Arizona

Arizona desert and blue skies

In the winter of 2008 I went on one of my first trips outside the Midwest. My sister, my dad, and I flew into Mesa, Arizona to visit my grandparents, who spend their winters there. I absolutely loved the desert and blue skies of Arizona. We did a lot of driving around through the desert and mountains, and took plenty of pictures. I definitely recommend just taking a drive through the desert there. The trip was the first time I'd ever seen a palm tree or cactus, the first time I'd seen signs written in Spanish (which I'd just started in school, so I enjoyed trying to decipher what they said), and I think it was a large part of instilling the travel bug in me for future trips.

While there, did enjoy visiting some tourist-y places. We went to Goldfield Ghost Town, an Old West mining town converted into the best tourist trap on the Apache Trail. There we met an entertaining fiddling prospector named 'Garbanzo' with a wife named 'Chickpea,' panned for gold, visited Arizona's largest live display of venomous reptiles and invertebrates, and purchased some handmade pottery as souvenirs for our loved ones back home. There was also Tortilla Flat, an "authentic old stagecoach stop," where we tried prickly pear ice cream, explored the gift shop with typically Southwestern souvenirs--scorpions in crystal,  pottery, turquoise jewelry, etc., and decorated a dollar bill to add to the hundreds from other tourists lining the walls of the restaurant there.

A unique place we visited was Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa. My sister and I were hesitant to go, as it was a favorite of the retirees who winter in Mesa, but it was actually very entertaining. The pizza was excellent and the pipe organ more impressive than expected. The organ player knew dozens of songs, and took requests. My personal favorite was when he played Under the Sea and they had bubbles as well as music filling the room!

The Mesa Southwest Museum was a very nice natural history museum, filled with Native American pottery, dinosaur bones, Old West artifacts like a replica jail, a stagecoach, and a place for panning for gold, and other unique artifacts like a suit of conquistador armor. We also visited the Roosevelt Dam, which, at the time it was completed in 1911, was the world's tallest masonry dam. There is also a rather interesting bridge just behind the dam and across the lake.

I loved the desert and scenery of Arizona, and my absolute favorite place that we visited was Tonto National Monument. The Salado Native Americans lived in the area between about 1150 A.D. and 1450 A.D., and they left some really fascinating cliff dwellings behind them. We visited the lower cliff dwellings, and the hike up to them (and view from them) were absolutely beautiful. We met a very nice park ranger, and she went with us to the top and gave us a little more information about the place. Combining beautiful views of the desert, hiking in excellent weather, history, and culture, this was definitely the culmination of everything I enjoyed about my time in Arizona.

Cliff dwelling at Tonto National Monument

View from the cliff dwellings at Tonto

A view of the cliff dwellings on the hike up to them Tonto National Monument

Palm trees at sunset

A tourist-y area of Mesa, Arizona

My sister and I affectionately dubbed this "Meatloaf Mountain"

Beautiful golden rolling hills in the Arizona Desert

Roosevelt Dam

Gorgeous scenery in the desert

Cactus

We drove by Phoenix. There was a thick cloud of smog hanging over the
city that really discouraged me from wanting to visit there.

Mountains in the Arizona desert

xoxo, xenophile

Glensheen Mansion

Glensheen Mansion

If you're ever in the Duluth, Minnesota area and you enjoy learning about early 20th century history (or even if you just enjoy seeing fancy houses), I highly recommend visiting the Glensheen Historic Estate. It's a mansion of 39 rooms as well as some beautiful gardens and a wonderful pebble beach along the shore of Lake Superior. They don't allow pictures inside of Glensheen (otherwise there would be dozens more in this post), but the inside is absolutely beautiful. 

My favorite part was the breakfast room, which was full of plants, had running fountains, and a green color scheme that made one feel as if they were in a very elegant sort of jungle. I also enjoyed the outside--the gardens are beautifully kept and there is an intricate hand-carved marble fountain lined up with the beautiful balcony in front of the mansion. I could definitely see why someone was having their wedding there the day I visited! 

The tour guides are very friendly and helpful, and provide fascinating details about the history of the early 1900s. For example, one of the guest bedrooms had two twin beds and they explained that, because transportation took so much longer in those days, people generally stayed for longer times and many times young ladies (for their amusement as well as safety) brought friends as traveling companions, so it was standard to have two beds in a guest bedroom of that sort. The guides also know interesting details about the house as well--I remember our guide pointing to a elaborate monster of a silver chandelier which was called "The Servant's Nightmare" since it took seven days to polish all of its nooks and crannies. 

I very much enjoyed seeing the lavish furnishings of this U.S. National Register Historic Place, as well as the peaceful atmosphere of the grounds outside, which you can explore without a guide. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a beautiful historic attraction to visit in Duluth!

One of the Congdon carriages

Serene view of Lake Superior

There are many trees in front of the house. The tour guide said that the family
didn't want anyone gawking at their large home.

Another view of Lake Superior

The boathouse

The mansion

A creek running through the area. The table
and chairs are from a wedding that day.

Flowers and the fountain in front of the house

The gardener's house

Another view of the mansion

xoxo, xenophile

Devils Tower

A view from the trail around Devils Tower

Devils Tower is basically a very large rock (almost 1300ft high) protruding out of the middle of an otherwise fairly barren part of Wyoming. It is also the first National Monument, established by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. The name comes from a badly-translated Native American name for the place, but it stuck and led to some pretty hokey souvenirs in the gift shop/restaurant (tourist trap) that is along the entrance to the Tower (I still recommend checking out the tourist-trap part of course).

I have been to Devils Tower at least twice, possibly three times. I very much enjoy the place--it's very beautiful and serene, in the middle of a bit of forest. There is a hiking trail that goes all the way around Devils Tower, so you can get a 360-degree view of the laccolith. I love hiking the trail, as well as climbing around on the large boulders at the base of Devils Tower and throughout the area. You can usually see people climbing up the tower as well, which is always an interesting sight. More serious rock climbers might enjoy the challenge of Devils Tower and the view from the top, not just the beautiful views along the hike around the base which I enjoy.

View of Devils Tower from the road approaching it

View from the trail around Devils Tower

A different side of Devils Tower

People following the trail amid the boulders scattered at the base of the Tower

Native American prayer flags near Devils Tower.
 It is a sacred site for many Native American tribes.

Devils Tower from the trail

xoxo, xenophile

Xenophile

Henna done by a very close Indian friend

A Week in West Virginia

In March of 2012, I spent a week visiting a very good friend of mine in West Virginia. She'd moved there to follow her dreams of studying music education at Alderson Broaddus College and to be closer to the love of her life. Alderson Broaddus was only a few hours away from where he lived, a great improvement over the half a continent that had separated them before. 

I spent some time in Philippi (where AB is located), had a date in Clarksburg, went on a side trip to a large mall in Columbus, Ohio, and spent the majority of my time in Parkersburg, West Virginia. During my week I experienced all the strangeness of West Virginia--the slight accents, the cars without front license plates, pepperoni rolls, the forests, mountains, and winding roads. The curvy roads and thick woods were quite beautiful, and reminded me of northern Wisconsin, a place I'll always love. Unlike Wisconsin, West Virginia is mountainous, and I very much enjoyed the surprising views of cities and farms while driving through the Appalachians. 

The pictures here were taken from atop Fort Boreman, a Civil War fort overlooking the city of Parkersburg. The view of the city and the river that runs through it was excellent, and the cannons weren't guarded by no-touching signs (which is always a plus!). I took some pictures of my friend and her now-husband and very much enjoyed a nice spring day at this historic site. 

I also enjoyed trying my first pepperoni roll--I sampled three different varieties during my week. One was from the college in Philippi, one was from a little bakery along a quaint one-way street in Clarksburg (one of the first bakeries to begin making the tasty treats), and the last was a highly-recommended--and very greasy--one from a gas station in Parkersburg. The pepperoni roll is a snack made from a soft bread roll. It's baked with pepperoni and usually cheese in the middle, and the juices from the baking pepperoni do some good things for the little snack. They were first made as an easy lunch for coal miners, and are almost exclusively found in West Virginia. 

Which is unfortunate, because I enjoyed all three pepperoni rolls, and have been craving one, just a little, ever since I left.

The Clarksburg bakery & Parkersburg gas station pepperoni rolls, respectively

xoxo, xenophile

Ciudad Acuña, Mexico - A Photostory

A row of houses at sunrise

"The Doves Tortilla Shop" - the owner was just opening for the day

Colorful houses at sunrise

A vendor selling tamales and snacks from his portable stall

A graffiti'd stop sign and a pink house and fence

Luis, a 7-year-old boy, sitting between two houses

Food--fresh, canned, or snack--available at the neighborhood Corner Store

A young man who added height to his bicycle using re-bar

Another row of colorful houses - a typical scene in Acuña

xoxo, xenophile

Disappointment at Cocoa Beach

It was Memorial Day weekend, 2011. Almost the entire reason I'd gone on this trip was because I wanted to swim in the ocean, and hadn't yet had a chance. After spending 30 hours straight crammed on a bus, we all wanted to hop in the ocean just to feel clean again! Luckily, our first stop was at Cocoa Beach, Florida. We changed into our swimming attire, checked out Ron Jon's Surf Shop and even bought a few souvenirs. However, when we made it down to the beach, we found out terrible news: we couldn't swim. There was a freak jellyfish invasion that had never happened before at Cocoa Beach, and since we didn't know who was allergic and who wasn't, none of us could swim. Just my luck. We went swimming back at the hotel pool, but it really wasn't the same. I did, however, get to see the ocean, surfers, and far more jellyfish than I'd ever wanted to see.

xoxo, xenophile