lot, not on the lake’s shore.  Fortunately.

When at the store area, you become aware of the fact that bears can be frequent visitors. The garbage cans have a special opening that would prevent bears from getting to the refuse.

Lunch at Jackson Lake Lodge

We grabbed lunch at the semi-rustic Jackson Lake Lodge in the restaurant.  The tab for two came to around $20 for our hamburger meal.  Most memorable was the very friendly wait person who took our order.  It seems that people are really eager to work at these locations as a “working vacation.”  The views are spectacular from the Lodge, but the prices to stay are spectacular, too. We saw rates of up to $300 a day for the rooms, which are fairly modest park lodging. (No television, no radio, no A/C – not that it would be that necessary, no wireless access in the room, but it is in the lodge.)

Jackson Lake Lodge Lobby

View from Jackson Lake Lodge

Leaving Grand Tetons

Eager to get to Yellowstone, we headed north.  There is some road construction, which can make the road only one lane so that cars take turns in each direction.  This can slow things down. We were lucky and didn’t have to wait for the ½ hour delay that the posted sign warned about.

We still saw a lot of snow clinging to mountainsides.

We have been so eager to share the most dramatic visits first, so now we’ll head back to civilization and visit Idaho for a few weeks.  Urban, but great!

Come back next time and we’ll visit Boise, Idaho.

Yellowstone National Park southern entrance

Getting there

Entering Yellowstone from the south via Grand Tetons (more on that park another week) we drove in on Route 89/191/297.  We had paid for a park pass at Grand Teton that was good for both parks for seven days.  ($25 in our case, an annual pass is $50)

In late May, as we headed past Lewis Lake, the water was still frozen and it was still cold outside, as evidenced by our need to use the car’s defroster.  According to the map, the road on which we entered was actually closed until mid-May.  Apparently, only the two east and one north entrances are open year round.

First stop: Old Faithful and more

Everyone has heard about Old Faithful, so we decided we’d see that iconic natural feature first.  We could just imagine how busy the area would be in the middle of summer, with a big parking area very crowded in late May!  Heading in to the drive to Old Faithful, we saw several buffalo on the roadside, but couldn’t stop because of traffic.  We regretted not being able to spend time viewing the bison, but more than made up for that later on…more on that in another blog.

We followed the path to Old Faithful once we’d parked and found low benches in a giant semi-circle surrounding the area where Old Faithful spews once every- approximately – 70 minutes.  A posted sign said that the next spouting would be at approximately 3:57 PM, plus or minus 10 minutes.  The Parks Service is very clear that they are predicting, no scheduling.

We had a lot of time to spare, so we wandered about, getting a feel for the area.  In the distance, many small geysers seemed to be steaming, but on the particular day we were there, another geyser, Castle Geyser, seemed to be spewing and throwing giant clouds of steam into the air northwest of Old Faithful.  We were informed by the Park Ranger that Castle Geyser is unpredictable.  However, unpredictable as it may have been, it was more amazing than we expected.  Especially when…

Old Faithful- faithful, but maybe not as impressive as others

We finally saw Old Faithful do its performance. After a long 45 minutes of little gassy clouds, almost at the end of the predicted time, the geyser began foaming slightly and then raised a cloud of steam into the air, before calming down.  With Castle Geyser going off over 10 times as high in the distance, Old Faithful was a disappointment to everyone. You could tell because the end of the quick time of eruption and the almost instantaneous departure of the crowd made it apparent that no one was entranced.

Old Faithful does its thing (click here for video)

The numbers in the Park newsletter for Old Faithful were more impressive as they state that Old Faithful averages heights of 130 feet in the air and spews out between 3,700 and 8,400 gallons of water per eruption. The water temperature at the vent at the start of eruption is 204 degrees F. (95.6 C)

We were spoiled by Castle Geyser’s spectacular performance!

Castle Geyser - less often, but more spectacular!

So, take a look at the photos and picture yourself surrounded by geysers steaming and spewing in many places around the park and, then, you can understand why Yellowstone was originally called after early explorer John Colter’s observation,”Colter’s Hell.”

More in next week’s blog on Yellowstone.  Anyone who can get there will find it an amazing place. Plan to spend a couple of days or more to see the many sights.

Some other business activities have been keeping me busy – which I’ll share with you all soon. We also had the infamous “technical difficulties.”

In the meanwhile, we’ve been traveling and will, over the weeks to come, be offering our accounts of our visits to Yellowstone National Park, Southern Idaho and travel eats and accommodations along the way.

We’re getting very close to having traveled to every state in the United States – especially my husband – and on this particular trip, we were in five different states – Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

In the Western United States, spaces seem more spacious.  Although places may look close on a map, you can drive for many miles before seeing another town or any humans. Other than car occupants, what we saw more of than anything in our travels were buffalo – or bison – at Yellowstone National Park.

We also saw one lone buffalo that had strayed out of Yellowstone and was munching placidly on grass in the small resort town, West Yellowstone, adjacent to the Park.  The buffalo was now legendary, as he had been in West Yellowstone for a week.  Turning up behind a restaurant, behind someone’s home and in various other parts of town, no one seemed too concerned about their new inhabitant.  The theory seemed to be, “let it be.”

Tune in next week and we’ll share more about our trip to the 2.2 million acres!! (we didn’t get to all of them, but many amazing locations) of Yellowstone National Park.

(Okay, we have not been blogging recently.  Our internet connection was very iffy, but now we seem to have resolved those issues.)

After reviewing travel options for our nine-day excursion, we have decided to choose -   ta da da da dah da!-

IDAHO!

Our choice of Idaho was for the following reasons:

1. We have never been there.
2. They sent us information very quickly – we like responsiveness!
3. We know images can be enhanced, but the stunning views of mountains and lakes were irresistible.
4. After living in the Arizona desert, an abundance of lakes, waterfalls and rivers will be a welcome change.
5. The scenic byways sound entrancing and the diversity of climates is always a great idea if you want to see a lot in very little time.
6. Boise sounds like our idea of a great city to visit.  A university town, that always seems to add something special to the life of a community.   “A vibrant downtown bordered by a 25-mile greenbelt and seven grand parks, line the city’s waterfront.” (Although there is a punctuation/grammatical error there, we get the point.)
7. My husband wants to get some golfing in.  Idaho has an abundance of that.
8. Towns with names like “Bliss,” “Eden” and “Cascade” are so evocative we can’t resist.
9. We once met a Coeur d’Alene resident who couldn’t say enough great things about the city.  We want to see Coeur d’Alene – scenery, culture and golf – sounds almost too good to be true!

10.  After looking randomly at the Idaho Web site, I was hooked! www.visitidaho.org

More to come as we refine our travel adventure!

We hopped on at the stop just down the block from the U of A main gate.  The old trolley, originally from Belgium, had some signs that were definitely not in English.  There were little counters between the seats, harkening back to a more gracious life in Europe where the trolley originated.

Trolley Sign - exit in 2 languages

Old Pueblo Trolley - this car built in Belgium

Since all but one seat was occupied, my gallant husband indicated that I should take the seat.  I was grateful.

The sign stated that the trolley had a 50-person capacity, which included SRO.

As we climbed on, one of the two conductors asked for our twenty-five cent fares (Sundays is only 25 cents per person!).  Since it was right before St. Paddy’s Day, they were both dressed in green-sparkly hats and other green accoutrements.

Everyone seemed in a festive spirit as we headed down the street.  The homes we whisked by were nearly a century old, bungalow-type houses that, for the most part, have been kept nicely through the years.

20th century bungalow along University Boulevard

As we headed around the trolley track’s curve, the street changed from residential to a more retail-commercial neighborhood.  The festive colors of many of the shops were certainly not boring!  The names of the shops were also inventive with some very eye-catching signs.  Stores are unique, one-of-a-kind places where you can just imagine finding some vintage 60s psychedelic clothes. Fourth Avenue shops definitely do not fit the modern image of commercial stores, but they have a funky charm of their own.

Shops along Fourth Avenue

Upbeat, funky Goodwill on Fourth Avenue

Then, a new crew of conductors came aboard as we stopped.  To our surprise, we found out we were at the end of the line!  The online map showing the trolley route has not been changed to reflect that they no longer go all the way under the underpass to Congress and back.  Stopping after only about six blocks was a disappointment.  The money we paid for the “round trip” was only $1, so we did not find the investment too extensive.

We shifted to the other side of the trolley. With enough seats for us both to be seated, we now saw the other side of the street going back to the trolley’s route near the University.  Many campus hangouts dot the south side of University Boulevard, but there was almost an eerie emptiness, since we were visiting during spring break.

Frog & Firkin, campus hangout

The Old Pueblo Trolley is a short, but fun excursion while you’re in Tucson.  Although there is a slightly higher fee on Friday night and Saturday, when they also operate, it is a non-profit organization, so you can’t be grudge the fee for the experience.

The trolley volunteers clearly love their efforts and the experience is just out of the ordinary, so it is an attraction worth considering.

http://www.oldpueblotrolley.org

Visit later this week for a view of some other Tucson scenes.

They play the old cowboy tunes, like “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” “Along the Navajo Trail,” “Cool, Clear Water,” and others that most people have heard.  The foursome does the songs well.  Here are samples – -

Man of Constant Sorrow

The Blazin\’ M Cowboys perform

(Our first video posts – we plan many more!)

The players – Bill Bassett, Jim Dufresne, Reno McCormick, and Sheila McCormick (yes, they are married – which adds to some of the razzing), put on a great show.  They have chemistry as a group and intersperse their performance with funny hats, silly stories and varied types of music.  They feature each performer as lead and the very quiet Jim Dufresne turns out to be exceptionally gifted and amazing as he plucks his guitar.  Bill Bassett has a great announcer persona and voice as well as doing his instrumentals; Reno McCormick is quite versatile as he plays violin (“fiddle”), banjo, guitar and mandolin; Sheila McCormick plays her bass with authority and has a strong, sweet voice.  The group has been playing together for about 10 years and it shows.

At one point, flashes of lightning and a ghost seem to appear and it is spooky and funny.  Another visitor is the infamous “Otis,” quite a character.  I won’t say more and spoil the fun. Be prepared – they even have a singalong!

So, if you have the opportunity to visit the Blazin M’ Ranch in Cottonwood, AZ, you’ll have a fun, family evening.  If you’re celebrating your birthday, you’ll even be called up to the front for recognition and a funny hat!   We were seated next to a woman who was there for her birthday.  She was grinning from ear to ear.

Yippee-ki-ay!  Come on down and join the fun!