The boys were flying into Phoenix on Dec. 15th and flying back to Toronto on Dec. 30th, so we had about two weeks with them. Our plan was to drive right to the Grand Canyon, where we'd booked two rooms for two days at the Maswik Lodge, just a few hundred feet from the Rim. We thought we'd spend two days seeing the Canyon, walk along the rim, and eat a few meals at El Tovar, which has the reputation as the finest lodge in the National Park system. The rest of the time we figured we'd play it by ear.
We get inside the airport just as Gavin and Levi are walking toward us. As they approach, Levi says to me,"Sorry, I don't have any change." I look at him blankly for a few seconds before I get the joke: my scraggly beard makes me look homeless. Ho Ho!
It was about 11 AM, and the boys wanted Cracker Barrel, so that's where we went. After brunch, we drove the 4 or so hours to Grand Canyon, and checked into Maswik Lodge. Nothing fancy, but comfortable rooms only a few hundred feet from the rim. Next morning we headed to El Tovar for breakfast:
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| El Tovar Lodge, Grand Canyon |
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| Lobby of El Tovar, all dressed for Christmas |
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| Breakfast |
Then we walked along the rim for a few miles:
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| Levi trying out his new camera |
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| Where's Richard? |
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Left Grand Canyon and drove to Lost Dutchman State Park outside Phoenix, where we camped for a couple of days:
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Gav's shot of our site at Lost Dutchman
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Drove part of the Apache Trail, as far as Fish Creek hill. Wanted the boys to see it, as it climbs and twists through some tortuous and beautiful mountains. Both took photos of the scenery, but I took photos of them:
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| Atop Fish Creek Hill |
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| Happy with new camera? |
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| Small subject |
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| Gav took this out the window on the way down Fish Creek Hill |
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| Exploring cave at bottom of Fish Creek Hill |
The day after the Apache Trail, we drove south to Tubac, where we'd rented a 3 bedroom condo for Christmas week. No pictures of the condo, but the place was beautiful. It had 10 foot ceilings, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a full kitchen, fireplace, deck, and a covered balcony with mountain views off 2nd floor. And we had access to a pool, jacuzzi, and gym--all in an adobe, southwestern style complex. Very nice. Tubac is an art colony, which made for nice strolls and restaurants. It is also home to the Tubac State Historic Park, a partly restored Spanish/Anglo military garrison/community founded in the 1600s, then abandoned, then resettled 4 or 5 times into the late 1800s.
Here are some photos from a previous visit.
We also drove to Tucson so that the boys could tour Biosphere 2, a Buckminster Fuller-style series of glass geodesic domes which was the site of a famous 1990s experiment in human self-sufficiency. (See my previous blog post,
here). The following are the best photos from this time around:
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| Gav's shot of Biosphere 2 at sunset |
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| Skylight 3 stories up |
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| Outside one of the biomes at sunset |
Just before Christmas, Gavin, Levi, and I hiked to an old mine about 20 miles from Tubac, up in the mountains:
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| At old mine shaft on hike near Tubac, AZ. Double hatted! |
On Christmas eve, we drove a few miles south to see the Tumacacori Mission lit up by 2500 lumieres:
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| Tumacacori Mission Christmas eve, 2014 |
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| Tumacacori Mission Christmas eve, 2014 |
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While we were camped at Gilbert Ray, Levi hiked one of the trails in the area. I think both Gav and I had colds, so Levi hiked by himself:
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| Ready to hike. |
A day before the boys flew home, we drove up to Mt. Lemmon, just outside Tucson. Had fun photographing at one of the main look-offs:
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| Waiting for the right moment... |
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| ...it can get cold... |
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| ...and windy. Bracing against the wind. |
Note: All of Levi's shots were video, so none will appear here. He has edited all his clips together into a video of our 2 weeks together. When he publishes it, I will link to it
here.
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| Getting ready to shoot |
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| Texting? Phone call?? |
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| Nice shot by Gav |
Gav's shot, appropriately called 'push':
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| Sisyphus and Levi? |
We had dinner one night at the Barrio Brewing Company:
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| Cell phone shot of all of us at The Barrio Brewing Company, Tucson. |
Afterwards, we explored Old Tucson, an artsy, funky, not-quite-gentrified/hippie enclave, where we saw some interesting stuff:
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| Stage adjacent sidewalk, Old Tucson |
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| Wall mural, Old Tucson. |
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| Wall mural, Old Tucson. |
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| Huge Easter Islandesque statue, Old Tucson. Had to be 30 or 40 ft. tall. |
We had a terrific, 2-week-long Christmas with our kids!
Hope all is well with all of you,
Richard and Leah
