At Home in Phoenix
In a city the size of Phoenix, I should have more than one post for a three-week stay. The truth is, we relaxed at home a lot and enjoyed our resort. We also had friends and family as tour guides, dinner dates and drinking buddies… but those visits are better left off the internet!
I do have to say however, that although this is the only post, it’s a really good one – especially if you like quilts, fiber art, musical instruments, and hot-air balloons.
Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit Return to the Red Rocks 2024.
The End to an Impressive First Season ❤️
On our way north we made a stop at our friend’s retirement community. We did a lot in our two days in Florence with live music, craft shopping, beers, and Fish and Chips at the Irish Cowboy. Our first afternoon at the Windmill Winery will not be our last, and the Pinal County Historical Museum was a lengthy visit. It was loaded with displays about the area’s history.
Fortunately for us, it was the Canadians’ turn to put on the monthly festivities in the main activities center which included a very funny slideshow, a rendition of Oh Canada with the words so we could all sing along, and a fantastic dinner with lots of Canadian specialties. Luckily we brought along our bottle of wine from the Windmill to accompany our meal!
Unfortunately our fun came to an end with a Packer loss to San Francisco that evening. Not that we expected them to even get as far as they did with a nearly all-rookie team, but we can dream can’t we? Hats off to a great season and I imagine next year will be a lot of fun!
Again unfortunately, Sunday we watched one of only four losses by the Lady Hawkeyes, so I’m not sure we should be watching sports with our friends anymore! As you may know, Iowa’s women went all the way to the finals, so the Packers’ loss hurt a lot more.
Home Again
We had the exact same unit configuration as last time we were here at Cibola Vista Resort & Spa, except we had a great view of the pool instead of the busy road out front. Last time we also had to deal with the setting sun blinding us each time we dared to glance that way.
I’m still not a fan of the adobe patios that render any views futile when we’re seated, but we leaned over the edge several times a day to check out the activity at the pool and hot tub and sat by the pool when we wanted outside time. We even had an owl visit on several evenings, although we only heard and never saw it. Our stay was all pretty tough to take!
Quilts that Tell a Story
We were out exploring with a friend and he suggested a quilt exhibit at City Hall. Going with the flow and expecting quilts similar to ones on grandma’s bed, the “Quilts that Tell a Story” exhibit was truly amazing!! The West Valley Art Museum operates at Peoria City Hall Art Gallery with an annual juried show, collection showcases, and new exhibits year round. We didn’t go into the museum, but hope to on our next visit.
When I realized that all of the photos I took had somehow disappeared, I went looking on the Museum website. There was no trace of that exhibit since a new exhibit has taken its place. Luckily one of the artists came to the rescue! Betty Hahn has a LOT (maybe all?) of the pieces from the exhibit on her Facebook page. Even if you’re not a fan of quilting, you will LOVE these. Here is a link to just Betty Hahn’s Fiberart website.
Music is the Language of the Soul
It pays to know the locals – or at least the snowbirds who are around longer than a couple weeks every other year! The same friend who suggested the quilt show recommended the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM). This museum was loaded with 10,000 musical instruments from all over the world and over all time periods.
The Octobasse
In case you’re curious about that rather large (12-foot tall!) violin pictured above, click on the link to see a video from a curator of the museum about The Octobasse. “Invented by the French violin maker and entrepreneur Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the octobasse debuted at the 1849 French Industrial Exposition in Paris.” Two still exist of only three that were created, and MIM has one of only two playable replicas.
Demonstrations, Curator Talks, and Live Music!
There was another exhibit that we could have added on called “Acoustic America” which was described as “instruments played by heroes of folk, blues, and bluegrass music”. All of those sounded good to us, but we opted to skip it this time, and thank goodness we did, because we couldn’t even see everything in the main package. Too bad we didn’t have another day!
The event even mixed in a little live entertainment! Jim watched one, but wanted to continue to see as much as he could of the displays. I opted to see both blues bands who played half-hour sets. It’s hard to beat live music! We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon, and I would recommend multiple days to see it all. If you’re totally obsessed with music, you might consider a membership!
The King of Instruments
“The pipe organ is considered the “king of instruments,” and its capacity for producing a stunning variety of sounds has inspired composers, performers, and audiences for centuries. The earliest organ was invented in Alexandria in the third century BCE, and the idea later spread throughout the Byzantine Empire and into western and northern Europe. Smaller organs can fit into a home, while grand examples have been musical centerpieces of European cathedrals since the Middle Ages.
Pipes of different materials, sizes, and shapes can produce a vast spectrum of tone colors, including emulations of other instruments. Large organs have multiple manuals (keyboards) and a pedalboard controlling the flow of air to many different ranks of pipes. A lifelong organist, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was one of many famous composers inspired by the sound and range of the pipe organ.” ~ from a sign near the organ below
Nearing the end of our visit, another exhibit had a sign that spoke about the largest cathedral pipe organ in Europe. This caught Jim’s eye because we actually saw this one! The third photo below is my photo of the massive pipe organ in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Passau, Germany! If you’d like to see more photos of this magnificent cathedral, visit my blog: Passau, Germany.
Very Well Organized
Each station had examples of instruments and a detailed explanation of what we were looking at – since some were very different from the instruments we see here in the U.S. I added a few captions, but not all. I want to finish this blog sometime soon – and I want you to visit the MIM on your next trip to Arizona!
A flat screen television was on, but muted. Several artists were playing a sampling of instruments in the station and as we came within range, our headsets would pick up the audio. It was fun to walk by folks who would be tapping or swaying or outright singing along with the music that was playing only in their ears.
Pick and Choose
If you live in or around the Valley of the Sun, you can look at the whole year and select the events you want to see. Since we were nearing the end of our three weeks here, we lucked out when the “Celebrate the Blues” exhibition was going on during our visit since we both love the blues (a lot)!
We listened to a gallery talk by one of the curators and he explained the process of deciding which instruments will be added to the museum collection. Obviously space is limited, so they can’t take every grand piano that someone is willing to donate. He explained that if you see something in this museum, it was either played (or worn) by a certain artist, or is the exact model and year that a certain artist would have played. Authenticity is key at the MIM.
Examples
The first photo below shows the Steinway & Sons Model M grand piano from New York, NY circa 1956. “This piano was hand-selected by Thelonious Monk and played by countless jazz legends in the famous New Jersey home of “the Jazz Baroness” Pannonica de Koenigswarter for decades.”
The second photo shows Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Fender Stratocaster (and his guitar strap), his jacket and signature wide-brimmed hat. Of course there was a segment on the flat screen of Stevie and Double Trouble playing “Texas Flood“. The video also scrolled through Otis Spann on piano and singing “Blues Don’t Like Nobody“, Muddy Waters playing guitar and singing “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man“, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band playing “Juke“. It was worth the price of admission just to see these blues legends alive and well and doing what they do best!
Be Sure to Watch the Orientation Film
When we circled back around to the beginning of our tour, a marvelous orientation film gave a lot of examples of their motto: “Music is the Language of the Soul.” I wish I would have taken a video of it because it was really beautiful!
The Wild Horse: our First Stop and My Last!
Although I had hoped to have one more lunch with my cousins, we opted for dessert instead at Mary’s retirement home. After a great chat and some yummy (and beautiful) Fry’s cupcakes, I headed back home to finish packing up for our departure tomorrow morning.
As I’m driving up North Lake Pleasant Parkway, I see a hot-air balloon, and then another. And another! Since it was getting close to sunset and a few more were getting pretty low in the sky not far ahead, I bypassed our condo and hauled ass to The Wild Horse (our favorite burger joint!). I was amazed at my timing, and the beautiful lighting of this fabulous sunset on my last day in Phoenix! Too bad I didn’t have time for one last cheeseburger.
What a Great Sendoff!
Up next: A Postcard Around Every Corner
Happy trails,
Barb
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