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Showing posts from April, 2017

Summerhaven: Small Town Hidden in Mt. Lemmon

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Tucked far inside Mount Lemmon is the tiny unincorporated town of Summerhaven, AZ.   The settlement sits at an 8,000 feet elevation with around 40 residents.   To get to Summerhaven, you have to travel up a curvy narrow road which you gain access from the Catalina Highway which is northeast of Tucson.   The drive is about 24.5 miles straight up.   We saw several bike riders pumping their way up the mountain. (Not for me!)   In the 1870s and 1880s, Summerheaven was originally operated by the U.S. Army at Fort Lowell in Tucson.   This military camp was utilized as security against the Apache citizens.   It was the perfect defense location because of being encircled by pine trees. Today in Summerhaven, you will find a general store, small shops, Sawmill Run Restaurant and The Cookie Cabin.   The Sawmill restaurant is where we had the best bacon cheeseburger and fries.   The Cookie Cabin has fresh homemade cookies and pizzas every day.   Many travel to this small town in the

The View From Mt. Lemmon

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Mt. Lemmon Tucson, AZ Sara Allen Plummer was born in Maine in 1836.  She had many accomplishments such as a botanist, artist and published writer.  She even was the originator of the first library in Santa Barbara along with naming California's state flower.  She married John Gill Lemmon and was the first woman to climb the mountain which was named after her.  To celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary with John, she climbed the mountain again.  Sara died in 1923 and lies in eternal rest next to her husband at Oakland's Mountain View Cemetery.

Photography: Superstition Mountains Museum 2017

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http://www.echoesofthesouthwest.com/2013/01/superstition-mountain-museum.html

Photography: Desert Bloom at the Superstition Mountains

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Ruins Hidden Under Phoenix's Streets

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Underneath the asphalt streets and dirt lots in downtown Phoenix AZ, lies a historical surprise.  While digging the grounds on Washington and First Street for a future Fry's grocery store, they found Native American ruins that may have been constructed about 2,000 years ago.  This find put construction on hold for a few weeks until they clear the site of all its artifacts.  They said there was lots of interesting items hidden in the dirt. The lot used to be the Hohokam fire station and now a Fry's will occupy the space.  The digging for the store unearthed brick structures and ceramic pottery shards.  They figured that the land was once lived on by the Hohokam people over 1,300 years ago.  Today the Hohokam are known as the Pima Tribe. The initial Phoenix fire house was constructed on that spot in 1894.  It was torn down in 1915 and a fresh new fire house was erected in its place.  In 1953, that building was demoed and the property stood vacant for years until the recen