Superior / Globe / Eastern Arizona

February 13, 2017

January 2017 Photo: Mansion View

You asked for it! My Photos of the Month are back!

This January’s photo is a view from the historic Picket Post Mansion, which overlooks Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It was open for a rare public tour this January, and we jumped at the chance to peek inside!

Runners up:

I also considered either a photo from the Women’s March or the travel ban protest, partly because they are part of this moment in time. However, even though both rallies were positive experiences, they were in response to things I feel are very wrong. Which may be why looking at them makes me feel a bit agitated, while the landscape of the Arboretum makes me feel peaceful.

PS Speaking of photos, you still have time to share the love by tweeting/instagramming pics of art* from your community with hashtag #localartloves!

*Or an art space!

February 22, 2016March 23, 2021

Branches

Maybe it’s because I grew up in Phoenix, where trees either don’t lose their leaves or lose them very late (like in the middle of our “winter”), but I think there’s something kind of lovely about bare winter branches.

When we were at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in mid-January, I kept taking photos of plant shapes silhouetted against the afternoon sky.

How are the trees looking in your part of the world right now?

—

January 21, 2016

Where to Celebrate Australia Day in Arizona

Mr. Big is a 90-year-old eucalyptus tree outside of the town of Superior, AZ. Not every tree has a title. But, at 8 feet thick and 140 feet tall, Mr. Big gets your attention.

It (He?) is the largest tree in one of the largest collections of Australian plants in North America – at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

To celebrate this forest of outback transplants as well as the cultural roots from their native soil, the Arboretum celebrates Australia Day with walk-a-bout tours and didgeridoo jam sessions.

Phillip and I went last year with friends Anne and Jameela. We watched a demonstration on playing the didgeridoo, and then Phillip tried it out. Meanwhile, outside there was a guy swinging a bull-roarer over his head. Because, I guess, that’s the kind of thing that can happen on Australia Day. So Anne and I gave that a try.

Then we caught up with the tour through the Arboretum’s eucalyptus forest with Australian native and horticulturalist Paul Chambers pointing out different types of Australian plants, telling stories of his work importing them to the U.S., and sharing aboriginal traditions.

We left for a bit to get lunch at Jade Grill in Superior (my fave!).

Afterwards, we came back to the Arboretum, and there was a didgeridoo concert under the eucalyptus trees. We could still hear it from across the Queen Creek as we hiked the High Trail.

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Jan 17, 2015 at 8:38pm PST

Australia Day 2016 is coming up this Saturday. You can check out the schedule of events on the listed on the Arboretum’s website.

July 22, 2014September 3, 2014

Historic Globe

I stumbled across the Arizona Good Roads Association Illustrated Road Maps and Tour Book at the Tempe Public Library. It’s a reprint of a 1913 book full of hand drawn maps and photos of Arizona towns as they were back then. (Yay libraries! And yay maps!)

Phoenix was sparsely populated when there wasn’t air conditioning blasting away the desert heat. All the recent development makes the city feel so new that it’s easy to forget that people have lived here for centuries. I love the window back in time this book provides.

I brought the book along when we went to my uncle’s house in Globe over Fourth of July weekend. Globe is an old mining town about an hour and a half east of Phoenix with lots of quirky antique and thrift stores. In 1913, it already had 5 hotels (!)

As we drove, I looked for surviving landmarks and tried to picture the route we would have taken in an early Ford or horse-drawn wagon. The map from Phoenix to Globe passes through Tempe, over railroad tracks no longer in use (but still there), right by the old creamery that now houses a handful of businesses – including the ever-popular Four Peaks Brewery. It continues down Apache Boulevard, which I believe was part of US 60 before the freeway was built, and winds through the Superstition Mountains over Apache Trail, and past the Roosevelt Dam.

It would have been a much slower route. Instead, we made it to Globe early enough to grab a coffee before heading out to the cookout at noon. We had a great time catching up with cousins I hadn’t seen in forever, picking cherry tomatoes from the garden, sitting in the shade and chatting.

On the way home, Phillip and I stopped in the historic downtown and tried to spot a few of the buildings in the book.

We found the 1st National Bank (now an antique store with a new facade), the courthouse, and Gila River Bank Building (currently empty and for lease).

I thought the school looked like what’s now The Noftsger Hill Inn, but, once we were in front of it, the details weren’t quite right. Turns out it was built in 1917. We’ll have to find the school in the picture another day. I think I’ll just have to get my own copy of the book.