The Long and Winding Road

We went to Mesa this weekend. I felt it was important to let the kids spend some time with their dad and great grandma since the recent death of their Grandpa Carter.

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Our trip was so eventful it will take 3 posts to share it!

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About 40 miles from our home in the pines is Salt River Canyon, part of the transition from pines to desert floor.

In the picture above, toward the top left, you can see the winding 2-lane road to the Salt River at the bottom of the canyon.

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The road is narrow and curves in and out along the folds of the canyon walls. There are many switchbacks and hairpin turns right next to sheer drops. It's not for those prone to motion sickness, but the view is spectacular.
When I first came to Arizona in March 1980, I missed the ocean, the greenery, the rolling hills, the mild summers of Southern California. It was hard to love the harsh brown flatness and extreme heat of the desert.

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Over the years, though, I learned to appreciate the stark beauty around me. Salt River Canyon exemplifies this beauty, almost like a mini-Grand Canyon.

Near the bottom we passed an 18-wheeler lying on its side at the edge of the road. The trucker had taken those tight turns too fast and flipped his truck over.

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The long black rectangle on the left is the bottom of the semi facing the road.

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It's not unusual. We often pass trucks lying on their sides or roofs along this stretch. Sometimes they even go over the edge.

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When we drove up the other side of the canyon, we stopped at a pull-out to take these pictures.

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Sarah, Jacob, and Dylan walked down a slope to the cliff edge to take pictures while I waited at the top. I got this picture of them as they walked back up to resume our drive.
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After traveling another 40 miles, we come to the town of Globe-Miami, an old copper mining town. Lots of people made big money working those mines over the past 100 years.
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The mines still operate, but not as heavily as in the boom days. The signs of mining are all around as you drive through town. I find it both ugly and fascinating.

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There's a feeling of history as you pass old factories and tall smokestacks. The slime-green pools and mountainous piles of tailings--soil with all the nutrients leached out, where nothing grows--show how harmful old mining methods were.

We stopped at McDonalds for lunch in Globe. Not our favorite place, but a Teacher Appreciation coupon got me a free salad.

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We continued along historic old highway 60, passing over old stone arch bridges and driving through a hill in our favorite short tunnel, to arrive at the small town of Superior sprawling at the foot of the mountains we'd just crossed.

Once we drove over Gonzales Pass, we were on the edge of the Valley, down from 7200 feet to the desert floor at sea level.

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The Phoenix metropolitan area, including Mesa, is known as The Valley of the Sun, or just The Valley for short.

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Having traveled the 170 miles from our home, we arrived at Great Grandma Carter's house about 2pm and the kids unloaded their luggage to spend the weekend there. (More on that in the next post.)

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I headed over to the Hilton just a few miles away. Thank goodness for priceline.com. I got the room for just $38.00.

I love staying in hotels. I know people who hate them, but I adore the almost sinfully pampered feeling of using sheets I don't have to launder and toilets I don't have to scrub.

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At home I feel guilty when I relax and take time for me. There's always so much work to be done. In a hotel, it's already done, so there's no guilt when I do something for myself.

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I do miss my kids while there, although as you'll see they do join me for part of the stay. But I'm learning to enjoy having quiet time to myself. I usually read or sketch and enjoy sleeping late.

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On this trip I stayed up until 3am completing a sketch I've been working on for 2 months. I actually started drawing again in February. Who knows, maybe I'll illustrate my own novel!

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And so we arrived safely in Mesa on Saturday. In the next installment I will share some of the fun family activities that went on over the weekend, some of them quite unexpected.