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Last Thursday, Bob and I left Lansing via American Airlines on what was to be a three-legged journey to Charlottesville, VA where we would pick up a rental car and drive for 3 hours to North Carolina to visit our 46th state.  Not an ideal itinerary but it got us the cheapest airfare.  Our estimated 2:00 arrival was pushed back about 4 1/2 hours when we had to add a 4th leg to the air journey when our flight from Charlotte, NC to Charlottesville, VA was cancelled due to an “operational decision” (pilot had a liquid lunch, perhaps?).  We got a free trip to LaGuardia and then onto Charlottesville.  We made a very quick transfer in LaGuardia, but Bob’s bag didn’t come with us.  It had to happen sometime, right?  Long story short, we arrived into Charlottesville at 6:30 pm to learn Bob’s bag was on a delayed flight for which they couldn’t give us an ETA.  We went onto Hillsborough, NC without the bag, as they promised to hold it for us until we returned the rental car on Saturday. We had a lovely time in Hillsborough without it.  (Bob is a much better trooper than I would have been!)

Since we really just had Friday and the Saturday morning, we tried to see as much of the little town as we could.  

We began the day by walking to, and then through, the Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area.  It was free to enter and had a number of nice walking trails, including one to the summit (only 350 feet) which is the highest point in Orange County where Hillsborough is located.

When we were done at the Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area we walked the relatively new River Trail into downtown.

 

After we walked back to our motel, we drove to the Eno River State Park to check out some of the trails there.

 

On Saturday morning on our way out of Hillsborough, we stopped at their weekly farmer’s market.  They were having a tomato fest. The market was small but cute — with lots of great produce.

After having explored the MSU campus, we had to give some time to the U of M as well, especially since Ann Arbor is so close to Lansing (about a 70 minute drive from where we stayed west of downtown — closer from East Lansing where the MSU campus is).  It is a much larger campus (more spread out) with a main and north campus area.  It lies adjacent to the vibrant and cute downtown which was prepping for an art festival on the day we were there.  Ann Arbor might be our favorite of the three cities based on our quick tour of each, but we were impressed with the cleanliness of each and the diversity and quality of local shops for cities with populations of about 100,000.  Also, lots of green — trees everywhere.

We started on the main campus and picked up a campus map to guide our tour.

 

We had a good (in the sense of long and hot) walk to the north campus to check out the Gerald R Ford library.  On the way back we found a fun hiking/biking trail near the Huron River and also checked out some of the Nichols Arboretum on campus.

Fun Ford Fact:  His birth name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr. His name was changed to his step-father’s name when his mother remarried.

A couple of snaps from the downtown area —

On our second day (first full day) in Michigan, we drove to Grand Rapids to visit the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.  (Side note: This is the only presidential museum which does not also house his archives.  Those are on the U of M campus at Ann Arbor where he went to college. The museum is really well done and provides a good background on the times when he governed as well as how he ascended to the Vice Presidency (appointed by President Nixon, confirmed by Congress, when Spiro Agnew resigned) and the Presidency (assumed office when Nixon resigned).  Bob and I both left with the sense that while we may have disagreed with his view on some things he seemed like he was a man with a lot of integrity who took charge when the country really needed some honest guidance.  Of course, Betty is discussed as well and was (and continues to be) a role model in her own right.

We didn’t see much else in Grand Rapids, but what we did looked really nice.  We learned  that the area has benefited from the success of the Amway company (DeVos family) of which Betsy DeVos, current Education secretary is a member.  There is a DeVos Learning Center within the Ford Museum and an Amway Grand Hotel downtown.

Bob and I have now seen the presidential museums of Clinton, Bush (first), Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, and Kennedy.  Many more to go.

In between our Arizona and Virginia house sits, we decided to hit a couple of states that we haven’t yet visited as we’re a few states short of 50.  The first state we chose to visit was Michigan.  Based on some research and some input from one of my cousins (thanks Lyndsey!), we decided to base ourselves in Lansing but do a couple of day trips to Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor.  The three cities are pretty similar in size and relatively close together with Lansing being in the middle, so it worked well.  We have enjoyed our time here and are impressed with the greenness of this area (so many trees!) as well as the cleanliness of the cities.

Lansing is the capital of Michigan.  It has a population of about 115,000 which makes it the fifth largest city in MI.  Directly east of Lansing is the city of East Lansing, home of Michigan State University.  We spent our first afternoon in MI exploring the campus.  We were surprised to learn of its dairy program as well as its strength in botany and horticulture.  FYI — Botany is regarded as a broader pure science in regards to living plant organisms.  Horticulture is an applied science focused solely on edible and ornamental plant life.

 

We also spent some time touring the Michigan Capitol and the Michigan Hall of Justice, which houses the state Supreme Court.  Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837 as the 26th state with Detroit as its capital.  The capital (seat of government) was moved to Lansing in 1847.  The current building is the second building in Lansing to serve as the Capitol (building) and was completed in 1879.  The Hall of Justice is a gorgeous new building, completed in 2002, as the headquarters of the state’s judicial branch of government.  It houses a great learning center focused on teaching students about the judiciary and has some great views of the mall.

 

Finally, we had a nice walkabout along the lovely River Trail which runs along the Grand River.

We leave very early Monday morning after a Sunday late afternoon transition with our current home owner and her daughter. They have been having a great driving vacation through much of the scenic southwest.  While we have been holding down the fort, we have also done some hiking, biking, and catching up with old friends and favorite places over the past few days.

On Wednesday we did a popular in-town hike up Tumamoc Hill which is the site of some U of A research facilities and is next to Sentinel or “A” hill which we climbed last year (hill with big A on it that the students paint each year).  There were a number of people out while we were there.

Bob has also been able to catch up with some former co-workers while we’ve been here.

On Thursday we finally rented a couple of bikes (hybrids from Fair Wheel Cycle for $25/day) to hit some of the many biking trails in Tucson.  We made a day of it.  We started out biking through the University campus and then up the very bike-friendly Mountain Road before hitting the Rillito Trail. Before we were done, we had biked The Loop onto the Santa Clara Trail to where it ends on Valencia before biking back into downtown Tucson onto the Aviation Pathway for a bit.  Awesome!

 

It’s an unfortunate fact of life in the west that summer is also forest fire season.  There was a fire burning near Flagstaff while we were there and since July 3, the Burro fire has been burning on Mount Lemmon.  Mount Lemmon is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains and is located in the Coronado National Forest just north of Tucson.  It’s a popular spot for locals and visitors in the summer, as at 9,000+ feet elevation it stays much cooler than Tucson.  Last year Bob and I visited it a few times for the gorgeous views and some hiking.  I went up also when my sister visited to ride the ski lift.  Early this week the afternoon monsoons brought much needed rain to the area, so residents and workers were allowed to go back.  Friday, it was opened to the public, so we decided to drive up to visit one more time.

The following are some highlights of our last few days in Tucson — mostly filled with dog care and play time and free hikes in the greater Tucson area.  We will be here through Sunday.

We take Raina and Dot for their daily walk each morning before it gets too hot.  We get some play and scratch (they love to be scratched) time with them as well — at least until we say “no mas.”

 

This area, and the whole state really, are crazy with places to hike.  While we have been kept out of the Coronado National Forest this time (and our beloved Mt. Lemmon) due to a wildfire, we have still found some good local area hikes. One hike we did was in the Maeveen Behan Desert Sanctuary.  This area is part of the Arthur Pack Regional Park and is named for the former leader of Pima County’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.

 

We also had a lovely cooler hike , following some rain, at the Sweetwater Preserve, a 880+ acre preserve in the eastern foothills of the Tucson Mountains. The land for the preserve was acquired in 2004. We enjoyed the desert plants, the nice homes overlooking the preserve, and the views of the area.

There are a number of farmers markets held throughout the area.  We headed to the Rillito Market on Sunday morning but ended up stumbling onto another market also as we explored one of the many local bike paths.  



Tohono Chol (“desert corner”) is a desert botanical garden and nature preserve in Tucson.  It contains various gardens, nature/walking paths, an exhibit house, cafe, and museum shop.  We spent a lovely couple of hours there on Friday and enjoyed the natural surroundings (both flora and fauna) as well as the art work — both inside in the Exhibit house as well as outside along the paths.  This is the park for which we were able to obtain 2 free passes from the Tucson public library.

There were great paths to the various gardens as well as walking trails for desert views or to provide information on desert plants. 

 

 Along the paths we saw roadrunners, lizards, jackrabbits, rest areas, relevant quotes, and metal artwork.

 

 

The land for the park was donated by a private couple.  One of the original homes on the property is now used as an exhibit house to showcase the Native American pottery and basketry collection of the former owners as well as some temporary exhibitions by local artists. The former living area housed an abstract art exhibition.  Finally, the highligh of the day came from the museum shop (actually just outside), and we didn’t have to buy them.  Take a look at a couple of young owls who have taken up residency on the window sills of the shop.  The sales clerk pointed them out to us.



Bob and I have moved on down the road from Phoenix to Tucson.  Bob actually started this house sit solo while I was finishing the one in Phoenix.  We are back together again, however, and enjoying caring for two Australian Cattle dogs in a lovely home in the historic West University neighborhood of Tucson.  

Raina is 11 years old.  She is pretty laid back and very sweet. She also seems to collect the Arizona dust so reminds us a bit of Linus from the Snoopy cartoon.  Dot is an energetic 3 year old who loves her walks and playing with toys.  Both are very well behaved, and we generally only hear them bark if there is a stranger at the door.  They are good protectors!

Our current abode is about a quarter mile from the University of Arizona, a couple of blocks from the vibrant 4th Avenue District, and about a 15 minute walk to the downtown area.  We have walked around a bit already in each of these areas. At the downtown library, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the library cards that we got for Pima County while in Green Valley last year are still active.  This allowed us to get 2 free admission passes to a botanical park (see Tohono Chol post) as well as check out a couple of travel planning books.  We do love our libraries!

We spent a good bit of time on Thursday checking out a number of the (mostly) free museums on the U of A campus — everything from sports to poetry to photography to art.

 

The Poetry Center was founded in 1960 and has nearly 70,000 items related to poetry.  It holds a reading and lecture series, classes and workshops, a book club, and family days.  It is basically a library dedicated to poetry, but it had some fun posters to look at, a jigsaw puzzle you could sit and work on, and a special exhibit on single-issue books.

The University Museum of Art had some fun exhibitions.  we really enjoyed one on some Bisbee artists since we had visited and really enjoyed that town during our stay here last year.



It has been a relatively short housesit in Phoenix but not too short to not be charmed by the sweet Riker, a 2-year old Great Dane mix.  We do our walks early and late in the day to avoid the serious heat, but we had a couple of short ball throw sessions at about 10 am to let him get out a bit more.

We have continued to explore the greater downtown Phoenix area.  

The state of Arizona is relatively young having joined the nation as the 48th state in 1912.  It is the 6th largest state in land mass and the 14th in population.  Phoenix is the capital.  The State Capitol building and grounds lie outside of the main downtown area but are still walkable.

While all of these memorials were impressive and deservedly honored those serving our country in battle, it made me a bit depressed that we humans can’t seem to find a way to get along with each other.  So, I was glad to come across the statue below as at least a change from the other memorials.  The Release the Fear Sculpture below is made out of melted weapons and was created by Robert John Miley.  The sidewalk beneath the sculpture has various peace-based quotes from famous people.  My favorite is by Mother Teresa — “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”



Bob and I officially began our downtown Phoenix house sit on Thursday morning after a transition meeting and dinner with the homeowners on Wednesday night.  We are house sitting for newlyweds (married just last month!) who are in Wisconsin (grand old badger state!) for a family reunion.  The have a sweet 2-year old Great Dane mix rescue dog named Riker.  He likes his raw egg in the morning (served with his other food but he’s most excited about the egg), people, and walks/toys, etc.  He is a charmer.

Although the temperature has remained around 110, and likely will for awhile, we have done a bit of exploring of the downtown area and went to an afternoon Diamondbacks game on Thursday.  Bob was even able to meet up briefly with a college baseball buddy.