Our main reason for going to Phoenix was to visit Bob’s cousin Andy and her husband Bob. We spent an afternoon and evening with them. They treated us to a wonderful dinner at Flemming’s in Peoria and we parked the bird cage for the night. Since we were in town, why not check out the sights?
The park is located on a lake in the desert, which made for some unusual scenery. The lake was constructed as part of the water system for southern Arizona. A herd of wild burros wanders the park. Burros came with the Spanish to the area, and later with the miners. It is thought that some escaped or were let loose. Their grey-brown coats blend into the rocks, but Deb was lucky enough to see a group of adults and one little one browsing a hillside. Bob was treated to the view below while cooking dinner on the first night. Late into a brilliant sunset the moon and Venus were lined up just right. The saguaro beside our site provided some nice desert ambiance.
Our site was a pretty scary back-in up a steep hill. A flat spot at the top was almost long enough for the van. We watched several neighbors struggle to back trailers uphill, spinning tires and spraying gravel. Check sites carefully before selecting one!
Arizona and New Mexico seem to be in a contest to see who can decorate their highways the best. So far, this Gila Monster on an overpass north of Phoenix is our winning bid.
Musical Instrument Museum
We visited this museum on a whim; Bob was mildly interested and Deb was blasé. We both enjoyed it tremendously! We could easily have spent a second day.
Upon arrival, we were given headsets. A small gallery just off the entrance had a display of interesting instruments and a couple of TVs showing videos of performers using them. As we approached a TV, the sound for the video was played in the headsets. Each display in the museum has a video related to the display. It was amusing to watch people dancing and lip syncing to something only they could hear.
One of the first instruments we saw was the Strohviol, the combination of a violin and a horn for amplification. We had no sample of it playing so no guess as to the result.
There are 3 major galleries on the first floor: Experience, Mechanical Music, and Artists. We wandered through the experience gallery, which has instruments for visitors to play. Deb couldn’t resist a large gong and Bob banged out a few notes on an enormous xylophone. We spent a lot of time in the other two galleries.
The mechanical music gallery has a large collection of instruments that play automatically. These include music boxes, player pianos, calliopes, and organs.
Most are demonstrated on videos, but we were lucky enough to see a performance of the Apollonia dance organ, which has been restored and now plays via a MIDI interface rather than the original punch cards. It is loud and flashy!
The artist gallery displays instruments, performance outfits, and video footage of famous musicians. John Lennon’s piano is front and center in the gallery. Other artists include Taylor Swift, Elvis Presley, Pablo Casals, Maroon 5, the Carter family, and Carlos Santana. There are so many artists we had to be selective about which displays we stopped at.
We only had enough time for a quick trip through the second floor. Here, the galleries contain instruments from different regions of the world. Every continent was represented except Antarctica! We also saw a display of Martin guitars and video of the manufacturing process. One instrument we found particularly entertaining was the Arizona-themed banjo featuring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner.
Another was the highly decorated Fou, a kettledrum from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Desert Botanical Gardens
We were captivated at the entrance, which had some beautiful Chihuly glass that resembled agave.
There are several loop trails, each with a different theme. We started down the main Desert Discovery loop and decided to have lunch at a little cafe. The main feature was quail, but they weren’t on the menu. Instead, they were intent on sampling the menu. It was an entertaining lunch!
We enjoyed walking through the gardens, looking at the plants, exhibits, and wildlife.
Heard Museum
The Heard museum displays Native American art. They were changing exhibits when we visited, but we were able to see 2 galleries. The main gallery illustrated the art and culture of Native peoples in the Southwest. A smaller gallery focused on the boarding school experience.
The main gallery was divided into sections for the different tribes. The Navajo section had beautiful blankets and turquoise jewelry. Some of the blankets had scenes from local life including people celebrating, livestock, trains, cars, and even a camper! The Hopi section featured an amazing collection of Katsinas (Kachinas) arranged from oldest to newest. The oldest ones were simple children’s toys, while the newest, such as the turkey dancer shown, were intended to be artwork. There was beautiful pottery made by the Pueblo peoples and lovely woven baskets produced by the more nomadic groups. We enjoyed the variety of objects and the interpretation which covered their meaning and use.
The boarding school exhibit told the story of Native children who were forced by the Federal Government to attend residential schools hundreds of miles from home. The purpose was to take away their language and culture and turn them into “Americans”. Siblings were split up, tribes were intermixed and children were punished for speaking their language. This was done deliberately to “civilize” them and to break up tribal communities.
A small gallery showcased sculptures; we particularly liked this plaque depicting bison.
