As we move on up, we’ll leave our comfortable digs in Tucson and head north to Peoria. But first we’ll make a stop in Florence to see some friends, where we’ll do a little more sight-seeing and join some festivities in their retirement community. Fun times!

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 So Long Snow 2022.

A Few Reminders about Arizona

After a delicious breakfast at the Florence Cafe, we toured the town a bit and stopped by an historic True Value Hardware. This hardware store has many years of history and many changes of hands, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Click on the blue photo at left to enlarge the photo for an easier read.

This place has just about everything you need, from hardware (duh), free popcorn, racks and racks of multi-colored Easter bonnets, and rah-rahs about the 1985 Sally Field, James Garner movie Murphy’s Romance. The movie was shot on location in Florence and its well-preserved Main Street appears throughout the movie.

If you’d like to hear some reminders of things to watch out for on your visit to Arizona from the old cowboy on the terlet, click here.

Perfect Specimens

Beautiful in their Imperfection

Everyone likes pictures of stately cacti like the ones above. You know, the ones with perfect arms and strong, unblemished trunks, reaching for the sky. But don’t the imperfect ones deserve a look too? I’m not sure what’s going on with some of these, but I love them!

A Fascinating Genetic Defect

In most cases a saguaro grows upwards toward the sky in a vertical, columnar shape. The crested cacti shown below have a genetic defect in the “apical meristem,” causing it to become wildly distorted, contorted, and really quite awesome!

“As the plant grows taller and wider along the resulting crest, the plant begins to curl and fold in upon itself.“ ~ READ MORE

Several Day Trips: Burros, Boulders, and Ruins

“Wild Horses Taming Wild Hearts in Florence

There’s an unlikely group of men in Arizona helping to rehabilitate and train wild horses and burros captured by the Bureau of Land Management. The trainers aren’t your typical cowboys wearing cowboy boots and hats. Instead, they’re dressed in orange and make no more than 80 cents an hour. With giant fences and guard towers, you’ll find these trainers hard at work about 65 miles away from Downtown Phoenix at the State Prison in Florence.” ~ READ MORE

Twenty inmates are involved with Arizona’s Wild Horse Inmate Program, and they spend five days a week training 35 wild horses at a training facility on the prison grounds. Like wild horses, many of the inmates have been abused and misunderstood as they revolve in and out of the prison doors for various violations. But life changed for many of them when they started working in this program.

“I’ve learned more probably than these horses learned from me about patience, having to deal with fear, courage. The bond between horse and inmate grows quickly as the two learn to trust each other. The horses aren’t mean. They are just really afraid when they get here so it’s really neat to get them from that to this. I honestly know without a doubt, this program is not just for the horses, this program is for us,” Ray [an inmate] said.” ~ READ MORE

The Boulders

When we stopped in the area called the Boulders, I was amazed! Beautiful piles of rocks were everywhere – some seem to have been placed on perches just for a wonderful overview of the desert around us or an awesome photo-opp. ATV trails lead out into the desert, and I’m sure there are tours available. We didn’t look into it because I like to gaze out at the desert from afar, and not so much stir up any of those critters that the cowboy warned us about above.

But something different is coming to The Boulders in Florence and it’s called Glamping. The tents are gorgeous and I’m sure the stars would be heavenly. I’m not sure about the location of the porto-potties, so if I camped here I’d be limiting my liquid intake after 6pm, which would defeat the whole purpose of camping, right? But I really wouldn’t want to come face-to-face with the critters above when they can see me, but I can’t see them. That would scare the sh… well… you get the idea. Note to Jim: NO, NOPE, NO WAY!

Casa Grande Ruins

“A Meeting Place and Landmark. Explore the history and stories of an extended network of communities and irrigation canals. An Ancestral Sonoran Desert People’s farming community and “Great House” are preserved at Casa Grande Ruins. Whether the Casa Grande was a gathering place for the Desert People or simply a waypoint marker in an extensive system of canals and trading partners, it is but a part of the story of the Ruins.” ~ READ MORE

Be sure to watch the Park Movie. It’s twenty minutes long, but really beautiful. Our timing was a little off, so we weren’t able to tour the Visitor Center or take the guided tour, but there’s always next time.

“After a long battle with the desert, this ancient building still commands respect. Four stories high and 60 feet long, it is the largest known structure from Hohokam times. Early Spanish explorers called it Casa Grande (“Great House”), and to them it was a mystery. Its walls face the four cardinal points of the compass. A circular hole in the upper west wall aligns with the setting Sun at the summer solstice. Other openings align with the Sun and moon at specific times. Perhaps the Great House’s builders, knowing well the ways of the land, would gather inside to ponder the heavens. Knowing the changing positions of the celestial objects also meant knowing times for planting, harvest, and celebration.” ~ READ MORE

The Dwarf Car Museum

“Ernie Adams, originator of the dwarf car, has made a name for himself building Dwarf Race Cars and scaled down replicas of classic cars called Dwarf Car Cruisers. These handmade works of art now have a home in Maricopa, Arizona.” ~ READ MORE

Ernie was obsessed with cars even in grade school. As a young boy he constructed one out of wooden crates, and his mother would pull him all over town with her car. Once he got the idea of Dwarf Cars in his head, there was no stopping him. He began gathering materials in 1962, and by 1965 he had enough materials (and an engine) to begin construction. Ernie used a homemade hacksaw, a hammer and a chisel, and parts from nine old refrigerators to build “Grandpa Dwarf” – the very first Dwarf car – a 1928 Chevy two-door sedan.

Check his website to read the history and look at the photos at the Gallery – it’s very cool. There are directions to this place too, so write those down and make a stop. You’ll be glad you did.

In the Middle of Nowhere!

We were told that this was a fun stop, in the same general direction as we were headed. In all reality, it added an extra hour to the drive plus two for gawking and chatting – but it was SO worth it! Stops like this are why we love road trips and yes, the journey is just as important as the destination (in most cases).

How Small is a Dwarf Car?

From the photos above these Dwarf Cars look the size of normal cars, but once I add Jim and some random strangers into the pictures, it’s easier to see how small they are. Now, Ernie is WELL over six-foot tall and how he poured himself into these cars (and actually drove and raced them) amazes me. I’m sure it was easier fifty years ago.

Lots of History and Nostalgia

Even if you don’t like cars, the photos, the old signs, and the history of this place is just a blast from the past.

In Conclusion

When we were younger, my brother was always re-furbbing an old Thunderbird or Corvette, and my only regret today was that John was not with us to see this place. But we had a great talk with Ernie and went through a little nostalgia. I could be talked into coming back again if you ever feel like a road trip big brother!

IMPORTANT: Last time we were in Florence, we stopped at Saint Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery. It was absolutely gorgeous and another thing you can add if you’re looking for interesting and beautiful things to see in Southern Arizona!

Next up: Gardens of Glass

Happy trails,
Barb