Life is a Kaleidoscope, Part II

The saga of our two week vacation continues, as Amtrak's Sunset Limited left on time from Los Angeles and carried us uneventfully to Mariposa, Arizona over night.  We were on such a high as we waited for our train.  When you are older, perhaps it's easier to comprehend how special it is to have that elated feeling.  Children have excitement all the time, but childhood feelings of wonder seemed to be what I felt about the new things we had seen and shared with an old friend and a new friend.  We were off on such a good start, what might lie ahead?  (Read Kaleidoscope, Part I for the beginning of the saga.)

Arriving in Mariposa early in the morning meant that we had missed views of the desert vistas, but now we were in the midst of the new landscape, as we took a taxi to Sheraton's Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in the middle of an Indian Reservation.  Seeing the dryness was actually scary, especially the dry riverbeds.  Someone on the train had called them arroyos, and I was reminded I was in very new territory, even the language was new.  But these arid surroundings were a different kind of beautiful, and we were in awe as we passed by many of the large saguaro cactus (pronounced sah war oh).  We even saw some tumbleweeds.  I was almost ready to get out on a horse and RIDE with the wind blowing through my hair.

Instead we enjoyed the luxury of being pampered, although there was a stable nearby if we chose to ride.  Although we had to wait to get into a room, we were surrounded by total serenity, something the hotel was obviously seeking in its artful design of the place.  I am most happy to say some over-achievers had been very busy getting this place together and they accomplished the feat.  Large open areas, high ceilings and a huge, authentic copy of a sacred waterfall in the lobby, set a most peaceful scene.  One of the staff explained these details had to be approved by the Indian Council and that down to the bedding in the rooms, chair coverings and carpet, all the patterns and themes were authentic to the Indian tribes' symbols from their environment or used in daily life, like basket weaving and pottery designs.

This is copied directly from the Resort's website, to give proper credit to the right Indian Council. "The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa was designed to be an authentic representation of the Gila River Indian Community's heritage and culture.  The architecture, design, art and legends of the Pima (Akimel O'otham) and Maricopa (Pee Posh) tribes are celebrated in every detail at our Chandler hotel, indoors and out."  Their website is: http://www.wildhorsepassresort.com

The lobby of this gorgeous, 500 room hotel was two stories high.  Driving up through a long drive of cactus and desert landscape led to the entry lobby which was actually on the second floor. This top level had wings leading off to rooms, a large seating area and fireplace, and the glass wall beyond the balcony was two stories high.  Through the glass one could view gently rolling grounds with few trees, the green areas of  the golf course and off to the left, stables.  A bar and the base of the large waterfall,  with more seating and tables was down below on the firsts level and also overlooked the outside areas.  Hallways to restaurants and wings to the hotel rooms on the first floor led off these open areas. Outside, the patio with tables and chairs and a fire pit overlooked two large pools and 2 hot tubs,  and plantings of various cacti and succulents.  What is not to like?  The staff were attentive and anxious to hand out bottles of water which we took gladly.  Newbies to the dryness, we drank as if we had been seeing mirages after hiking in to the oasis here.

After sitting on the patio for a bit and watching some hummingbirds, we decided to try out the pool while we waited for our room.  Taylor, who smilingly wheeled out our luggage to access swimsuits and bird books, was glad to be of service.  Of course, I am sorry to admit it, but I don't use the best tactics in packing, and so we had to haul out all the bags to search for the SUNSCREEN.  I still am thankful for Taylor's good service, though I did suggest he might have called out to the pool ahead of us and warned them that we were heading their way.  He shared a very good-natured laugh with us on that one.

We had only been there a couple of hours, and I was counting new birds and thumbing through my bird books to get them identified.  We had told the staff we were on the hunt for roadrunners, but assumed they would not be around the pool. The staff assured us they saw them often on the drives around the property.  Instead we saw gila woodpeckers eating at the tops of the saguaro cactus, great tailed grackles coming up on the chairs to beg for food and making many noisy calls, and also yellow-headed blackbirds.  These last are beauties, but we had seen them before so I could not actually add them as new sightings.

The pool, of course, had a bar and cafe and we had a very nice lunch of salad and sandwiches, and enjoyed the pampering we were giving ourselves.  By that time we finished, they had called us, and we were able to head up to the room and take a respite from the sun and heat.

We didn't want to spend much time in the room, perhaps a roadrunner was awaiting us outside.  The hotel offered free shuttle service via a small bus, and also small boats via the canals that had been built on the property.  We decided to take advantage of  the rides and look for the speedy birds.  The bus had screens on the windows to keep the hot sun off, and while we enjoyed learning tidbits from the drivers,we found the boats which were merely covered on top were much easier to use for sight seeing.  We saw lovely cactus and the surrounding areas,  and more hummingbirds and woodpeckers,  but no roadrunners.

For dinner that evening we took the shuttle on the canal and went to a neighboring business called Rawhide.  It was a small replica of a Western town, with little shops catering to tourists, a couple of places for snacks and ice cream and the family style restaurant "Rawhide".  We enjoyed a hearty meal of fried chicken, and a pasta with salad, and were entertained by live music from a guitar player singing oldies but goodies.  It was pleasant, but time to call it a night so we returned on the bus shuttle.  Tomorrow was going to be another relaxing day.  We had no set plans except for dinner.

We breakfasted at the golf course, had a wonderful Fry Bread with Mexican style eggs and toppings,  and were grateful for wonderful weather to eat on the patio.  We were bird watching and also watched the golfers and their carts already out in the coolness of the morning.  Our server was a wonderful fellow and since we were the only ones out to eat that early, he took the time to chat with us and tell us more about the area.  It's a wonderful thing to have TIME to listen and exchange conversation with others.  As we all know, everyone is so busy on their workdays and schedules, it isn't always easy to just share some easy conversation.  The two days at the resort were just so pleasant because we could enjoy many exchanges with those around us.

Then it was time to go to the pool.  We didn't want to be out at mid-day when the sun was getting so hot.  The grackles, blackbirds and hummingbirds were all out again, as we read through some magazines. We shared a salad before we went back to the room .  We had had a large breakfast, and had some exciting dinner plans, so a light lunch would hold us.  We took one last boat ride but no roadrunners, and returned to rest up and get dressed before dinner.

Our plans for dinner at the resort's Ko' Sin Restaurant were special because we were dining with my friend from high school, his wife and granddaughter.  This trip started out with the goal of seeing new places, but combining it with meeting old friends turned out to be brilliant planning, if I do say so myself.  Although we had known each other since kindergarten, Philip and I hadn't seen each other for about 25 years or so.  We had both made it back to the same class reunion but now we had yet another chance to catch up with each other's lives.  We enjoyed a fine dinner, our spouses joining in and making a most interesting and lively evening.  Their granddaughter, I hope, had a fine evening, too, though I am sure she was glad to leave and do her own thing at home.  The evening ended on a high note, and not too late.

Philip, Kerri, Akasha and I enjoyed our little get together.

 

 

 

 

In the morning we packed our bags, and ate a final bit of food on the patio while enjoying the last of our bird friends.  We gave up on the roadrunner and said our "Goodbyes" to the friendly staff.  These two days had been planned to be perfectly relaxing because the coming adventures over the second week of our vacation would build to the finale at the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, Arizona.  Our adventure for the next couple of days would  again give starring roles to friends from the past in another new place, Phoenix.  This will be available to read in Kaleidoscope, Part III.