Mesa, AZ - Hole in the Rock

One of our favorite festivals is the Native American Art Festival at the Pueblo Grande in December. We’ve been every time we’ve been down here. Beautiful art work from jewelry to statues, to rugs, to paintings and pottery and clothing - you name it, they had it here. And, then there was the entertainment. We were always mesmerized by Derrick Suwaima Davis who is a champion hoop dancer and his every move showed why.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to count his hoops they are moving so fast - how did he ever emerge from this bunch of hoops? The last time we went I succumbed and bought a small Navajo rug. Pretty cool and a great addition to our RV decor.

Today, we didn’t find as many artists as usual - probably since Tempe, Mesa, Fountain Hills and Scottsdale all have had art festivals recently. And these are just the ones I know about. Plus, it was cool and not so sunny. Too bad. The artists wait all year for this and the weather turns bad. But still there were lots of artists and we enjoyed walking among all this beautiful art.
They always have entertainment and this time they had a violinist. Very avant garde.

Afterwards - well, we’ve got to walk somewhere. Why not Papago Park about 4 miles to the east? There is the famous Hole in the Rock which we’ve never seen. Cool hike and, since it was a Saturday, there were oodles of others scrambling all over the rock but everyone was great about getting in line for a family picture in the hole.

Great views over the city of Phoenix.

Here’s Gary looking for the nearest ice cream shop.

After we scrambled, we began our walk around the park. Nice desert park with red rocks, nice trails fit for families and picnic areas scattered around. We did see this sign and wondered where the bees were. None were swarming around us and we couldn’t hear any at all.

Then we looked up into the rocks above us and saw this.

Now I have never seen a bee hive quite like this. I thought they looked like this. Ha, ha. No, I didn’t think this was how they looked but I haven’t seen those pancake shaped things.

And, now that we have, we’re scurrying away from this area and heading back to the car.
Fun day filled with varied activities.