Road trip - day 10 - Sunday

This hotel had a "hot continental Breakfast" that while crowded, was
well organized. We had some waffles and then we were off to visit Frank
Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. It's a little dissapointing compared with
Falling Water. Where Falling Water is perched on a cliff, Taliesin West
is buillt low to the ground, and is indeed in the ground, so difficult
to get a good overview. They've recently opened the Wright's personal
living spaces. A 90 minute tour with lots of photo ops and then off to
see the old neighborhood.
When we left Phoenix in 1970 we were living on the outskirts of the
city. It now extends about 12 to 15 miles beyond that. We got off on
Dunlap Ave and headed west so I could show Deb Cortez HS where I went to
9th grade. It looked the same except for the big iron fence surrounding
it. Back over route 17, past what was once an orange grove to 23rd ave.
When we left, the 1 sq. Mile we lived in was 1/4 houses, the rest
farmland. Running right alongside 23rd ave had been a canal. It was no
longer there, nor were the farm fields. Our house was then 2nd to the
last on Butler Dr. Which ended at 23rd. A path through the farmfield had
allowed us access to Royal Palm Elemetary School. Butler Dr. now runs
straight through, right past the school. Out on 19th ave, the little
shopping center was still there as were the Taco Bell, Circle K, and
Jack In the Box.
(Digression - we used to love going to the Jack in the Box drive
through. They had the most incomprehensible speakers I've ever
encountered. We kids could not understand a word they were saying, but
somehow my dad could. I suppose it was his years in the service that
allowed him to understand the staticy, garbled voices. It delighted us
to no end to hear dad speak to that sqauwking! Years later I heard
Cheech and Chongs comedy album with just such an encounter, and I'm sure
I was rolling on the floor laughing! - end digression.)
Our former house is painted a godawful shade of blue and it looks like
the back yard has been paved over and probably has a pool as so many
homes in Phoenix do. We drove around the block, thinking we might stop
and say hi to our old neighbors, the Sands. I got out of the car but
then couldn't recall which house it was. I suppose I could have asked,
but I didn't. By this time we were both famished, I inparticular, was
feeling a bit shakey, so we headed south on 17 until we found what
looked like a shopping district which we assumed would have a
restaurant. We picked a place called Mimi's and were delighted wiith the
sandwichs there. For the first time in a LONG time, we even had dessert.
I suppose I shouldn't have because I ended up feeling kinda quesy the
rest of the day.
We got into Tuscon and felt we easily had time to go on to the next town
before turning off to Tombstone. I suppose we should have checked to see
whether there were hotels in Tombstone but we didn't (and there were!)
and we settled in at the Best Western in Benson kind of early, around
6:45. Deb was smart enough to ask for a room on the inner circle which
we were glad for as you could even hear the trucks from there, not to
mention the train. We thought about the hot tub again, but as the sun
went down, so did the temperature.

Darn! No HBO!

Bruce and Debbie

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