As "adventurers" we tend to seek out places far and wide to visit, but often times forget what we have in our own back yard. It's easy to do. I never gave it much thought about it before as my career as an Event Planner made it my job to see and do everything "tourest" in San Diego while I worked there. Now that I'm no longer working, and now live in Arizona, I have a new "back yard".
My birthday was yesterday, and so I decided that with the weather being so beautiful right now, it was a good excuse to explore Phoenix a little bit. We have only been there for business reasons and never have taken the time to see anything fun, so I asked Jack to take me to see the State Capitol and the Japanese Gardens - two of my favorite things to visit when we travel. So, he made the plans for the day!
First stop, the State Capitol. Seems, like a lot of places, it got to small, so they built larger "wings" on either side of the original building and then moved in there, making the original building into a museum.
It's a pretty building, not as fancy as some, but not drab either. Four stories with a rotunda and topped with a lovely copper dome (AZ is the copper state) and it also has an unusual feature in that the angel on top is also a wind vane! She's called "Winged Victory" and is actually older than the state of Arizona. It was purchased in 1898 for $150.00 at the time the Arizona Territorial Capitol was under construction. She sits on a rotating pedestal and spins when the wind hits her wings. She's 17' tall, so it's easy to see her. It's actually pretty cool to watch.
Inside they had several displays. The ones I enjoyed the most were on the WWII Japanese American Interment Camps (I have visited the one in California at Manzanar). I didn't realize we had two in Arizona. One in Butte Camp - Camp Rivers and one at Poston in Yuma.
The other display was on the Merci Train. It was a great display of gifts from France & Italy to Americans, in response to the trains that we sent to them full of food and other items during the aftermath of WWII. It was so interesting to read the notes and see the sweet items that people parted with from their heart in hopes that they would be shared with the people of America. Each item was precious and given with love. I'm sure the same was sent the other way, as we were in a great depression and any food we gave was food off of their table, out of their own pantry, knowing that they too were starving just like us here. They too had lost husbands, fathers, sons and brothers - all were sharing the same loss, the same tears. It was a very heartwarming display.
Outside the Capitol is the Governmental Mall where a number of various statues and memorials are. It's quite impressive, actually. I only stopped at a couple as we were anxious to move on to the Japanese Gardens. I did pause at the (very large) Navajo Code Talker's statue as I have a fondness for those people.
After leaving the State Capitol, we went to the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix. I'm fond of Japanese gardens and have visited a number of them around the states as I find them not only beautiful, but so peaceful and soothing.
This was quite a small garden, but the fact that they are in the heart of Phoenix and still thriving, says a lot. To be able to create an oasis, albeit small, is quite a feat here in this desert city where the temperatures can reach upwards of 110 degrees in the summer months.
The first thing you see when you enter is a large Kasuga Lantern (which makes for a great photo opportunity). From this lookout point, it is easy to view the three defining elements of the Japanese gardens: stone, water and plants.
The Koi Pond is visible from everywhere in the garden and holds 550,000 gallons of water which is filtered in a closed system through their nearby pump house. It holds hundreds of koi fish and many western mosquito fish.
They have a Tea House here as well, but it's only open for their monthly chanoyu experiences. It's tucked in an area they call the Roji style garden that's like a small forest with a meandering stream.
Along the pond are several features - a lush waterfall surrounded by hand-picked boulders brought from Congress AZ. The largest boulder weighs 25 tons and the water cascades from a height of 14'. There is also a Beach Region which depicts the classic landscape of pebble beaches found along the island coasts of Japan. Their beach represents a sand bar jutting out into the sea, with the stones meant to mimic the scales of a koi fish.
The pond itself has two bridges - a curved bridge called a talko bashi, which resembles a talko Japanese drum and the zig-zag bridge called yatsuhashi, and is a famous motif in Japanese literature, art and garden landscapes.
Throughout the garden were meandering pathways filled with trees, both flowering and pine, various grasses, statues and pagodas, wonderful birds to listen to and places to just sit and take it all in. We even watched a mother duck with her babies for a bit. All very enjoyable and peaceful in this busy city.
After all that walking, we were hungry! Jack had pre-picked out our restaurant and headed right for it. A popular city eatery called The Arrogant Butcher where we promptly enjoyed a birthday drink! I had something called a Blood Orange Paloma, a very refreshing drink that had Tradicional Tequila Plata, Blood Orange, Fresh Lime, and Fever Tree Grapefruit Soda. Yum! Then we settled down to a nice lunch...Jack said his hamburger was "the best ever!" and I enjoyed a club sandwich (which I couldn't finish) They treated me to an apple cobbler which I took home to enjoy. ;-).
No RV was needed, but much "adventuring" was enjoyed! As we are aging, our trips are getting less and less, but that hasn't stopped us from seeking out places to discover and short trips to enjoy. As the "snow birds" fly out of our resort to their other homes, the amenities here become even more enjoyable as they are less crowded. We've become true "Desert Rats" as the saying here goes, and that's alright.
Until our next adventure...Marie
...more pictures on my flickr account, if you like...
