On Saturday 29 March 2008, we left Tusayan to drive to Phoenix. We had a couple of stops along the way to enjoy the scenery, including at Oak Creek Canyon just south of Flagstaff. We drove through Flagstaff where I was later told some of our Olympians are based for 5 weeks of high altitude training. Lunch was in Sedona which looked like a great town for hiking, biking, climbing, etc but again time meant we just quickly passed through. I did get a t shirt which was 'dyed with dirt' so it was the deep orange (ochre?) colour of the local rock ...
Our aim today was to get to Phoenix early enough that we could catch the last tour at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West at 4pm. We were on target, if cutting it fine, until we got to roadways on Highway 101 which had closed the southbound lanes for the weekend. Slow detours through suburbia resulted in us walking into Taliesin West at 4.15pm. The people there were great in getting onto the tour of which we only missed a bit of the opening talk in the first room.
Taliesin West was built as FLW's winter home and architectural school from 1937 until his death in 1959. It continues as the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation which continues to cycle between wintering here and summers at Taliesin in Wisconsin.
We did the 90 minute Insights Tour which is the most popular tour. The tour commentary was centered a lot around FLW's history rather than the buildings. I left feeling that I wanted to know more about the buildings there and the behind the scenes parts that we didn't get to see. Although being the last tour of the day, there was a relaxed element around the timing of the tour which was very enjoyable. There is a 3 hour behind the scenes tour which would have been good to do if we were there on the right days, pre-booked, without the kids, etc. Maybe next time!
The tour went through FLW's office, the living room (called the 'Garden Room' by FLW), the bedroom wing, the Music Pavilion and the Cabaret Theater. The kids were employed in the Music Pavilion to demonstrate by jumping how the standard floor was solid why the area under the stage was hollow. Suffice to say that they were very good jumpers! It was interesting to see how the buildings were sited below the brow of the hill (as per his theories and the Welsh meaning of Taliesin) and how it was situated in the midst of cactus etc filled desert. There were also ample signs of the water leaks etc which I associate with FLW's designs which were many years in advance of silicones and other materials which would have allowed his designs to better keep the elements out.
It was also apparent how Phoenix was coming closer to the property although they still seem to own most if not all of the 600 acres FLW owned around the buildings. Would also be interesting to see around the areas where the students build their accommodation buildings for the duration of their stay there - part of the second year of their studies.
There's a good summary of the Key Architectural Elements and Taliesin West History on the Foundation's website which are worth a read.
We headed straight off to the Hyatt Summerfield Suites where we had a suite booked after the tour. We should have gone to the Promenade Mall to see the FLW Spire but didn't realise that it was so close to Taliesin West and so far from our hotel, even though both are in Scottsdale. The Spire was designed in 1957 as part of a Capitol building in Phoenix which was never built, the Spire plans being extracted in 2004 as the highlight of the Mall. Maybe next time!
We had dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. This is an Aussie themed restaurant chain which we have avoided so far because of the fake Australian accents on their tv ads and the reputation of the food just being the standard American fare. Food was ok (if my steak ended up well done at one end and blue at the other to meet my medium - rare order). Lots of Australian memorabilia around the walls (eg a print of one of Nolan's Ned Kellys) which brought home how much the kids had forgotten about Australia over the past year of becoming American!
The reason for rushing to do the Taliesin West tour on Saturday was to leave Sunday 30 March 2008 free to drive the 3 hours south to Tombstone. It actually took longer as Highway 10 southbound was also closed in part over the weekend so we had a similar detour through suburbia as we had yesterday. It took us 45 mins from the hotel to get out of the city and moving on the freeway!
Tombstone is an original 'wild west' town with the motto of 'the town too tough to die' and famous as the setting for the 'gunfight at the OK Corral' and the Boot Hill cemetery. So while as we expected it wasn't really worth the 6 hours in the car for the 3 hours we ended up spending there, how could we bypass the opportunity to visit??!!
We parked opposite the OK Corral and walked around the back to the booking office building. It was quite good value at $7.50 each to see a half hour multimedia show, tour the OK Corral grounds / buildings, a copy of the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper covering the gunfight and (the highlight) a reenactment of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Virgil and Morgan Earp fighting the McLaurys and Clantons. There were other gunfights and reenactments along the streets as well as the usual tourist orientated shops with an appropriately western theme. Couldn't help coming away with a black Stetson as a souvenir of the trip! I also seem to have promised Kieren that he could have a cap gun if he was good during the day. He was extremely good, checking from time to time to remind me. However Mum effectively vetoed the purchase, leaving me to explain why I was wrong agreeing that he could have a gun. Don't think I was successful in explaining to him or Olivia why they couldn't have a gun ...
We stopped at Boot Hill cemetery as we left Tombstone. This was a five minute experience, albeit also the burial site of Bill Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury; the three men killed during the Gunfight at the OK Corral.
We also passed through Tucson driving to / from Tombstone. At the time we didn't realise that it was also the site of the Boneyard. Maybe next time!
We had intended seeing some more FLW designed buildings when we got back to Phoenix. However time beat us, it was close to sunset when we got back and the vast size of Phoenix didn't help. Maybe next time! We did however manage to get to Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University, which is considered to be FLW's last public commission, and at least have a look around the outside of the building.
Our holiday concluded on Monday 31 March 2008 with taking our SUV back to Thrifty and catching our US Airways flight back to BWI airport in Baltimore. US Airways managed to redefine cattle class for us. Despite having made online seat allocations when booking, they had taken these away from us and the seating was oversold. It was then a process of slowly getting seats on the plane as volunteers presumably took some kind of incentive not to catch that flight. We got on the plane with four seats all apart from each other and stood up the back while the hosties managed to get people to move until we had two sets of two seats together.
We got back to rain in Maryland and were very glad when our Tarago taxi pulled into our driveway at the end of a very full on holiday!
Photos here.
Malcolm
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