Dreams, Moments, Travels
Jay, Raenu, Caroline, and I headed downtown to the Heritage and Science Park in Phoenix to attend the 2nd Annual Discover India Diwali Festival. It is a small event, just getting its footing. We did not stay long, but long enough to watch some dancers, get a bite to eat, and walk around the stands a couple of times.
Checking things off the to-do list, like visiting Tonto National Monument. So many places close to home that we keep thinking we’ll visit, and they just keep getting put off; well, these cliff dwellings are now about to be put in the done column. Something to consider about your visit here, the monument is only open from November through April due to the high temperatures we experience in the summer months; reservations are also required.
The Salado people occupied these lands along the Salt River Valley from the 13th to the 15th century. Little is known about them or why exactly they left the area; they are an enigma like many of the cultures that might have risen out of the Anasazi of the southwest.
The Salado people built homes that were like pueblos found northeast of here from the Mogollon people, while their Hohokam neighbors were busy building pit houses.
For over 500 years, these abandoned ruins told a mystery that hinted that people had lived here, but who? While today we know who they were, did the Native Americans who traveled these lands always know? Discounting oral traditions might be one of the dominant European culture’s larger mistakes.
There is a very good article about the Salado over on a website written by Jet Middaugh that you can read by clicking here.
That’s Roosevelt Lake in the distance, which is formed by the backed-up waters of the Salt River. The dam that is holding back the river was built between 1906 and 1911. The drive from the dam to Phoenix follows an old dirt road known as the Apache Trail and is well worth it.
The pottery that the Salado people made is one of the significant contributing factors that blur their origins as it was considerably different than the pottery of surrounding groups. If you are lucky, maybe you, too, will see a rare shard of their handiwork.
It’s a beautiful walk up and back to the cliff dwellings; I’d like to recommend you bring sunblock and a hat even in winter.
Who’s dumb enough to drive 11 hours round trip to spend just five hours in a place? We are. It’s Sunday, Jay’s only day off, so we take advantage of it and speed off to southern California. Our first stop is at Olvera Street which is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument that is considered to be the birthplace of Los Angeles. The narrow passages, old buildings, colorful goods, and tastes of the Mexican heritage that permeates this corner of L.A. should be visited by everyone at least once, preferably a few times.
Our brief excursion out of the desert continues with a drive across L.A. with a stop at the La Brea Tar Pits for Jay to get a smell and a look at this gooey tourist attraction.
Off to Oki Dog with Jay, trying a vegetarian burrito that he shares with Caroline while I opt for the real deal and get a pastrami burrito that I attempt to finish by myself, but it doesn’t work.
On to Hollywood Boulevard so he could visit the Walk of Fame and get a sense of the role, the film industry plays in this part of America.
On a quiet day at the beach because although it is beautiful out here, nobody who lives here other than the surfers and very young kids want to go to the beach and get in the water. The only thing that stops Caroline from getting in is if the ice is too thick to step through; otherwise, I don’t believe she’ll ever pass up the opportunity to feel the cool water on her feet and the sand running through her toes.
Jay came to America to learn how to fly. Next year, he’ll be leaving the United States, but before he departs, Caroline and I are doing our best to make sure he leaves with some memories that were had on the ground across America other than those related to flight school and the greater Phoenix area. Jay toyed with the surf for nearly a half-hour before mustering the fortitude to allow himself to brag that he was, in fact, “in” the Pacific Ocean.
When we left Arizona this morning before dawn, there was no plan. No plan to visit the ocean or exactly what we’d do; we were just going to California because we could. Now Jay is drenched head to toe with nothing to change into nor a towel in sight to sit on, so it goes.
It will be nearly 5:00 p.m. when we leave and midnight when we get home (time zone change at the Arizona / California border), but that’s a small price to pay for building lasting crazy memories.
Our visit to the 20th Annual Mesa Pow Wow was a great treat as it did not require us to visit a remote reservation for a day of cultural celebration.
This festival is held at Pioneer Park on Main Street in Mesa on Saturday and Sunday. With approximately 100 Native American vendors selling art, crafts, t-shirts, food, and various other items, there are quite a few things to check out.
The music and dance are major parts of this festival, with dances including the Fancy War Dance, Grass Dance, Southern Straight, Northern Traditional for men, and Fancy Shawl/Jingle Dress, Cloth/Buckskin Northern, and Cloth/Buckskin Southern for women, along with special dances for the Tiny Tots.
Happy Diwali…
….from Sonal Patel at Indo Euro Foods and all of her friends helping celebrate this Hindu festival of lights.
Do you want to see someone stare in disbelief? Tell them you are driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles and back in one day. That is what Sonal Patel and I did this particular day. Our destination was Little India in Artesia, where we stocked up on things difficult to buy or transact over fax or phone. The photo is in the House of Spice warehouse.
The car’s windows were iced over, not just a little, but a good thick coating of ice had to be scraped off of them. We are in the San Juan Mountains, and finally, we are seeing heartfelt emotions from our travel guest. Arturo lights up with enthusiasm feeling like he’s discovering a place he could call home.
Do wild waters also turn the colors of fall?
This mountain range never fails to impress us and begs the question, “Why couldn’t your parents have left you a huge inheritance so you could live here not worrying about making money?” The simple answer would be that most of them are still alive.
The changing of the seasons is certainly appreciated. I don’t know how many times I’ve lamented in my writing how Arizona has two seasons: hot and not so hot, while everything else remains the same.
I can’t tell you which stream Caroline is standing in. We never noted it, nor did I note which roads we were traveling so this is a mystery river for now.
Good thing we take these selfies in front of all these signs, or we never know where we’ve been.
The drive up to the cliff dwellings high in the mountains at Mesa Verde National Park is a spectacular one.
Also spectacular is Cliff Palace. These ancestral Puebloan dwellings are well preserved and worth every effort to get out into another remote corner of America.
Some may marvel at the pyramids of Egypt, but I think these are just as worthy of our admiration. I’d imagine that some of these kivas had to be dug out of rock and that with primitive non-metal tools, it wasn’t the easiest of tasks, yet they persevered so they could bring order to their lives and evolve their cultures.
Out of Mesa Verde, we aimed for the Navajo Nation; it’s almost impossible not to pass through it. In this case, we were looking to take a quick look into Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Turns out that there are Jeep tours down there. I put it on the list of things to do in the future.
This is Mummy Cave and is off-limits to visitors. We can only look from afar. Even down on the canyon floor, you are restricted from getting too close.
The one good photo I was able to take of Mr. Camera-shy Arturo. We had a lot more driving ahead of us today as we were going to be driving down to Tucson to drop the kid after we all stopped at La Parrilla Suiza for some dinner before trekking north again so Caroline and I could go home.