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| John Burrow |
As the calendar moves through February, I'm reminded of two wonderful trips last year in February and March.
The first was a long weekend in Arizona. I met my friend Vicki from Cincinnati in Phoenix to explore the Scottsdale area. Our definite highlight, after landing a Mercedes sports car at the rental counter, was the annual Arizona Fine Arts Expo. It's running again this year, January 12-March 24, and I can't recommend it more highly. It was nothing short of a kaleidoscope of truly mesmerizing works of art. Strolling from one display to the next, impressive talent and techniques lured us into a trance. Lauren Knode, Dawn Normali, and George Jones stood out, using brilliant contrasting colors of the southwest to infuse energy and raw emotion in their paintings. Knode's luminous landscapes and delicate flowers intoxicated, Normali's rich desert scenes captured the stark mood of the setting, and Jones' stunning animals in motion leaped from the canvas. So much to savor that we spent much longer than planned. Worth every minute.
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The Mercedes Sports Car |
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George Jones |
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Dawn Normali |
The oversized, ornate wood doors were the first hint that this place was special. It's a two-story, elegant room dripping with jewel-colored fabrics, and a wrought iron staircase leading to a loft of luxury dining upstairs. Furniture in dark mahogany wood shades was accented by classical Middle Eastern designs, setting the mood of the spacious setting. The authentic cuisine was a celebration of taste and harmony, the perfect match for the other world atmosphere, both alluring and welcoming. The cocktails were equally pleasing and generous. A toast to the proprietors for creating memorable decor and food.
In March last year, a most worthy treat was a trip to Oaxaca. My friend Doralece from Virginia Beach invited me to join her for a culinary tour offered by Les Dames d'Escoffier International, an organization of female chefs and women in the beverage and produce industries serving fine dining restaurants.
A former convent, the Quinta Real Oaxaca is a Unesco Cultural Heritage of Humanity hotel with four centuries of history in its interior. A must consideration if you are planning a trip to Oaxaca, considered number one or two of the most desirable destinations in the world by at least one highly regarded travel magazine.
Each day of our tour featured a cornucopia of world-class cuisine created by chefs throughout Oaxaca, a world-class culinary region. In addition, traditional candlemakers, figurine painters, and Mezcal producers demonstrated their crafts, and instructed us how to make our own samples, an immersive experience which led to a range of creative results!
Finally, Dan and I outdid ourselves in June 2023 when we traveled to Arizona for a Colorado River rafting trip through the entire Grand Canyon. It was a dream of his, and he wouldn't go unless I came along. I had my qualms because I'd done half the trip years ago, and thought it might be wise to avoid it some 40 years later. I loved the original voyage with all the adrenalin pumped by the rapids. This time, with the assurance of a motorized raft, I agreed to go along. It may have been our best trip ever! The fact that we could even do it, getting on and off the huge inflated raft being the hardest part, was an accomplishment. We slept outside under a million stars every night except one, which threatened a repeat performance of the day's downpour. We lugged our gear on and off the boat, set up and took down our own camping area, peed in a plastic container the size of my yogurt container at home during the night, and walked through the brush to a semi-private outhouse for more serious elimination during the day.
There were three major highlights of the trip -- our GUIDE JJ, the fellow RAFTERS, and the RAPIDS!! Everyone was extremely congenial, with a shout out to the nine teenagers from Alaska and Arizona. They were Awesome kids. We were propped on our benches holding onto grab ropes for the rapids and sat on the floor with grab ropes for the more challenging ones, which produced a bigger and longer roller coaster ride. But the world famous Lava Falls put all the others to shame. Our guides were extremely experienced in reading the river and calling the shots when it came to maneuvering through those badass rapids and boulders. The mighty Lava Falls on the last day, and well worth the wait. I would compare it to the height of an earthquake which keeps on quaking. I kept my eye on JJ, and she kept her focus on the water!! It was thrilling. We told our kids and grandkids they need to do that trip!
What we brought home with us, besides a broken toe, bruises, and very dirty garb, was an appreciation of the Grand Canyon as one of the true wonders of the world. We hiked into deep canyons with Caribbean colored water and cathedral caverns that were once the sacred settings for Native American ceremonies, we slid down rocks into an offshoot of the river with its own set of fast moving water, and we camped and ate next to the mighty Colorado every day and night. The water had been dangerously low the week before, but was perfect for our trip, thanks to the management of the dam -- except for one morning. We lingered at camp until after lunch before the water level returned and we were able to push our two rafts off land. It gave us the perfect opportunity to pose for our group photo in front of one of the rafts. We are grateful for the experience, and learned that climate change is affecting the Grand Canyon just as it is other precious places on the planet.
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