Feb 1, 2 Phoenix, Queen Creek

Monday, February 1

33 degrees at 6:45 this morning.  As we awoke, the cranes did too and as we drove out of the refuge we were escorted by groups of cranes going out to find their breakfast. To the right, the left, above, in front and behind, groups of 5-20 cranes made their way through the cold, grey, misty morning. 

We soon ran into some rainy/sleety precipitation, which then turned to snow flurries. Near Tombstone, there was a little accumulation ½-1”, but as we lost elevation it disappeared.  Still….not what we expected in southern Arizona!

We drove to Discount Tire in Sierra Vista, where they removed a piece of metal from the low tire and plugged it. 

Decided to take care of some other chores, so found a Laundromat and did wash, then headed to Safeway to restock some supplies.

The forecasted temperatures in Benson the next few days show lows around 20, so we decide to go north to warmer Phoenix (lower elevation).  We take Rt 79, an alternative to I-10 and once we get out of Tucson, it is a nice quiet road.  The only thing we see along the way is a memorial to Tom Mix. 

He was an old time western cowboy/singer who lived in this area and whose “spirit  left his body on this spot”in an auto accident in 1940.

We continue on to Queen Creek, one of many suburbs of Phoenix (Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale, etc. ) which have all kind of grown together.  Queen Creek is great for us in that it has a great newish library,  an LA Fitness, and a Walmart that allows overnight zzz’s.   We head first to the library where we catch up on blogging, emails, banking, etc.   They have a great kids’ area which Greg enjoys watching.

We head over to Walmart, have dinner and hit the hay!

Tuesday, February 2

We start the day at LA Fitness, a busy spot this morning.   I have never seen so many skinny women.  There is a Dunkin’ Donuts strategically placed within walking distance of the gym (cruel!) and we succumb, which may be related to why I am not one of those skinny women!   We head back to the library. Nice library with excellent wi-fi speed, computer sections, audio and video and, of course, many books. Greg reads some magazines, including a MAD Magazine – still around and as irreverent as he remembers.

From here we head to the MIM – Musical Instrument Museum – which turns out to be a great choice. 

We watch a short introductory film which shows that music is the language of the soul, reflects who we are, and is a universal language, etc.

They have over 10,000 instruments in the museum.  Upstairs, the instruments are arranged according to country, often with some costume from said country. 

Tanzania

At each country’s “station” there is a flat screen tv which shows a few performances  using their instruments  We have headphones which are proximity readers so that when we are within a certain area we listen to what is being shown. 

Mongolia

China

Really cool. The countries are arranged by continent. 

We see many instruments we have heard of and many new ones. Lots of zithers, lyres, harps, drums, lutes, rattles, bells, and many many more.  Some are very primitive, using bones, sinew, hooves, gourds, seeds,  and other plant & animal body parts. Others are quite elaborate.

One display shows the creativity of people who make instruments from items at hand, including oil cans, discarded wood, etc.  You can see that this flute uses bottle caps, buttons, coins, and tableware. And amazingly some of them sound beautiful.

There is another area of the museum which honors great musicians.  Can’t imagine how they chose who to include here, but we saw Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Roy Orbison, Taylor Swift, Jake Shimbukuro (amazing ukulele player), Carlos Nakai (Native American flute), John Lennon, Kronos Quartet, and many more.  All had several performances we could watch and listen to.  Probably could have spent most of a day just in this area!

There was a mechanical gallery with this huge Apollonia “dance organ” which incorporates many instruments. Also player pianos, music boxes, etc. 

They even had a display showing the machine which created the cylinders and rolls using perforations or holes which translated to notes.

Of course there was an Experience Gallery, too, where you could try different instruments.

Another area had display of variations of one type of instrument, like these guitars and bagpipes from many countries other than Scotland!

There were displays showing how a Steinway is put together and another showing how a violin comes together.

 More displays had to do with types of music, with jazz, hip-hop, orchestra, bluegrass, etc.

Overall a fantastic experience that we could easily have spent two days rather than 4+ hours.

We left at closing time.

Decided to get some dinner at San Tan Flat, a busy place back near Queen Creek, where we shared a rack of ribs and salads.  They also served a creamed corn that was great.  When we commented on it to our server, she said it is very popular and tastes good because it includes butter and sugar.  Tasty!