97/100... chocolate, the breakfast of champions!

If you have ever read Roald Dahl's children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or have seen the movie adaptation (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), you know every kid's fantasy is to run loose in a candy factory. Last week my friend, Dawn, and I visited the factory for Cerreta Fine Chocolates (#97 on my "100 things in Arizona" list) in Glendale. And I must admit, when they offered a free sample of any of their candies, I did feel a bit like a kid trying to decide which one to get.

Cerreta Fine Chocolates has been a family-owned and -operated valley establishment for over 40 years. Jim Cerreta, Sr. learned the candy-making business in Ohio before setting up shop in Glendale. He and Dawn, also an Ohioan, talked for awhile about people and places they both knew. Joe told us several fun stories- he's definitely a people person!

Four of Joe's sons, several daughters-in-law and quite a few grandchildren all work at the factory. He told us that his children and grandchildren have all learned the candy-making business from the ground up. And in fact, he himself often works the production line- a novel concept for quality control!

Left- Joe Cerreta working the line. He put a stick in a marshmallow and placed it in the white chocolate "shower." You can see his granddaughter in the purple hoodie next to him.

Center- The marshmallow lollipop, after being showered with white chocolate, rolls through a shaker.

Right- The granddaughter (her hand) took the marshmallow lollipop off the shaker belt and rolled it in sprinkles before placing it on another conveyor belt where everything hardens.

Like many factories, Cerreta's has quite a few conveyor belts transporting all kinds of candy through different processes. And "conveyor belt" and "candy factory" remind me of the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel work in a candy factory taking candy off a conveyor belt and the resulting mayhem. Yep, we laughed out loud! And so do the Cerretas as they had a photo of that episode hanging on the machine!

Everyone had a big smile and seemed to enjoy working at Cerreta's.

Dawn and I were fairly certain that we wouldn't care for the sugar-laden marshmallow lollipop we were offered but we each took one to be polite. We took a small nibble... and another... and another... and pretty soon we were sucking the stick to get every gooey morsel off. Yeah, they were THAT good! 

After the tour, we shopped in the store portion of the factory. I bought a couple of several different kinds and liked them all. Their chocolate candies are smooth and creamy without being overly sweet. The candy definitely gets two thumbs up!

Thumb Up or Down: UP!!

Miles Round Trip: 62.6 miles

Miles to Date: 4125.1 miles

Percent of List Completed: 39%

Date of This Trip: March 20, 2012

66/100... civil war in the wild west

Most people would say that the Civil War was fought east of the Mississippi River. When we lived on the East Coast, we visited six Civil War battlefields and learned how one led to another. What many people do not realize is that the Civil War was also fought in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and even Arizona in an effort by the Confederacy to gain control of gold mines in California or at least blockade the routes so gold could not reach the east where it was needed to finance the war. Last weekend we went to a re-enactment of the battle at Picacho Peak (#66 on my "100 Things in Arizona" list), the western-most battle of the Civil War.

The Civil War in the Southwest was a re-enactment of three battles, two in New Mexico (Battle of Valverde and Battle of Glorieta Pass)  and the one at Picacho Peak in Arizona.

The festivities were not on Picacho Peak but on the mountain and valley to the north of it. We arrived late morning and found LOTS of people already there. We quickly set up "camp" and watched the first battle re-enactment before eating the picnic lunch we brought. 

People of all ages came out to enjoy a beautiful weekend and learn something about history.

Down the hill where it was flat vendors had set up a "mini-mall" selling food (really good kettle corn!), homemade sarsaparilla and birch beer as well as authentic period clothing, drawings of Civil War battles and heroes (on both sides!), toys children would have played with in the mid-1800's, and just about anything having to do with the Civil War. 

Over 200 re-enactors from all over the US live in an authentic Civil War camp during the weekend. Many of their ladies accompany them dressed in period clothing. We saw them rolling bandages, making lunch, doing many of the same things women in that era would have done. The re-enactors are not paid and provide their own uniforms, equipment, guns and ammo. We talked to several and they are Civil War experts... as well as accountants, teachers, engineers, etc. Many of them are retired and travel the Civil War re-enactment circuit.

The inside of the tents have authentic period "furnishings" (cots, blankets, cookware, etc.) ... although they do use the "modern" port-a-potties!

The three battles were spread out over the day but there was a lot to see in between fighting! We missed the fashion show put on by the women- they modeled their clothes and then both Union and Confederate uniforms were explained- when we ate lunch. An Army band played tunes of the times- fun to listen to! 

I'm quite certain these ladies did not get sunburned- although I cannot imagine wearing such heavy clothes in the hot weather! The band was delightful to listen to as they played several toe-tapping tunes.

My favorites were the artillery and cavalry demonstrations although there was neither artillery nor cavalry at the battle at Picacho Peak. They were there strictly for the New Mexico battles. 

The cannons were really LOUD!! Most of the artillery gunners who survived were deaf after the war. Each cannon has a 5-6 person crew with each person having just one job to focus on. 

The horses looked so calm and determined even with the the really LOUD cannons going off all around them. It was quite impressive! And reminded me of a great movie (War Horse) we recently saw.

One of the best things about being at a battle re-enactment is people-watching. There was a seventh grade class there (yes, on a Saturday!) and I loved watching these 12-13 year olds become not just interested in, but fascinated with, history. I overheard one group discussing what it would be like to fight a battle with "such slow weapons" and to see "the guy you're killing." And another group was talking about the idealogical differences between the North and the South. These kids were thinking!! And as we left, we overheard one say, "This is the best field trip ever!" And it wasn't just the kids that got into it! All around us people were talking about the politics of the Civil War, military strategy, life in the mid-1800's, etc. 

Everyone likes to play... big boys...

... and little boys! This little guy was having his own "re-enactment" all by himself!

At last, it was time for the re-enactment of the Battle at Picacho Peak which was fought April 15, 1862 (this is the 150th anniversary of the battle!). The Confederacy claimed the entire New Mexico Territory in 1861 and occupied Tucson. The Union reacted quickly dispatching troops from Fort Yuma (the California Column) to march to Tucson. Meanwhile, the Confederacy had dispatched troops to Picacho Pass as lookouts. Union commander Brigadier General Carleton, upon reaching present-day Casa Grande, dispatched a group of scouts to reconnoiter the remaining route to Tucson. Recognizing a potential ambush at Picacho Pass, the Union scouts broke into two patrols; the first continued on the stagecoach road (near present-day I-10) where they encountered Confederate soldiers waiting in ambush.  The second Union patrol came up on the Confederate flank, taking them by surprise and capturing several Confederates. This push and shove continued through the afternoon when both sides retreated. Most historians call the battle a draw with neither side scoring a victory. The Confederates continued to be outnumbered in the west and were too far from the main Confederate Army to receive supplies or reinforcements regularly. When Carleton's Union troops reached Tucson, the Confederate army had retreated and were being attacked repeatedly by Apaches in the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. They finally left the Arizona territory all together in May, 1862. 

The re-enacters did a great job making the battle look and sound realistic. The guy in the top right photo is a casualty. We learned that the farther the re-enacters travel, the longer they "live" in the battle!

After the festivities ended for the day, we stopped at Picacho State Park before heading home. We did a quick drive through the park and saw lots of wildflowers!

I ♥ springtime in the desert!

Even the side of the road (I-10) was often covered with wildflowers!

Thumb Up or Down: UP!! Lots of fun!

Miles Round-Trip: 132.7 miles

Miles to Date: 4062.5 miles

Percent of List Completed: 38%

Date of This Trip: March 10, 2012

26 and 63/100... the slammer and a sanctuary

Interstate 8 connects the San Diego, California area to I-10 just south of Casa Grande, Arizona and is the route we take coming home from California south of the LA area. Like Quartzsite on I-10, Yuma (Arizona) is the "gas and quick food" stop taking just a few minutes. Last week on our way back from our southern California vacation, we stopped in Yuma, by choice, for several HOURS to see two more places on my "100 things in Arizona" list.

First was the Yuma Territorial Prison (#26) which ironically sports the nicknames "Hell-Hole" and "Country Club." Built out of adobe bricks by the inmates who would live there, the prison opened in the summer of 1876. In the prison's 33 years of operation, it housed 3,069 prisoners including 29 women, before overcrowding forced them to be relocated to the new prison in Florence in 1909.

The Yuma Territorial Prison was established and construction began in 1875; it opened in 1876.

I thought it was interesting that the citizens of Yuma resented both the prison and the prisoners and began calling the Yuma Territorial Prison the "Country Club!" They were miffed that there were so many "luxuries" in the prison, things they did not have... like electricity... and forced ventilation... and high-tech sanitation like flush toilets, running water, bathtubs AND showers... and a library with over 2000 books (the largest in the whole territory!)... and excellent medical care (with a complete hospital on the premises)... and even a Prison Band! Yep, the citizenry was hoppin' mad about the "enlightened and progressive administration" coddling these criminals.

And on the flip side, criminals and prisoners detested "the Hell Hole" as they called it claiming it was "Impossible to endure, more impossible to escape!" Their complaints? "Insufferable heat that made the place an inferno"... and it was surrounded by rivers, quicksand and desert... and an inhumane "Snake Pit" and the ball and chain as standard punishment... and that the #1 killer was TB. I guess it's a case of the grass is greener on the other side!

After walking in one of the dank, dark-ish, dirt-floored cells, I wouldn't want to be there either- but then again, I wouldn't want to be in a modern prison, either. Deterrent? For some!

Our second stop was a very small chapel nicknamed "The Taj Mahal of the Desert" (63). What does the 330-foot tall, double domed, very ornate Taj Mahal in India built by an emperor have in common with the 15-foot tall, single-spired, humble chapel built by a farmer in his lettuce field near Yuma? Both were built in memory of a much-loved wife.  Friends and relatives helped Loren Pratt construct the chapel in 1996 in memory of his wife, Lois.  It has been the setting for weddings, funeral services and even annual Easter Sunrise services as well as a sanctuary for those who want to sit and pray.

                                    *photo from the internet*

The directions state the chapel is "located on US Highway 95 about 15 miles north of Yuma." We drove back and forth on US 95 several times but couldn't find it. Finally, we stopped at a VFW lodge to see if anyone there could help us. We showed the picture of what we were looking for to a couple sitting at the bar and they immediately knew what and where it was. They gave us directions with landmarks after saying that it had been destroyed.

All that is left is the cement entryway and a couple of bushes.

In late 2011, a microburst  from a severe storm in the Yuma area completely destroyed the little wood chapel after lifting it off its foundation and slamming it into the ground 60 feet away. According to a local newspaper story, Loren Pratt plans to rebuild the tiny chapel that ministered to so many people. The guest book recorded visits from people in practically every state in the U.S. as well as many parts of the world. We will stop by again to watch the progress- turn west on a dirt road just north of milepost 39 on US 95 (or about 15 miles north of Yuma on US 95!).

On the drive home from Yuma we were treated to a beautiful, huge, nearly full moon!

Thumb Up or Down: Up and up! We didn't see the chapel but I like the story; we'll check back later!

Miles Round-Trip: 394.2 miles

Miles To Date: 3929.8

Percentage of List Completed: 37%

Date of This Trip: March 7, 2012

things I learned on vacation...

In the course of my lifetime I've been blessed with many vacations- some just a couple of days and others much longer. While I always learn something new about the location or the function of a place, I am often surprised when I learn something new about the the concept of vacation or about people on vacation. We recently returned from a week-long vacation in southern California. In no particular order, this is what I learned:

1.  Diehard Disney fans will do just about anything, including staying at the park for 24 hours straight.  On Leap Day, for only the second time ever, Disneyland stayed open for 24 hours (from 6am on February 29th to 6am on March 1st and then reopening at 10am) allowing park guests to experience shows, rides and special food all night long. We arrived in California the afternoon of the 29th and went into Disneyland for several hours (annual passes are handy for that!). It was a bit crowded but not grid-locked and everyone seemed to be having a good time. As we left the park at about 9pm, the line to buy tickets to get in was the longest we'd ever seen- these were the serious party people! Disney officials expected 44,000 people that day- 88,000 showed up! It was a record-breaking attendance day by a huge margin, one not likely to be seen again in the near future.

We were given the official Leap Day button that reads "One More Disney Day" when we entered the park!

2.  Vacationing with friends can be crazy fun!  After spending a few days at Disneyland by ourselves (and about 45,000 other people!), we met up with our MR KLUD group at Mike and Laurie's timeshare north of Escondido. We returned to Disneyland (Doug and Ursi's first time!) for a day, went to Knott's Berry Farm and to San Diego.

MR KLUD at the house of the Mouse!

3.  Some people are natural "participants" while others (me!) are "observers."  This, of course, is an elementary observation; you have to have both performers AND an audience. And it's one I knew intellectually but this time really experienced first-hand.

Doug was "invited" to join the "saloon gal" as she sang to him. Mike volunteered to let real, live scorpions crawl on him. I was quite content to be an observer in both situations!

4.  Some people like going from 0 to 82 mph in 2.3 seconds, ascending 205 feet followed by an immediate descent at a 90-degree angle. I, however, am not one of them. But I think I fooled them by saying I wanted to take pictures! 

Mike, Laurie and Richard went on "X-celerator" at Knott's Berry Farm several times!

5.  Sometimes what you see and enjoy is not what you expected or paid for.  We went on a whale-watching tour one afternoon. While two whales were spotted, I was not in a position to really see them. However, I did have a delightful time watching pelicans fish quite far from shore. Their gracefulness and perseverance was inspiring.

The pelicans flew so close to the water it seemed at times that their wing tips brushed it!

 It's always good to get away from the everyday grind- and sharing it with friends is great! But after a fun-filled, relaxing week in southern California, it was time to return home. And sleeping in our own bed was heavenly!

6, 86 and 22/100... a man, a village and a canyon

When were "the good ol' days?" For most people, it was sometime in the past... a time of innocence or fun. On our way to California last week I had an opportunity to step back into "the good ol' days" in, of all places, Buckeye and Quartzsite, Arizona as we stopped at three more places on my "100 things in Arizona" list.

When my husband and I were in high school, everyone hung out at a local coffee shop with a giant statue of a vagabond out front called Hobo Joe's. They had the best French fries and pretty good apple pie. Our group claimed a corner booth as our own where we would talk for hours about who was dating whom, the Viet Nam war, the 1972 Presidential election (although none of us were old enough to vote!) or whatever was in the news. Not long after I graduated, Hobo Joe's closed; the giant statue disappeared and the building was remodeled into something else.

I was surprised to learn that one remaining statue of the 25-foot-tall hobo remained in Buckeye (#6). It was built in the early 1980's by sculptor Marvin Ransdell for Hobo Joe's but the Arizona chain went bankrupt before it could be used. After Ransdell died a few years later, his friend acquired the statue and erected it in front of his slaughterhouse in Buckeye as a memorial to Ransdell.

Seeing the giant foot-loose and fancy-free nomad brought back a wave of nostalgia!

We traveled on to Quartzsite where we visited Barrett's Village (#86) on the grounds of the Quartzsite Historical Society. Walter Barrett of Ferndale, Washington  was a rock hound who wintered in Quartzsite beginning in 1970 and later moved there permanently. He hated to "waste" any of the rocks he didn't use to make jewelry so he began looking for some other use for them. He and his wife noticed many birds in their yard so his first project was making a stone birdbath. After that, he built a miniature village complete with a lighthouse, a church, a model of his childhood home in North Carolina, his sister's home and many other structures, the tallest of which is only about 24 inches tall. These miniature dwellings resided in his yard and upon his death, his children donated them to the town of Quartzsite rather than break up the village.

Like many young girls, I really, really wanted a doll house. Although I never had one, I imagine if I had, it would have had the same unique character that Barrett gave his houses. Strolling through Barrett's Village reminded me of that childhood desire.

The third place was Palm Canyon about 18 miles south of Quartzsite in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge on US 95. The smooth, paved road (US 95) gave way to 30 minutes on a graded, ribbed road that rattled our heads as we headed toward a mountain.

The view from the dirt road as we headed closer to the mountain was filled with lots of cactus!  Our destination is the shaded canyon in the center of the picture.

After reaching the parking area, we hiked about half a mile on a very rocky trail.

Finally we reached the area where Palm Canyon came into view from our trail. It is an extremely narrow canyon in the side of the mountain- a difficult and steep hike to actually get into the canyon.

We brought binoculars to view the canyon as it was about a quarter of a mile away. 

With magnification, we could see about two dozen palm trees nestled in the canyon. It was close to noon when we arrived and the sun hit the narrow canyon lighting up the trees.

What makes these palm trees so special? It is the only native palm grove in Arizona. They are Washingtonia filifera (California Fan Palms, not date-bearing palms) and are probably the descendants of palms growing in the region during the last periods of North American glaciation. Botanists think the trees gradually spread into these canyons and other protected niches as the climate warmed to desert conditions. Birds and mammals may also have carried seeds from other palm groves in their digestive tracts. It was certainly odd to see such green palms in a rocky desert canyon; the other vegetation in the area was typical desert fare- palo verde, mesquite and ironwood trees mixed in with a lot of cactus. 

The vista from where we viewed Palm Canyon was beautiful!

(You can see our car at the end of the dirt road!)

As a child, I watched tv shows (Gilligan's Island) and movies (South Pacific) that were set in tropical locales with lots of palm trees and remember wondering why there were so many palm trees in arid Arizona. As an adult, I realize that people plant them to remind them of more temperate places. Never did I imagine that there would be palm trees native to Arizona!

Thumb Up or Down: Up times THREE!

Miles Round-Trip: 360 miles

Miles To Date: 3535.6 miles

Percentage of List Completed: 35%

Date of This Trip: February 29, 2012