Carl Henning

Another quick day trip. We returned to the Beeline Highway to photograph saguaros burned in a recent wildfire. It was tough to find places to safely stop to take pictures, so slim pickings there. But we came home past Saguaro Lake and the Salt River. We were lucky to stop at a picnic area when the wild horses were passing through.

The Grand Canyon of the Salt is a rather pretentious name and it’s pretentious to compare it to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Which is probably why the map just says “Salt River Canyon.” In this area the river has, rarity of rarities, water. Actually the Salt River runs year around above all the dams closer to Phoenix. Through Phoenix it’s dry. It’s dry usually anyway. It still flows and floods sometimes.

Some of the National Parks are starting to open with restrictions. My wanderlust is brimming BUT it’s still recommended that older folks stay home. Begrudgingly admitting to being in this category, I’ll wait to mask up and hit the road. In the meantime, here are some National Park Service posters to encourage visitors to stay six feet apart.

I should be traveling or watching baseball. But, alas, not yet. But I’ve uncovered a number of ways to get out of the house virtually.

Being stuck at home, it’s time to travel vicariously. Here are some suggestions.

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.