1-7-2007 Sabino Canyon

After our McDonald's stop, we headed to Sabino Canyon where we took a tram up into the canyon. Due to flooding last year that washed out parts of the road, the tram doesn't go as far as it used. Once disembarking, we walked a little ways until we found a creek bed with lots and lots of rocks. Zoe & Daddy enjoyed throwing the rocks into the water for a while & we then we headed back down to catch the tram.

This is a picture by a SAGUARO catcus. They grow extremely slowly - Growth occurs in spurts, with most of it taking place in the summer rainy season each year. By the end of a year, the saguaro seedling may measure only 1/4 inch. After 15 years, the saguaro may be barely a foot tall. At about 30 years saguaro can begin to flower and produce fruits. By 50 years, the saguaro may be as tall as 7 feet. After about 75 years, it may sprout its first branches or "arms." The branches begin as prickly balls, then extend out and upward. - borrowed from the Saguaro National Park website. So, you can imagine how old this catucs must be.

McDonald's Pit Stop 1-7-2007

While leaving De Grazia, we detected a faint odor resulting in a pit stop at a McDonald's which of course had a play place. I think Zoe may have planned it that way...

1-7-2007 De Grazia Gallery in the Sun

Today we visited the De Grazia Gallery in the Sun. I've borrowed the description of it from their web-site...

"Beginning in the early 1950s, DeGrazia designed and built the Gallery in the Sun complex from the ground up with Native American friends who made traditional adobe bricks on the ten-acre foothills site. The first buildings include the Mission in the Sun, the artist's home, a studio and small gallery.

The main gallery opened in 1965, a place where the prolific artist could exhibit his growing collections of work. Six permanent collections of paintings trace historical events and native cultures of the Southwest. Rotating exhibitions display some of the 15,000 DeGrazia originals housed at the gallery, including oils, watercolors, sketches, serigraphs, lithographs, sculptures and ceramics.

Before his death in 1982, the artist created the DeGrazia Foundation to preserve his beloved Gallery in the Sun and display collections of his life's work for future generations."

It was a very neat place to visit & I could not imagine actually living in such a place. Zoe had a good time running around wanting to touch everything.

One of Zoe's favorite parts of Arizona was the rocks (which are everywhere!!). Here is a touching photo of her removing a rock from what we can only assume is De Grazia's grave.