Arcosanti and beyond...

I can't believe the variations in this state's topography! Yesterday we did a little day trip, stopping first at Arcosanti. Arcosanti is "an urban laboratory". It's called an Arcology (architecture plus ecology) and was conceptualized by architect Paulo Soleri (who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright). Soleri is perhaps most famous for his bells (wind chimes). I'd LOVE to do a workshop there, especially if I could learn how to cast the bronze bells! Find out more about Arcosanti and arcology at www.arcosanti.org.

After that little stop, we went on to Jerome, which was an old copper mining town, about a mile up in elevation and with homes built into the mountain. It was pretty incredible. I wish I'd gotten pictures! It was like a "wild west" type of town. Back in the mining days, it was populated mostly by men, with a whorehouse for their "needs". It was such a quaint little town, made all the more interesting because it's populated mostly by artists now. There were cute little shops and boutiques winding up the steep streets.

Finally, we headed to Sedona. Wow. It looked entirely different than Tucson (which is in the Sonoran desert). The earth was RED! With these incredible formations made by erosion. Sedona is apparently a mecca for touchy-feelies and psychics. There are supposedly several vortexes there which emit a lot of energy. I can't say for certain, as we didnt' visit any vortex formations, but we did go to a church built into a cliff, and could see the "castle" and "bell" formation in the distance. The church was built by a woman who had done some studying under Lloyd Wright (Frank's son). She felt the US needed a church that was simple, and that celebrated the natural beauty surrounding it. It really did have a stunning view. You even had a view of the "showoff" formation, directly below the church. This formation was created by some guy from Michigan who had more discretionary income than he knew what to do with. So he built a really ostentatious, braggy type of house riiiiiight under this simplistic church. The house was built like an Italian villa, complete with fountain, waterfall, four-car garage, and observatory deck for watching stars! I just think, if you've got that much money, why not build where you have some privacy....ooooh, unless the whole point is to show off?

We ate dinner at the Cowboy Club, an old saloon. I had rattlesnake (consistency of shrimp...kinda tasted like shrimp too, but less "fishy") and cactus fries! They were really good (of course, anything fried is good). Kinda tasted like pickled cucumber (not to be confused with pickles). Of course we had the obligatory margarita, then a little fudge for the ride home.

Today I'll be doing a little more bead shopping, seeing what Scottsdale has in store, then packing up for the flight home tomorrow. Sigh. Not quite ready to get back to reality.