Wednesday, April 04, 2001
April 4, Part 3: A trip to the Heritage Park Zoo near Prescott
We all went out to the Prescott (Heritage Park) Zoo for awhile. The weather was beautiful, and some of us will jump at any excuse to see animals. Right away I realized this wasn't one of your big city zoos. I do like their mailbox, and of course the setting is pleasant out in the open country.
And I like their gate. Nice animal art!
There was more animal art as we entered the zoo, which had a lot of open space. That's dad. It was nice to see him getting out and enjoying walking around. What was sad was how the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's was aging him beyond his years. Again, it made me know that this was a very special few days we were all spending together.
Approaching the animals. They're around here somewhere. I wonder if they have a TAPIR?
But wait! Time for a pit stop since the restrooms are en route. Umm. The restroom was brand new and clean, but it seems they ran out of money before they got to the partitions. I've been told that men's bathrooms are like this fairly often, but I haven't been in one. I've never seen a ladies' room without the partitions. OK, I'll wait outside, lemme know when you're done. I was never one of those girls who liked to go to the restroom in gaggles.
Gary wanted to let Kathy and me know that the men's room was special, too. Thanks, Gar.
This is called "Tarantula Grotto." Of course, there were spider exhibits inside.
"Please do not step on spiders, ever." I like that.
This is Coyote Freeway.
We didn't see Abbey the Mountain Lion, but she had a nice sign, and I liked it that there was glass to look through, and not just wire or bars. If she had been out, I might have gotten a nice picture.
Finally I was getting to see a javalina.
Up close, too, but the wire wasn't conducive to photos.
Here's a pronghorn. As you can see, there's a lot of space out here. It made the visit kind of surreal, or maybe it was just a lazy-feeling day and I'm not used to that. I find every excuse to work and be busy most of the time.
"Hi, Pronghorn."
Thematic painted signs. This is where the jaguar lived. It seems the cats were taking siestas.
The black bear was friendly, at least with fencing between us it was a nice encounter. The zoo also has a Bengal tiger and some ring-tailed lemurs and a few other things.
Gary and Dad. Don't ask me why I take pictures of people when they're not looking and then don't take any when they are looking. Maybe it's because I don't like my own picture taken, but I'm really going to work on this.
Gary meets a kindred spirit. "Where's the food, guy?" So, that was our day at the zoo. April 4, Part 4: Indian and Cowboy art: The Phippen Museum - and a bank
I took this photo inside the Phippen Museum (on Highway 89, 7 miles north of Prescott, so says their web site). The colors are beautiful, and look at the theme - dinosaurs! I don't remember anything about who made the piece or when. I wish I'd taken note.
This exhibit was equally striking. Here's what happens to culture. What does it mean?
And here's a cow sculpture. I don't think I was totally fascinated with it, but it was something to take a picture of. It was probably against the rules to take pix inside, but out here it was ok.
Another shot from in front of the museum.
I like this anachronistic composition, and especially the green of the wagon.
I probably thought the name of this bank was very strange when I took the picture. I've just looked it up online and it's real enough. The Fifth Bank and Third Bank merged in 1908 and didn't have the sense to come up with a better name than that, but hey. If I had their money, I wouldn't worry about it, either. Tuesday, April 03, 2001
April 3: Enjoying the company and the view
On this trip, unlike most of my trips (no matter where I go), I didn't take much. I think I was able to relax, and I had planned to just hang out and be there. Usually I take a lot of projects, things to do and read. This is the view of Thumb Butte from their living room. It's one of the few landmarks on the horizon. The view from the house is to the west.
I took this from the upper deck outside the living room. There's no yard to speak of, nothing cultivated and planted. The planting is the natural brush of the hillside, although that's supposed to be cut back to a certain distance from the house due to fire hazard. They told us that javalinas would come through on occasion, and a person should keep their distance because the javalinas could be dangerous. I was hoping to see some, but they never came while I was there. It would have been fun to see them and hear them stamping and snuffling, or whatever they do in herds. I've been told they can be noisy. The house is on two levels, with the family room, kitchen, garage and master bedroom upstairs, and the guest bedrooms (one being Lois's sewing room/sanctuary; I wonder if Dad had his space? I can't think where that would be) and a huge family room or whatever you want to make of it downstairs. The house is on Solar Heights Drive. I'll mark it in Panoramio when I upload the photos. At least as of now, you can't sort photos in Panoramio, and I've been working back and forth, adding pix from Colorado, Oregon, Paris, etc. as the mood strikes. They're all mixed together.
Monday, April 02, 2001
April 2: Going to Prescott
Kathy and Gary and I are all visiting Dad and Lois for a few days. I'm coming from Palisade, Colorado; Gary from Cottage Grove, Oregon; and Kathy from Corona, California. I don't know when the three of us have all been together at the same time, let alone all of us with Dad. I'm excited.
I only took three pictures today, so this not-very-interesting airport picture is included. It's Phoenix.
Yes, I would put that on a whopping big poster. Uh huh.
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