Returning to the Land of Red Rocks

April 12, 2017 Teressa Jackson

On Sunday, I packed up the bikini and beach towel and boarded a plane back to Las Vegas. With my base tan established, I was prepared for more desert sunshine!

My car had been relaxing at the airport for about six weeks, and I was starting to feel like that was my big Vegas gamble. As the parking lot shuttle rounded the corner, I saw her there smiling at me. What a relief! I assessed the exterior: no flat tires, no broken windows, and no new dings, dents, or scrapes. In the final test, I turned the ignition. Voila! I was on the road again.

Since my time in Vegas had been pretty brief (and I wasn't sure that my car would be ready to roll on down the road), I booked a few days at an Airbnb on the outskirts of town. My plan was to see some of the natural beauty surrounding this land of slot machines, roulette wheels, and poker tables.

Monday, I took a short drive west to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The park was full of people enjoying a gorgeous, sunny, mid-70's spring day. I drove the scenic loop, stopping at most points of interest to take some short hikes, snap photos, and drink in the beautiful landscape. I was afraid I had missed spring in the desert, but there was still a pretty abundant sprinkling of flowers to be seen.

Following my tour of Red Rock, I spent some time on a more typical Vegas activity - shopping. My hiking shoes were ready for retirement, and probably had been for quite some time. After a few tries, I was happy to be able to locate the same type of shoe (Ahnu Sugarpine Air Mesh), which had worked really well for me for the better part of a year. I guess I'm not very "adventurous" in my wardrobe choices! :-)

Yesterday, my trek was a little more extensive. I drove about an hour through sparse desert terrain to the Valley of Fire, a Nevada State Park. I had seen a lot of photos of this park, especially its "Fire Wave," and it did not disappoint. It is home to some really unique formations, intensely red rocks, petroglyphs, canyons, and petrified logs. I drove most of the park roads and stopped at many of the scenic points. Hiking the Fire Wave trail, I saw more lovely desert flowers and made the acquaintance of a few chuckwalla lizards.

Leaving the park's east entrance, I wound my way through Lake Mead National Recreation Area. After about an hour of the area's varied desert vistas and distant glimpses of the lake, I caught up with the throngs of tourists who were headed with me to see Hoover Dam.

I can't say that visiting Hoover Dam was anywhere near the top of my list of places I want to see, but it was actually pretty interesting and picturesque. I am definitely a fan of Art Deco architecture, and it's a fantastic example of this style. The Lake Mead side of the dam was pretty surreal looking, with its blue water, art deco towers, and the waterline on the surrounding cliffs. I'm glad I stopped and braved the crowds!

Today, I am doing some work, catching up on things (like this blog!), and painting. I wanted to take it relatively easy since I have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow, when I head south to Phoenix, Arizona, my home for the next two weeks. Stay tuned for more reporting from the Valley of the Sun!

Desert globemallow and indigo bush blooming at Valley of Fire State Park

From Ajo to Yuma, my Arizona Exit

January 26, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Monday, I awoke to a beautiful, sunny, mid-60's day in Tucson. It was a bit of a shame that my plans were to pack up and head west, but cruising down the highway with my sunroof open really isn't such a bad way to enjoy fantastic weather. In my opinion, non-interstate driving makes this even better, and that's exactly what I had planned.

I hopped onto the Ajo Highway and headed west. The scenery was beautiful, with plenty of saguaros and mountains to keep me company. I drove through the large swath of land that the Tohono O'odham Nation calls home, including their capitol of Sells, Arizona. I especially enjoyed listening to the Nation's radio station, which was eagerly promoting their upcoming rodeo festivities, encouraging their members to register to vote, and discussing other community events. They alternated between speaking in their language and English, and nearly every call for event participation seemed have the caveat of the Nation "not being legally responsible" in the event of some type of mishap, which I found to be a little amusing.

The blue skies and puffy white clouds gave way to wind, dense gray fog, and clouds, which added a mystique to the landscape that I rather enjoyed. I headed south at Why, Arizona, apparently named such because State Routes 85 and 86 originally intersected there in a Y-shaped intersection. At the time, Arizona law required city names to have at least three letters, so the town's founders named the town "Why" instead of "Y."

And now you know "Why." Ba-dum-dum.

My southbound trail quickly led me to my reason for visiting the area: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I had not previously heard of this monument before, but when I saw it on the map, I just had to check it out. It's apparently been a national monument for over 40 years, as it was designated as such in 1976, the year of my birth.

The monument was shrouded in the same mist and fog I had journeyed in for the the past hour, and made for some intriguing scenery. The landscape there is dotted with saguaro and organ pipe cacti and interesting volcanic formations, making for some truly otherworldly scenes. The organ pipe cactus is a relative of the saguaro, a giant "bushy" shaped cactus that can grow to over 20 feet tall. These cacti are relatively common in Mexico, but only occur naturally in the U.S. in the area around the monument.

One of Ajo's two lovely Spanish colonial churches

After an afternoon winding around the monument's scenic loop, I pointed my car northward toward Ajo, a tiny town with a cute little Spanish colonial town center. The woman who checked me into the cabin where I was staying was about the sweetest person I've ever met, and informed me she'd lived there her whole life. Ajo was home to just three restaurants, and the grocery store was a combination IGA and Ace Hardware. As I picked up some groceries, I imagined that everyone knew everyone else in the store but me.

I spent Tuesday hiking the monument in sunshine, and it looked equally beautiful but completely different than it had the day before. I had intended to do a couple of the trails. However, my hike of the Arch Canyon Trail ended up being more than I bargained for when I unknowingly kept going on a steep, rocky, unimproved trail cut by hikers to the top of the mountain overlooking the "arch" in the rock. It was extremely challenging (and a little bit scary at times), but I did it, and the views were spectacularly rewarding.

I could have stayed in Ajo at least another day, but my reservations had me moving on, so I headed further west to Yuma, Arizona on Wednesday. Yuma is essentially located at the intersection of Arizona, California, and Mexico, and has the distinction of being both the hottest populated locale in the U.S. and the place with the most sunshine in the world. Yuma also grows a tremendous amount of the fresh vegetables you enjoy during the winter, so you can thank them if you enjoyed a salad, broccoli, or cauliflower today (I definitely spotted fields of all of those).

I strolled Yuma's cute historic downtown, enjoyed a craft beer sampler at one of its breweries, and visited a date farm where I slurped down a date milkshake in the sunshine. Yuma has the wonderful effect of making me feel vibrantly youthful, as it is obviously an extremely popular retirement destination. I think my hair might be the (naturally) brownest for miles around!

Yuma has been a good place to relax, as my battery was running a little low from moving around so much and my difficult hike. I can't say I've found anything to absolutely love about it, but I certainly haven't found much to dislike about it either. You'll never hear me complaining about the sunniest place in the world. Sunshine makes me very, very happy.

And tomorrow, it's westward ho again!

View of the arch from where I hiked to, way up in the canyon

Bright and Shiny in Austin

December 7, 2016 Teressa Jackson

After 5 days of clouds and drizzle, the weather forecast was sunny for Tuesday. I was sure it was shining for Dolly Parton, since I would get to see her in action that night.

I wrapped up some design work for a client, and headed out to see some sights around Austin. The first stop was HOPE Outdoor Gallery, where I hiked to the top of the concrete construction and was surprised with the fantastic view of the city that accompanied the bright and colorful graffiti landscape. There were several artists at work while I was there, and although I got a little muddy climbing around on the structure, I called it a win since I didn't slip and fall on my rear. :-)

Next on my agenda was Mount Bonnell, the highest "mountain" in Austin. At 785 feet above sea level, it paled in comparison to the 8,000 and 9,000 foot mountains I've been admiring. It did, however, provide a nice view of the Colorado River and several different areas of the city. I also enjoyed a peaceful picnic lunch there.

I drove around the corner from Mount Bonnell to visit Laguna Gloria, an outdoor sculpture garden at an historic estate affiliated with The Contemporary Austin, the galleries of which I had visited last week. The gardens were lush and peaceful, and a lovely setting for the artwork.

Following Laguna Gloria, I walked around the Barton Springs area of Austin. I took a gander at the Barton Springs Pool, which is fed by springs and has a temperature that is supposedly good for year-round swimming. I didn't see many takers on that in the low-60s weather, which had also turned cloudy. The water at the pool and on down Barton Creek was the prettiest color of turquoise blue.

I returned to my apartment for a little down time, and then I was off to the Frank Erwin Center to see Dolly! I was so excited when I arrived in the city last week and discovered she was playing, and she certainly did not disappoint. She performed two sets, a total of nearly three hours of entertainment. During that time, she played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, dulcimer, banjo, and violin. What a lady!

Dolly may have missed her calling - yes, she is a legendary singer, but I also think she's part comedian. It was definitely one of the most genuine and amusing shows I have ever seen. A couple of my favorite Dolly quotes: She thanked everyone for spending their hard earned money on a ticket to come see her, because "it costs a lot of money to look this cheap!" Later, she informed us that she was a "self-made woman," and that she "has the doctor's bills to prove it!"

She interwove many stories from her life and about her songs with the performance which made it more than just a concert. She also talked with heart about her upbringing in the Great Smoky Mountains and the recent tragic fires there, and her wonderful Imagination Library project which we are so lucky to have in my hometown.

I've never seen so many white, glittering rhinestone-encrusted things in my life as I saw on stage with and on Dolly. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if that was sunshine I saw earlier in the day. Maybe it was Dolly's reflection.

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