OLA: Looking for a Base in Arizona: Phoenix

Christmas was merrier with the visit of Ales and Ling of Phoenix, Arizona!

Superstition Mountain and Bill and Carol + the Saguaro

Phoenix is the fifth largest city with a population of 1.6M, following Houston, Chicago, LA, and New York (in the reverse order)!  Because of relatively warm and sunny winters, its suburbs abound with good RV Parks. We particularly like the Viewpoint Ridge RV Resort that surrounds a 9-hole executive course plus adjoins an 18-hole golf course. It also boasts of 6 tennis courts, a ball field, a bar/grille and many other amenities for its 1,900 sites! It certainly competes with Voyager RV Resort in Tucson which has a grocery, massage parlor, two restaurants, plus many other amenities for its 1,500 sites! But, we have to wait for what we may find in Yuma and San Diego though before we make a decision!

Canyon Lake on the Apache Trail

Elvis Chapel at the foreground with Superstition Mountain at the back

I was actually surprised to find Phoenix a pretty city. Superstition Mountain on the Apache Trail hovered around us at the Golden Sun RV Resort. It is in Apache Junction, a Phoenix burb, where we stayed as part of our Thousand Trails Network. On the Apache Trail we found unusually scenic sites, even an Elvis Chapel at the Superstition Visitor Center and Museum. The chapel was blasted in one of the movies he made but restored for tourism. Then three lakes surround the Trail although we were only able to go to the first one, Canyon Lake. And part of the magic is the Goldfield Ghost Town where they reenact a 'gunfight' every day! 

Carol's looks probably knocked them dead!

Carol resting at the Hole in the Rock

The unique Desert Botanical Garden offered unusual greenery that has adapted to an otherwise arid land. The Hole in the Rock nearby was a special place for Bill and me. It was as nice to look up to the blue sky in the Hole or to peer down from the hole to the valley below after a little hike! From there we had great views of the Hunt’s Tomb, using our higher-powered lens. Then Dobbins’ Lookout in South Mountain offered a stunning aerial view of the city.

Bill and Carol at Dobbins' Lookout, with a view of the city

Pueblo Grande Ruins right in the heart of Phoenix

The cityscape of tall buildings was clustered in a small area because the city is widely spread out…there is just that much desert land! And right in the middle is Pueblo Grande, the Hohokam Ruins that thrived from 900 BC to 1450 AD much like Chaco Canyon or Taos Pueblo in New Mexico (please see http://rvcruisinglifestyle.blogspot.com/2012/11/ola-discovering-enchanted-places-and.html) and Wupatki in Flagstaff, Arizona (please see http://rvcruisinglifestyle.blogspot.com/2012/12/ola-looking-for-base-in-arizona.html).  Except for Taos Pueblo which is still living, archaeologists still debate why all of them vanished at around the 1400s. But the Spanish influence remains strong. The St. Mary’s Basilica is impressive especially with the special tribute to Mother Teresa.

St.Mary's Basilica in dowtpwn Phoenix

Tovrea Castle

Many unique architectural sites are also around Phoenix. The Tovrea Castle looks like a huge wedding cake and the waiting line is already up to April! The Mystery Castle is a Dad’s interpretation of his daughter’s fantasy! The Wrigley Mansion is part of the legacy of the chewing gum magnate. And Taliesin West is the companion masterpiece of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin East in Wisconsin (please see http://rvcruisinglifestyle.blogspot.com/2011/07/peeling-intriguing-layers-of-wisconsin.html ). Then, when we were atop the Hole in the Rock, we saw this glistening white pyramid atop the other Rock across the one with the Hole. We found out later that it is Hunt’s Tomb is where the very first governor of the state of Arizona is laid to rest in 1934 after a record seven terms. Both Rocks are actually part of Papago Park.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West

Hunt's Tomb

But the best part of our stay in Phoenix was the visit of Alex and Ling of Gilbert, Arizona, another burb in the city SMSA. Alex is the Global IT go-to person for Amkor Industries, one of the semiconductor companies that have a plant in the Philippines plus many others in Asia and here in North America. I was glad they were in for Indian food because I prepared one of Bill’s favorites, slow-cooked chicken tikka tandoori served with three kinds of naan. Ling who worked previously at BPI in the Philippines brought me lengua de gato, a favorite Filipino sweet cookie! And Alex brought special red wine for Bill! It was a night of chatter and banter, a trek down a Filipino memory lane. If we choose Phoenix, they will certainly be constant companions for Alex and Bill shared a liking for some guy things!

even the Christmas tree is uniquely un-red!

I can’t wait to complete this search for a base! Phoenix stays up there with Tucson for now!  Yuma and San Diego, here we come!

Peeling the Intriguing Layers of Wisconsin OLA

Colby cheese in the making in Decatur Dairy, Wisconsin 

We were not able to get to the northern part of Minnesota along Lake Superior and the western section where most of the lakes are (the state is known as the Land of 10,000 lakes). But from our campground there and from the one in Illinois, we peeled the fascinating layers of Wisconsin, one layer at a time, without staying in the state even a single night!

world's largest 6-pack in La Crosse

At La Crosse, on the Minnesota border, we were pleasantly shocked at suddenly coming upon the World’s Largest 6-Pack! Bill didn’t even know about La Crosse beer when those huge beer cans showed up, dwarfing the trees and parked cars. And happily raising his beer mug to the passers-by was the King of Beer from the 13^th century, Gambrinus.

National Historical Cheesemaking Center

From the Illinois border, we toured Decatur Dairy near Monroe, the Swiss Cheese Capital of the US and home to the National Historical Cheese Making Center.  Decatur’s Master Cheese Maker Steve has won many awards in the state, the US and Europe. Wisconsin supplies 26% of the cheese consumed in the country. Over 2.6 B pounds of 600 varieties of cheese are produced every year from the milk of 1.26 M cows in 13,000 dairy farms in the state.

Gambrinus, King of Beer

In Milwaukee, along the other great lake, Lake Michigan, we had lunch at Mader’s, a German restaurant that has been operating since 1902. We had the best beef goulash, pork schnitzel, veal sauerbreuten we have ever had. It was also my first time to have pretzel rolls…yummy! And for dessert…apple strudel! Gambrinus was again there, staring at me as I sank into their BIG chair. The region is home to a lot of good German cuisine. This is the first layer: outstanding food and beverage.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Wright's Place...Taliesin

Also in Milwaukee we were taken aback as the Milwaukee Art Museum loomed before us. It is prominently featured in Transformers 3. And this leads us to the second layer: art and architecture! A famous Wisconsin son: Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland, Wisconsin but there are 7 possible houses where he was born. Just a few miles south is Taliesin where Wright built his home, tucked away into the hills, as is his style, together with a school of architecture, a restaurant, and a visitor center.  

the Infinity Room of the House on the Rock

A few miles south in Spring Green, Wisconsin, is the House on the Rock, a complex of architecturally designed rooms, streets, gardens and shops by Alex Jordan, Jr.  On a singular standing rock he slowly built his home from left-over materials of his carpenter-father. Trees have now almost covered the spectacular view except for the Infinity Room that soars out 250-feet into the valley 150-ft below.

     

the Basilica on Holy Hill

A friend of ours (Didi Manarang) told us of her annual pilgrimage to Hubertus, Wisconsin, where the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary sits on top of a Holy Hill. In the Roman Catholic Church, a basilica is the highest Papal designation given to a building that carries special spiritual, historical, and architectural significance. Beside the Meditation Chapel inside the basilica is a receptacle of crutches that have, through miraculous healing, become no longer needed.

the simple tomb of Adele Brise

Further north near Green Bay, Wisconsin is the site of one of only 15 approved sites of a Marian apparition, an event in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared supernaturally to one or more people. Another friend, Loy Aquino, brought us there. Just a year after Lourdes, Adele Brise, a young Belgian immigrant, saw a beautiful woman standing between a maple and a hemlock tree and was given the mission to teach the children of the area their Catechism. The approval for Our Lady of Good Help just came on Dec. 8 last year. This is the layer that happily surprised us: religion.

Lambeau Field of the Green Bay Packers

But, according to Bill, Green Bay is host to a spot, another miracle, where thousands gather! It is known as Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, SuperBowl legends! I also have to mention that Harley-Davidson’s Head Office is in Milwaukee (although we took the plant tour in Kansas City instead)! Well, that’s Wisconsin for you…made up of solid layers that make the state known and loved in the country…plus all the other bonuses!

6 layers of motorcycles at Harley-Davidson

Next Stop: Meeting in My Kind of Town, Chicago!