Category: Arizona 2021

After more than a year of pandemic isolation, we’re about to venture out of the nest, get on an airplane, and fly to Tucson…my hometown. We have a pretty full week, with lots of time to hang out with old friends, and, hopefully, some time to relax and soak up some warmth.

Judging from Newark Airport and two flights on United, more people think the pandemic is over than can possibly have been vaccinated. The passengers are overwhelmingly youngish, often young families. We flew from Newark to Denver and then on to Tucson, and both flights were totally full. As flights on United go, though, they were OK.

What a change when we arrived in Tucson. Sleepy little airport (for a metro region of half a million); Sue was immediately reminded of the airport in Yangon. The weather is glorious: bright sunshine, high 80‘s (dry heat, natch). We were „upgraded“ to a Jeep Compass…what a piece of crap even though it was brand new…but we were soon rolling north. I was struck this time by just how mountainous the whole region really is. Not just the four major ranges around Tucson itself, but other ranges fading off into the distance in every direction.

Tucson has spilled out toward the northwest…massively! Our hotel is in the formerly sleepy cow station of Marana, but there is no break in the development until you enter the huge reserve around Dove Mountain Resort. The hotel itself is lovely—very nice common spaces with a bit of southwestern flair and very comfortable rooms—but it is above all sited brilliantly in a bowl between the arms of the Tortalita Mountains. We look out from our balcony over an especially beautiful stretch of Sonoran desert toward the far northern reaches of the Tucson Mountains.

It will come as a surprise to no one that it took Sue about a nanosecond to head for the pool area with its three pools. This is the family pool with a waterslide that starts about 70 yards up the mountainside (report to come). The photo gives a good sense of how the resort uses the surrounding mountain scenery.

The long infinity pool isn‘t bad either; it sits as the bottom level of a large terraced patio with a bar at the top.

The resort had the good sense to do as little landscaping as possible; it sits in a particularly verdant piece of desert with spectacular stands of Saguaro cactus.

We didn‘t have long to relax—just long enough for a margarita—before we headed for the home of our good friends Patti and David B….where we found our old friends Michelle and Tom L.! Patti had brought in tacos from a tacoria near the site of my old house, and we had a wonderful southwestern dinner with dear friends. Before we settled in for some serious reminiscing, though, we were given a tour of the really remarkable place that both couples live, the Catalina Foothills Condominiums.

It turns out that the place has a story in which I am tangentially involved. My mother worked for John W. Murphey, a Tucsonan who developed the entire northern end of Tucson, the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, an area that soon became the wealthiest part of town. In the 1950‘s, Murphey discovered a young Mexican architect whose work combined Spanish Colonial and modernist aspects in a stunningly eccentric way. Juan Worner Baz was commissioned to design the Murphey‘s home on the highest hill in the foothills, a remarkable structure that I came to know well since we often stayed there when the Murpheys were away.

What I didn‘t know was that the Murpheys also commissioned Worner Baz to build a condominium complex high in the foothills. The Catalina Foothills Condominiums are just 18 units built around a large interior area that can only be described as a park. The landscaping was done by a Japanese landscape architect and is absolutely stunning, with cacti and desert shrubbery spilling over a rolling landscape that is made to seem much larger than it is. The condos are not large, but they are incredibly beautiful and designed for total privacy. Tom and Michelle started the trend; David and Patti followed; and now David‘s brother Kim and his wife Lou have purchased a unit. As David says, they are well on the way to forming the commune we talked about for decades…now I only have to talk Sue into the deal.

Stil jetlagged, I woke several times during the night, and finally got up at 6. Luckily the resort‘s coffee shop opened then, too, and I brought cappuccinos to the room. We had a very nice breakfast in the main restaurant, Core; modern room with tons of windows looking out into the mountains. Sue had her first dip in the pool, sharing it with one other lap swimmer. I played with my camera, which I’m just getting to know, while Sue swam.

Sue had discovered that the pants she had with her had a tear, so we headed out to try to find something…and were 0. We found an outlet mall with a lousy selection (although I did supplement my flimsy Maui Jim’s with a sturdy pair of Oakley’s) and then a mall with mostly closed stores. So we hightailed it back to meet my family.

Mary L. and Connie are my first cousins; we share a grandfather, but not a grandmother. Our mothers were exceptionally close for half-sisters.

They had driven down with their husbands Mike and Paul to spend the day with us. Mary and Mike spend the winters in Arizona, so far in a RV trailer, but, starting next year, in a condo purchased by their daughter for them!

We had a very good lunch at Turquesa, the Latin Grill in the pool complex; my tacos (swordfish, chicken tinga, carne asada) were delicious, and I had my first Arizona craft beer, a Citrazona.

We spent the whole afternoon in conversation with them; it got a little long for Sue (and presumably for Mike and Paul) as we tried to reconstruct our family history. But it was a great visit and we hope to see them next year.

After a siesta we booked a table at Ignite, the resort‘s restaurant on the terrace looking into the mountains. The food was pretty mediocre (Sue had salmon, I had gorditas), but the worst was yet to come: an email from my buddy Ralph: „Are you close?“ I had mixed up the dates for our dinner with him, and he and a friend were at our table at a restaurant downtown. I wrote right back (no cell number for him), and checked my phone frantically…but no answer.

We took a walk and headed for our room, and, when we went to sleep, still no word. I had to assume that he was furious, and I was terribly upset with myself.

I woke (at six again) to find an email from Ralph agreeing, very nicely, to dinner tonight. He had composed it last night but forgot to send it! Sue started her day with a swim at 7:30 while I got coffee and read by the pool. The highlight of the morning was a critter sighting: Sue saw a Gila Monster right by the path from hotel to pool! These are shy creatures, and Sue has now seen two of them on three visits!

We staked out a table and read and relaxed until lunch, at which point Sue had a glass of wine and I had a frozen pina colada. We repeated the tacos of the day before and they were just as good.

Around two we headed out for some shopping. The only disadvantage of the resort is its distance even from northern Tucson: 35 minutes to Patti and David‘s on Skyline Drive. But Sue found some nice pants at the ritzy mall, La Encantada, at Campbell and Skyline, and then we took a drive down memory lane, driving by our house on Via Alcalde and by the site of the old Adobe casita on River Road next to Saint Phillips in the Hills.

We then bought wine and mezcal for the weekend in Mexico and headed home by way of my high school, Canyon del Oro. What a shock! I was in the first graduating class, 152 strong; they now graduate 2000 per class!

After some more relaxation, we drove into town for dinner with Ralph at a lovely restaurant, the Agustin Kitchen in the old Mercado near downtown. The tables spill out into the center of the old open-air market. And, in April, even a hot day gets pleasantly cool by early evening.

It was great to see Ralph; he‘s as cycle obsessed as ever and mercifully fully recovered from his last serious run-in with a pickup truck (he‘s had no less than three life-threatening accidents). We had a lovely meal (striped bass for Sue; cioppino for me; steak for Ralph; and we shared some delicious red Chile calamari to start). The wine list had some gems at unbelievable prices: a Bruno Giacosa Barbera for 45 bucks.

We were invited to Dora and Barry B.’s house in Singing Valley, near Sonoita, Arizona. David wanted to make an early start, so Sue swam early again; we only had coffee after our big dinner the night before. We were at their place at 9:30. We drove through some of the old neighborhoods around the university and then headed for Sonoita. The drive takes you through a pass to the east of the Santa Rita Mountains. It is a gorgeous drive; the landscape changes dramatically as we rose out of the Sonoran Desert and into the high desert chaparral at the foot of Mount Wrightson (9458 feet). At its high point, the plateau around Sonoita is at 5000 feet, and looks very much like Tuscany.

Around ten years ago David and Patti bought a little home on top of a hill with extraordinary views all around; Patti has remodeled it, and it really is lovely. Sue and I both loved the Acacia flooring.

The panoramic views are extraordinary.

We couldn‘t linger because we were due at Dora and Barry‘s house at noon; they live five minutes away. The house is interesting; David supervised a crew of friends who worked together to build a stone house to Dora‘s design in the late 1970‘s. Thom and Michelle soon joined us, and we did a bit of indoor group portrait work.

We had a movable feast, moving from Barry’s music studio (where he played “Long Time Comin'”) to the house and garden, and then back for cold cuts and cheese in the studio. Conversation was lively, and before we knew it it was 6 PM and we headed back to Tucson.

We had a late dinner at Ignite, and this time it was pretty good: excellent burgers.

Up very early and at David and Patti‘s at 8 AM for the drive to Puerto Penasco, a town at the northern end of the Sea of Cortes. I drove with David in his monster truck and Sue joined Patti and her sister Deb in her Outback. It was great to see Deb again; she had been one of the Time Travelers in Burma in 2019. A really lovely person.

The drive down to the border gorgeous: high Sonoran Desert, with astonishing numbers of cholla, ocotillo, palos verdes, and saguaro.

For the first third of the drive, we looked up at Kitt Peak National Observatory, which sits at the top of a high mountain ridge.

The high, bulbous peak in the background is Babaquivari, the sacred peak of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Baboquivari Peak (7730 feet) is the center of the Tohono O’odham cosmology and the home of the creator, I’itoi; it is regarded as the navel of the world — a place where the earth opened and the people emerged after the great flood. Today, the peak stands at the edge of the 2,900,000-acre  Tohono O’odham Nation (second largest reservation in the United States).

Just north of the border is the little town of Why. Arizona has many towns with charming names: Tuba City, Bumblebee, etc., and Why ranks among the best…particularly after you’ve seen the town. South of Why is Organ Pipe National Monument, with its profusion of, what else, organ pipe cacti.

We zoomed across the border at Sonoyta, a large town in Sonora State. The B’s have a long relationship with a family named Vasquez who, like many folks in this region, have moved back and forth across the border. We stocked up on tequila and the particular Mexican imitation of Cointreau called Controy.

Grab it if you can find it: it makes for killer margaritas–especially if you can get hold of the little Mexican limes!

The road south of the border leads through a lower, more barren section of desert with low volcanic peaks and an enormous caldera. As we neared the sea, David negotiated a series of increasingly sandy dirt roads that led through one little seaside community after another, each with its own gate and security system. Their community, Estero Morua, is the last one on the narrow isthmus between the sea and the Morua estuary.

Patti’s grandparents built a fishing shack out of reeds right on the water in the early 1960’s; of the forty families that are part of the community, theirs is the longest continuous ownership.

David and Patti built a concrete shell around the house, and it is very comfortable inside: one large room with kitchen, sitting area, and beds, and one more private bedroom…we were privileged to sleep in the honeymoon suite! The house is totally off grid: solar electric, propane stove and refrigerator, two huge water tanks for shower, toilet, and dishwashing. They have to bring their own drinking water..and lots of it.

Living here is a constant challenge: the sea experiences tidal ranges of up to 16 feet, and the tide is gradually carrying away the sandy isthmus on which the house stands. Several houses have been washed away already, but there is no general community response, with the result that each house has to defend itself. David and Patti and their neighbor have built a large seawall out of volcanic boulders. You can just see their roofline to the right of the house with multiple windows.

After we got settled in, we all took a long walk along the beach, paying particular attention to the large flocks of birds: pelicans, cormorants, sandpipers, and a charming species called the Oyster Hunter with long orange bills.

We decided that we would need some sustenance before heading out for a sunset walk, so Deb mixed up a batch of wonderful margaritas.

The evening walk into the sunset was amazing. As the sun set, we could see the outlines of Baja across the sea. This image gives a good sense of the tidal effect: you can walk out almost a third of a mile.

Back at the manse, we feasted on a fettuccini boglonese that David had made, washed down with a very nice Moccagatta Barbera that we had brought. Early to bed!

The last full day in Tucson was a bit of a blur. We had a big breakfast–green corn tamales, eggs with chorizo, and tortillas–and then packed up and closed the house. The trip back was fast, just a bit more than four hours, and we zipped through the border.

Back at the Catalina Foothills Estates condominiums, we were greeted by David’s brother Kim and his wife Lou; I’ve known Kim almost as long as I’ve known David, and it was great to see them. They had just joined the commune, purchasing the end condo on David and Patti’s side.

We then popped by to say goodbye to the Laursens, but they were’t having it, and insisted that we come back for a drink before dinner.

Back in the car, we wanted to check out resorts for a possible return with the whole family. We drove through the Westin La Paloma, but it seemed pretty slick. We walked through the Loew’s Ventana Canyon (where I had stayed for my 40th reunion), but it was pretty tired and unappealing. We decided just to save the extra money and go back to Dove Mountain.

Thom mixed us up a potent drink with mezcal, asperol, and one other ingredient, and they showed us plans for their new house in Park City and photos of the surrounding mountains. Spectacular! All too soon it was time to say goodbye and head up the hills to dinner at Dora and Barry’s.

Patti and David were there too; Dora had gone all out, and we had a delicious dinner. First drinks and nibbles on the terrace overlooking town, then dinner in the patio. The lively conversation could have gone on for much longer, but we (thought we) had an early flight and had booked a mass market hotel at the airport and got on the road by 9:30.