Ole' at Tucson Desert Art Museum

We received a flyer in the mail while we were away, about the exhibition, "Vaquero and Charro: An Enduring Legacy, photographs by Cody Edison and artifacts from the Arizona Historical Society," at the Tucson Desert Art Museum, including art, music, and dance.  We went this evening!  The setting for the event was at the Tucson Desert Art Museum on Tanque Verde Road, a beautiful space with a permanent collection that includes pre-1940's Navaho weavings, weavings of the dance: early Yei textiles, art of the early masters of the Southwest - Maynard Dixon, Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, and contemporary Southwest artists such as Ed Mell.  The permanent collection was amazing and quite colorful.  The Vaquero and Charro exhibition was well done and we chatted with the photographer Cody Edison about his work.  We especially enjoyed the mariachi band that performed.  We had a wonderful evening!

Walking View

I try to walk every day.  Actually, it is a rare day that I don’t put on my walking shoes and walk at least 45 minutes.  Walking in our Tucson neighborhood is particularly beautiful, with the Santa Catalina Mountains providing a big craggy wall of nature to the north and saguaros all along the way.  I took this photo while walking yesterday.

Birds on a Wire

I’ve been busy this week, getting ready for a party on Saturday for our BGC kids, along with dealing with jet lag, mounds of mail, etc.  I went to the grocery this morning, and the electric lines nearby were playing host to lots of birds.  They were noisy and happy!  Birds on a wire, open flowers, laughing children, seem to say, “stop, smile, be thankful for the little things.”

Back to Tucson

We left our hotel in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, at 5:30.  We spent four hours traveling to the airport and then waiting for our flight to London.  Cape Town to London was a 12 hour flight.  We went to the Admirals Club for 7.5 hours before our flight from London to Phoenix.  The flight was delayed by five hours, then went as planned, with 9 hours in the air.  We rented a car and drove 2 hours, home to Tucson.  All in, we spent about 40 hours to get home!

We can’t remember any other trip where we’ve learned as much and seen as many new places as our cruise from Dubai to Cape Town.  On the ship, we traveled to nine countries at a distance of 7305 nautical miles.  We had a great trip!  And we’re back home in Tucson!  On to our next adventure!

Last Day in Cape Town

We woke up to a cool and very windy morning.  Cape Town was bustling with a big rugby tournament being played at Cape Town Stadium, and thousands of people making their way to the games, wearing tutus, clown costumes, colorful t-shirts, and carrying flags, to cheer on their teams.  We went to Oranjezicht City Farm Market, across the street from the stadium.  The market was busy selling gourmet goodies, fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, and handcrafted items.  Everyone was happy and enjoying the morning under a sprawling tent with a big ocean view.

We walked through the Victor & Alfred Waterfront to get a refund for our Robben Island tour we had planned.  The wind was too strong and all Robben Island tours were cancelled for today.  We are so impressed by the V&A Waterfront.  Everything is tasteful, with no corners cut that we could see.  They saved what they could of the old buildings and equipment, and have built world class hotels and shops.  There’s a lot of new construction still going on.  Beautiful!

We decided to take a taxi to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.  It was a good choice, as the wind wasn’t blowing there!  Kirstenbosch was founded in 1913, 1300 acres on the north east side of Table Mountain, to preserve the country’s unique flora.  Today, it is considered one of the top botanical gardens in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It has everything from mountain hikes to a tree canopy walkway to playground to summer sunset concerts to themed gardens, and is a beautiful place for a picnic.  There were lots of families enjoying the grounds.  We enjoyed every moment of our 2.5 hours at Kirstenbosch!

Aquila Game Reserve

We rode 2.5 hours from Cape Town to the Aquila Game Reserve.  We arrived by 10:30 AM and got in 4x4 safari trucks.  We saw an elephant playing with a baby rhinoceros, several hippopotamuses keeping cool in the lake, wildebeest, giraffes, zebra, lions, and more.  The Game Reserve reminded us of southern Arizona, with less vegetation.  The mountains and plants were similar.  We had a late lunch at the Game Reserve, then headed back to Cape Town.  We saw the big five!  Another good day!

Cape Winelands

By 8:30 this morning, we were headed toward the Cape Winelands.  We visited the small town of Franschhoek and its Huguenot Museum, to commemorate the Huguenots that immigrated to the area in the late 1600’s.  They were farmers and grew fruits and vegetables for the seaman stopping in Cape Town.  By the 1690’s, they were also growing wine grapes.  The valleys and mountainsides are covered in vineyards.

We had lunch at the second oldest vineyard in South Africa, founded by a Huguenot family in 1685, the Boschendal Estate.  We did a wine tasting of five different wines, had a tour of their wine production, and then had a decadent picnic lunch under the trees.  Each couple got a large wooden box of food for lunch, including chicken salad, two baguettes, cole slaw, salami selections, pate, Brie, condiments, freshly made marshmallows, and a chocolate pudding cake, served with our choice of wine or sparkling water.  Two hours later, we were all stuffed and quite happy.  We drove through the small town of Stellenbosch, known for its university and its vineyards, on our return to Cape Town.  We had a wonderful day in the Cape Winelands!