Update, 2 of 3
Tubac!
I love Tubac - it's the high desert and gorgeous. Mum & I landed in Phoenix, got our rental car, then immediately headed for the hills (literally) - a 3+ hour drive later, and we were here:
Tubac was one of the first Spanish land grants in the US.
We visited with our friends the Vanns (Bobb is an artist & has done several paintings for the NGB - and done some really cool ones. I am hoping to get him to do a sketch of one of my favorite photographs of an Apache scout, circa 1880), stayed at the Tubac Golf Resort (which is lovely & very old - the main house at least was owned by the family that had the original land grant), ate good food, shopped. I took lots of pictures - sadly, it was fairly overcast, so no spectacular sunsets & I forgot my camera when we went to our friends' house, so I didn't get pictures of their SPECTACULAR pad, but there's some not too shabby scenes
It was outrageously green - plants were literally over running the road, and the mountains were lush with high desert plants like ocotillo and jumping cholla - and lots of flowers. I could live in Tubac no problem. An hour from Tucson (worlds better than Phoenix!), fairly close to Mexico, not that far from my other favorite parts of Arizona .... And did I mention gorgeous?
On our way back to Phoenix (ugh), we stopped by the San Xavier del Bac Mission, "the White Dove of the Desert" - widely considered the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the US (it was built in the late 18th century) & one of the finest examples in the whole of North & South America. By virtue of its location, it was never truly abandoned (unlike a lot of other southern Arizona missions), because the Apache were not terribly active in the area thanks to the mission's proximity to Tucson. Many other missions exist, but they are basically ruins today. San Xavier del Bac is still an active church.
I had never actually been to the church, so we took a quick detour to trot through. The outside of the church is currently undergoing restoration, and the inside is in various stages of restoration, but it was still beautiful. It's really lovely when viewed from the highway, as it is very white and very noticeable from a distance.
It is a very small, but very impressive (on a number of levels) and astonishingly ornate, church.
Our first night in AZ was definitely the highlight. Next installment: @#$%ing Phoenix.
I love Tubac - it's the high desert and gorgeous. Mum & I landed in Phoenix, got our rental car, then immediately headed for the hills (literally) - a 3+ hour drive later, and we were here:
Tubac was one of the first Spanish land grants in the US.
We visited with our friends the Vanns (Bobb is an artist & has done several paintings for the NGB - and done some really cool ones. I am hoping to get him to do a sketch of one of my favorite photographs of an Apache scout, circa 1880), stayed at the Tubac Golf Resort (which is lovely & very old - the main house at least was owned by the family that had the original land grant), ate good food, shopped. I took lots of pictures - sadly, it was fairly overcast, so no spectacular sunsets & I forgot my camera when we went to our friends' house, so I didn't get pictures of their SPECTACULAR pad, but there's some not too shabby scenes
It was outrageously green - plants were literally over running the road, and the mountains were lush with high desert plants like ocotillo and jumping cholla - and lots of flowers. I could live in Tubac no problem. An hour from Tucson (worlds better than Phoenix!), fairly close to Mexico, not that far from my other favorite parts of Arizona .... And did I mention gorgeous?
On our way back to Phoenix (ugh), we stopped by the San Xavier del Bac Mission, "the White Dove of the Desert" - widely considered the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the US (it was built in the late 18th century) & one of the finest examples in the whole of North & South America. By virtue of its location, it was never truly abandoned (unlike a lot of other southern Arizona missions), because the Apache were not terribly active in the area thanks to the mission's proximity to Tucson. Many other missions exist, but they are basically ruins today. San Xavier del Bac is still an active church.
I had never actually been to the church, so we took a quick detour to trot through. The outside of the church is currently undergoing restoration, and the inside is in various stages of restoration, but it was still beautiful. It's really lovely when viewed from the highway, as it is very white and very noticeable from a distance.
It is a very small, but very impressive (on a number of levels) and astonishingly ornate, church.
Our first night in AZ was definitely the highlight. Next installment: @#$%ing Phoenix.