Carl Henning

Due to end-of-holiday traffic, we spent an extra night on the road home. In Palm Desert. The Palm Springs area has named many of their roads after famous people. But I think today’s youth would ask “Who is that?!” (Maybe I’ve just seen too many “man on the street” and “kids on campus” interviews to have much hope for any knowledge of who these folks are that have streets named after them.)

We are in the midst of a Christmas trip to Washington state; another driving trip of 1500 miles. We joked as we left southern California that we would be saying goodbye to blue skies. Alas, the next two days brought overcast, fog, and rain. Along the way we passed without stopping places we had already visited.

Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Ranch is right off Interstate 10 in the shadow of Picacho Peak. (Picacho is Spanish for Peak, so Picacho Peak is Peak Peak.) There are a few roosters at the ranch, but there are a lot of other birds too: ducks, ostriches, and, my favorite, the lorikeets. Also donkeys, goats, deer, and bunnies.

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun features the art and life of Arizona artist Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia. His Indian children and other Indian scenes are emblematic of the the desert southwest. We first visited the gallery in 1978, having seen his work in Arizona Highways magazine. We purchased many prints which the Ted signed for us.

Mission San Xavier del Bac, the White Dove of the Desert, is a photogenic mission church serving the village of Wa:k on the Tohono O’odham reservation. We were back today with Alex and Sarah. So, more pictures and this important note: because it’s on the reservation, they have Indian fry bread (with honey and powdered sugar).

We last visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum on Christmas Day 2014. We just signed up for an annual membership again in time to take Alex and Sarah.

Saguaro National Park has two segments: East and West. We visited the East again. It was a quick stop at the visitor center with time for a few pictures.

Finally to OdySea Aquarium again. Very unlike the New England Aquarium in Boston, but a satisfactory experience anyway.

Butterfly Wonderland was featuring Bugtober as a temporary exhibit. They also have a small aquarium section and a small reptile exhibit.

A couple years ago we visited Butterfly Wonderland and OdySea Aquarium in Scottsdale with our youngest grandson, Butterfly Aquarium. We went back this year (revisited) with our oldest grandson and his wife. There were some things the same and some different.