we made it!

We are at the University of Redlands now, for the Aleph Kallah, the bi-annual gathering of Jewish Renewal.  About 500 people from all over the world are here for the week, doing cool Jewish stuff.
I will post some things later in the week about the last few days of our  week journey.  Last night, at the 5 star Langham-Huntington in Pasadena; tonight, a college dorm.  How the mighty have fallen.....

Taliesin West

Imagine that it’s the depression, you are a great architect  with a big ego and with no clients, and you have a vision of organic architecture and you want to create it in the Arizona desert.  Frank Lloyd Wright did something brilliant—he started a school, an apprenticeship or fellowship at Taliesin West.  Students came and learned and they did ALL OF THE WORK for no pay!  No electricity, no bathrooms, no housing except for tents for many years.  The fellows (men and women) made cement from the river sand, used the huge boulders to make walls, they did everything.  The woman who did most of the landscape architecture there is still alive, and she still lives there.  The place is spectacular.

We went on a three hour tour, “Behind the Scenes,” which was great.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and we also met with two men who had been fellows at Taliesin—one man, Arnold Roy, is on the board and was a fellow under Wright, told us about the early days at Taliesin as he had experienced them.   Pretty amazing!

It was about 115 degrees when our tour ended at noon.  Dry heat.  Yes.

Students who come to study at Taliesin West nowadays have it a bit easier.  They pay $30,000 a year, which includes everything, including food and a place to live.  Well, they live in a tent the first year.  It’s not SO bad.  The whole school moves to Taliesin East, in Wisconsin, for the summer.  Sophomore year, you can build your own shelter to live in—you design it, and they give you $1000 to spend on materials.  People spend 4-6 years studying there, for a bachelor’s or a master’s degree.  They can’t really stay for the next 50 years, like some of the old folks have done.  They have to actually get a job….

Birds in the cactus

Petroglyphs shlepped into place by fellows, years ago

FLW was not at environmentalist

Lots of these Japanese pieces that FLW bought in a Tokyo department store!

I love this fountain!

Too hot and too tired to enjoy Joshua Tree National Park

Great rock formations

Ocotilla tree in the HOT sun

Cholo garden

Mojave desert rocks

Joshua trees in Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree National Forest is where the Colorado and Mojave Deserts meet.  There are lots of very cool boulders and rocks.  The rock part reminded us of Israel.  The Joshua Tree itself is very beautiful.  It was just too hot for us to be motivated to get up and walk around, especially after driving 4 hours through the desert off Arizona…..We will have to come back in the winter.

Simple needs....

We enjoyed a lovely Shabbat dinner with Rabbi Sarah Leah (Ayla) Grafstein and her husband, Steve, and a friend, Tiferet, in very very hot Scottsdale.  As they said, "We hardly ever have visitors for Shabbat in the summer!"  Perhaps people are tiring of me saying it, but it is SO HOT in the Scottsdale-Phoenix area!
For me, I like 4 definable seasons which required different wardrobes.  I love autumn (my friend Rebecca HATES autumn).  I love some snow.  I love the spring.  I tolerate the hot and humid winter.
One thing I can say about Phoenix, they have cheap gas.

Shabbat dinner was delicious and such good conversation.  We had chicken, which was the first meat I /have eaten since the eco-glatt ranch two weeks before--not much kosher meat in Utah, on the Navajo reservation, etc.  Anyway, we stopped at Trader Joe before making the long trek through the desert to Joshua Tree National Park/Twentynine Palms.  I stared longingly at the organic kosher meat and chicken at Trader Joe......

We drove through Joshua Tree (pictures later) but it was really too unbearably hot to get out of the car much.  Definitely a winter visit will be better.

We get to our hotel, and the clerk is so nice, he's telling us everything about the place.  He says, "Oh, if you want to grill, we have two gas grills out by the pool."  If only I had known this BEFORE passing by those steaks at Trader Joe....Kenny wondered if the supermarket across the street might have Hebrew National Hot Dogs.  I wasn't too optimistic......but they had a wonderful selection!  And they sell beer in supermarkets in California!

We answer to a higher authority

Straight from the supermarket

Happiness is a hot dog and a PBR 32 ouncer (don't worry--we shared)

Rules are made to be broken

I have a certain idea about museums.  I have about a two hour maximum, after which I need to leave—had enough—overload—that sort of thing.  Call me shallow, it's just the way it usually is.

Broke the rule twice in one day.  This morning, a “three hour tour” called “Behind the Scenes” at Taliesin West.  I will write about that later.

After that, we went to the new Musical Instrument Museum.  I bet some of you wondered what we did with all of the instruments we did not take from 901….actually, none of our instruments are in this museum….but we did identify some of the origins of some of ours that were a mystery.

Lots to say about the museum.  We looked around for 4 1/2 hours.  The only reason we left is that our feet started to hurt, and it was FREEZING in there!

The last section was a huge space were you could try lots of instruments.  Here is Kenny, a regular busman’s holiday!

theremin--the instrument that makes those creepy scary movie sounds, invented in the 1920s

"it's a dry heat"

so's a blowtorch!

do you know what ARCOLOGY is?

Elyse on top of the ceramics production area

Kenny chilling on the star-viewing steps (before the stars are out)

Arcology is a concept that merges architecture and ecology, and was developed by Dr. Paolo Soleri, an architect who came from Italy to Arizona in the 1940s, to intern with Frank Lloyd Wright.  He is opposed to urban sprawl and the automobile culture of suburban America.
He developed the concept and began building an arcology, called Arcosanti, in the Arizona desert, in 1970.  It is described as a building experiment, and has elements of intentional community and co-housing.  Dr. Soleri, who is 92 years old, does not accept corporate sponsorship and much of the work has been done by volunteers who come to 5 week workshops.  Some of these folks stay on, with a minimum of a 6 month commitment.  Last night in Jerome, we met someone who had lived here for 10 years, from 1970-1980.
Much of the money comes from the bronze and ceramic Soleri bells, which are beautiful and quite famous around the world.

massive Soleri bells in the cafe

We are staying overnight at Arcosanti in one of the 12 guest rooms.  Lots of good circulation, in a concrete building, with a fan--but it is 101 degrees outside.  It should go down to 70 tonight......Arcosanti

Dr. Soleri brought over cypress and olive trees from Italy.  All the rest of the trees are local.

ceiling of a work area

ceramics production area.
the cement was cast in place.

something that i thought would happen a long, long time ago

As you may know, Kenny and I like to browse in antique stores and thrift stores, mostly looking for stuff for our various instrument collections.  We've probably been in many 100s of antique stores, maybe 1000.
Every time I go into an antique or thrift store, I wonder if I will find a certain thing--a pair of shoes made by my grandfather's shoe company, Erica Shoes.
My grandfather, Sidney Seidner, and his partner, Sol Litvak, founded the company in the 1950s.  Both immigrants, they picked the name Erica in honor of their new homeland, America.  They made ladies dress shoes--classic things like pumps and spectators and fancy satin dress shoes.  The company sold to stores like Saks, Bonsit Teller, Neiman Marcus, I Magnin, Joseph Magnin, Bullock's, and Bloomingdales.
My grandfather was always doodling shoes.  Once, when I was about 9, he asked what my favorite color was.  I said purple, so he made me a pair of purple shoes.  When my grandmother died, she had a mini-Imelda Marcos closet filled with shoes.  Size 9 1/2, not useful to too many people (other than my niece, Sydney, whose taste in shoes is  not exactly classic lady shoes--she is 20 years old).
Anyway, I have NEVER ever seen a single pair of Erica shoes in any antique store.  Until today, at Papillon, in Jerome, Arizona, where there were two pairs of black satin very dressy shoes.

Erica Shoes, in Jerome, AZ

Just as we were telling the manager about my grandfather and his shoe company, our daughter, Erica, called.  Yes, she is named for a shoe company--sort of.  Her Hebrew name is in honor of my great-aunt, Tante Elsie, but we actually got the name wrong (we found this out years later).  Oh well.  Erica she is.
We have a few pairs of the shoes at home, and a few of the distinctive black and white boxes with the script Erica on them, and a pair of Erica cuff links.
After my grandfather retired, Mr. Litvak and his son had the business, which then closed I think in the mid-1980s.  It's too bad--my sister Martha would have done amazing things with it---but she was only about 12 years old when my grandfather retired.  Alas.

Sedona, Jerome and Cottonwood

I have heard so much about how beautiful Sedona is, and it is.  The problem is that the “downtown” is SO commercial—store after store of T-shirts, hats, native American knick-knacks, “dirt” t-shirts, and crap, crap, crap.  And the owners standing outside practically beggin you to come in.  Very depressing.

We left the downtown and went to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a beautiful Catholic chapel built into the famous Sedona Red Rocks.  Lovely modern space, which is not my style in Catholic churches—I prefer old school, gothic, like St. Agnes in West Chester.  Beautiful gardens, too. Around the corner from the chapel is the most ostentatious house and property I have ever seen.  I think they really wanted to stick it to the church or something.

Chapel of the Holy Cross

around the corner from the Chapel of the Holy Cross--gross house, spectacular red rocks!

sweet

We climbed to Observation Point, at Airport Mesa, which is a vortex.  A vortex is a place where there is specialized energy from the earth that “sensitive” people can pick up on.  Neither one of us felt it.  Met a nice man on top, from Mexico, who climbs up to it most days to sit on the vortex and “get energy.”  He was kind enough to show us an easy way down.  Here’s my take on Sedona—the scenery is gorgeous, the rocks are beautiful, it is very hot in June, on the longest day of the year, and the town itself—skip it!

at the vortex

Next, to Cottonwood, a lovely little town with a lot of antique stores and artsy places.  Had a great iced coffee and homemade gelato at Crema.  We went to the biggest biggest antique store that I have ever seen.  We got there at 4, and the owners said, “Welcome, we close at 5, and you won’t be able to see everything.”  That was an understatement!  Inside, outside, barns, outbuildings, stuff everywhere.

one of many great vintage signs

so much stuff, so little time

They had a great toy Magnus Accordion that we don’t have.  The label said, “with box,” but it wasn’t with the box!  The person whose booth it is wasn’t there.  We looked in a bunch of places for the box, with no luck.  We may go back tomorrow to get it, if the owner finds it.  We did buy a cute red, white and blue metal kazoo with a horn on it, with the box.

On to Jerome, which Barry and Goldie told us about.  The B&B they stayed in was full; the owner recommended the Connor Hotel, circa 1898.  Really nice place.  In the lobby, we met someone whose family is from West Chester, and whose name is on a wing at the Chester County Hospital (Spackman), and whose cousin is a student of Kenny’s at Westtown.

signs at the bar at Quince

did you know that Rolling Rock is not brewed in Latrobe any more?
it is brewed in.......Newark, New Jersey!

the guy in the jeans is a Spackman

The manager or maybe owner of the hotel is a musician named John Ziegler.  He plays in a band called Major Lingo.  After a great dinner at Quince/15—the best chile rellenos I have eaten (I often order this in a Mexican restaurant—“vegetarian friendly”), we sat outside in the cool of the evening, talking with John about music.  Everything from Carl Maria von Weber to Mahler to Adams to Sublime.   Really nice.

Zion Ponderosa

We’ve had a variety of accommodations on our trip—staying with family and friends, staying in some hip hotels, and camping.  I couldn’t get a tent site in Zion National Park, so we got one at a place called Zion Ponderosa, about 5 miles from the east entrance to Zion, and about 90 minutes from Bryce.

We had a bit of a problem with the tent and the air mattress.  Basically, one did not fit into the other.  Robin will be getting a new tent, since one “window” was ripped in our efforts to “make it fit!”  It’s a good thing that there are no bugs at night and no dew in the morning, since we are pretty much open on one side.

setting up the air mattress that does not fit

"make it fit"

Zion Ponderosa is the kind of campground that even Sam would love—ATV and motorcycle rentals, paintball, mini-golf, a rec room with ping-pong and pool, a pool and a hot tub, two restaurants, horseback riding, jeep tours, etc…...We didn’t partake of many of these things, but we did go to the little rodeo on Saturday night.  In addition to horse riders of a variety of types, they called all of the kids in for a race.  The hysterical thing about the race is that the kids had to take of one shoe, run to the fence and back, put their shoe back on and run to the fence again.  The thing is that their shoes were thrown all over the arena while they were running the other way….

rodeo dude

missing shoe race

Bryce Canyon

Kenny riding Dixie, a sluggish mule that only went one speed--SLOW

hoodoos

Elyse on Winchester, Kenny on Dixie--after 2 hours!

more hoodoos

the bottom of Bryce Canyon

this is on EARTH

naturally-formed arch

Bryce Canyon isn’t really a canyon, because it was not created by a river.  We’ve been learning a lot about geology, and the formations in Bryce are awesome and eerie.  They are called hoodoos.  The native Americans avoided Bryce because they thought that these formations were humans that had been turned into stone.

We rode mules into the bottom of the canyon, which was great and, at times, terrifying.  Mules like to walk VERY close to the edge.  They mostly just follow the guy in front, but it was still scary.

After we got off the mules, we then walked ourselves into the canyon, which meant we had to walk back up.  Hot, dehydrated, and exhausted after seeing some beautiful marvels.