San Rafael Valley, AZ ~~ Photo by Bill Haas

Thursday, March 26, 2009

ALMOST ARIZONA~~~~ARIZONA!



















Holtville Hot Springs, a BLM Long Term Visitors Area, right next to a freeway, not exactly nirvana, but definitely an unexpected oasis where you'll find winter crops and roosting snowbirds planted side by side. One can warm up in the pools or cool down in the pond.  Or both.  A cadre of volunteers, mostly Canadian, pump out and scrub down the pools weekly.
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I love "roadside geology," and, as you'll discover later, I'm fascinated with road cuts!  This distinctive formation (part of the Basin and Range Province, I THINK) is a common sight all along Southern California's Highway 8...
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and then it reappears along Highway 10 in SE Arizona.  The formation in Arizona is locally known as the Little Dragoon Mountains, and that's the "Cochise Stronghold" in the background.
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And nestled in the Little Dragoons is the Amerind Foundation, a working research facility and museum for Native American studies -- anthropology, archeology, art.  Following the lecture on the day I attended, visitors were treated to a goosebump-rising Apache song/chant/blessing of love, compassion and celebration by an Apache docent. Interior photographs are not allowed.  If you have any interest at all in Native American culture, you owe it to yourself to visit this unique museum if you're in the area.