If you think all we do is hike, well, have we ever got a day to stun you. We began with a jaunt over to - the Mesa Hazardous Materials collection day. Pretty jazzy, huh? What a great way to start the day.
Next we headed off to the Tempe Art Festival. The day started cool and cloudy and we thought this might hamper the attendance for the artists. We parked in a parking lot about 4 blocks away and as we were walking over to the Festival, we passed one of our favorite Phoenix area hikes: the ‘A’ hill. Out in the Midwest where we come from we have a lack of mountains and hills. However, every town has a water tower and on this water tower is emblazoned the name of the town, sometimes a little saying or slogan and sometimes they are artistic expressions of a town’s aura.
We go with what we’ve got. Now, out in the mountainous southwest, every town has the first letter of its name emblazoned on the nearest hill. Why build a water tower when you’ve got these neat mountains all around? Willcox, AZ has a large ‘W’, Benson, AZ has a large ‘B’. Quartzsite, AZ has a large ‘Q’.
Well, in Tempe, the home of Arizona State University, there is a 60’ tall ‘A’ emblazoned on what is formally named Hayden Butte or Tempe Butte. me, I just call it the ‘A’ Hill. You’ve probably seen it and not known what it was: it is a scenic backdrop for all football games played in the Sun Devil Stadium and has also appeared in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl as well as Super Bowl XXX. To Gary and me, it’s a thigh-burner of a climb but pretty short with places to pull off and rest ,or ‘enjoy the view’ as I call it. But, what a view from the top. Usually we plan our hike up there up there about 5:30 when the sun is going down to get splendid pictures of the sunset over Phoenix.
But, not today. As we were passing it heading for the Festival, Gary looked over and thought it might be a good way to warm us up before we walked through the art. Oh, yeah, right. Well, he steered me towards the hill and up we went. It was still a thigh-burner, it still had lots of locals getting their daily workout and it still had great views.
Because the highest point of Tempe Butte stands at 1,496 feet (456 m) in elevation and its base is at approximately 1,150 feet (350 m) we only climb up 300’. We met a young woman whose pocket dog was pulling her up the hill. I asked her if she had read one of my favorite books: ‘Following Atticus’ and she said yes and then asked if I had read ‘The Cat Who Saved My Life.’ No, I hadn’t but I’ll look into it. Love these book exchanges on hikes.
Hike over and, yes, we were considerably warmer, we headed on to the Fair and what a Festival it was. They had expanded it form last year and had added another block with art on both sides of the street. They had food vendors, circus acts (not only does that woman breathe fire but she also lays down on that bed of nails to her left - then invites someone from the audience to stand on her stomach - ye - ouch),
musical performers (this is tony Duncan on his flute - we bought one of his cd’s),
And, here’s Elijah Boessenbroek, we bought a cd from him last year and he signs them all.
craft vendors, and art, art, art. Of course, I couldn’t take pictures of any of it since each artist is protective of their craft and ideas. But, take it from me, it was a marvelous art fest. Others must have thought so too, since people were walking around with their new ‘treasures’ clasped tightly to them. It was a happy crowd, all enjoying the weather and the marvelous expressions of the human spirit.
Afterwards we walked around Tempe Lake to - would you guess - a nearby In-N-Out Burger. You can tell by this picture that a big PacTen game was just starting in the stadium across the river. I’ve never seen this many empty tables in an In-N-Out.
There, see, we don’t always hike.
7.36 958’
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