arid-zone-a

Hola Amigos/Amigas

We’re back in the big apple after a week in the big desert (rather than dessert, though perhaps would be more in keeping with the ‘food’ theme). We had what can only be described as a hell trip – it took ALL day, and involved a walk, 2 buses, a subway, and airtrain (2 hrs to the airport), 2 planes and, finally, a hire car. I just about died (figuratively, not literally) on the flight from JFK to Phoenix (flight #1) when just after we pushed back from the gate they announced that ‘there’s a problem starting engine 1, we’re going to have to go back to the gate to get the technicians to check it out’. I was sure my number was finally up, and when we eventually took off some 1 ½ hours later, I was even more nervous than usual – poor D. tears were had, but all was good. Most other passengers just seemed happy to be able to turn their cell phones on for a bit.

So, Arizona, or Arid – zone – a as I came to think of it. The thrill of walking (aka driving our rather large vehicle) out of the airport into hot sunshine was closely matched by our first sighting of a saguaro cactus… and another. And another… We drove through Tucson (a flat city of massive highways, surrounded by (some) mountains, and up the interstate (I-10) to our first destination – Ironwood Forest National Monument.

A slow meander on an unsealed road as the cacti ‘forest’ got denser and denser, made slower as I made d stop at ever other turn for an even better cactus/mountain shot… Completely isolated, we were passed by only 2 other vehicles, one of which was US Border Patrol (we were to see many more).

The desert itself was a mix of the giant saguaro and spiky spiny ocotillo, in flower with bursts of red at the end of each ‘stem’, with the odd prickly pear and (teddy-bear) cholla thrown into the mix for good measure. Here’s one of many:

I had planned this 30 mile loop back to the I-10, and about 25 miles in, as the sun was about to set, this was foiled by the road turning into a huge pool a water. A local sitting there in a ute said ‘no, 4WD only…’ so back we went, luckily escaping just before the hoards of marauding penetrating Mexicans descending… Seriously, the rhetoric around the border is intense, and what one should do it one encounters illegal border crossers begging for water (nothing; notify the authorities). There are 100s and 100s of deaths on this desert border each year, partly a result of US border policies which closed down the borders in the cities, meaning the permeable bits are wild (hot, snake infested) desert – which equals more deaths…

Anyway, stayed that night in a motorway services cheap motel 6, collapsing after a delicious Mexican meal, and waking to classic views of cowboys in pickup trucks, and a ghastly diner breakfast…

the reality of food in the US was soon brought into stark relief as we drove past massive cattle foodlots, brown, dusty, and over-burdened with cattle, on the way to Gila Bend. here's a close-up of a small section:

Truly a terrifying thing, we felt well-informed about them having just watched the doco King Corn.

Gila Bend had some ancient wildlife:

We had our first desert hike in the Sonora Desert National Monument (fab) and saw some 'painted rock' petroglyphs - 1000s of years old, and now 'protected' (you're requested to 'stay on the paths'):

Around Gila Bend, a region that used to be fertile until the river was stopped, irrigated fields were almost painfully green against the desert brown:

We then drove south to a town called Ajo, where we stayed on route to our next destination, Organ Pipe National Monument. We passed through a border patrol checkpoint, but they didn’t stop us as we were heading towards Mexico… it’s all about direction! Ajo was very cute – formerly much more populated that it now is, full of cute churches and great signage:

The main industry of the town seems now to be selling ‘Mexico Insurance’ (except they were all shut!), and water, a necessity in the desert climate (they recommend carrying a gallon of water per person for a day’s hiking!):

It is home to a now closed copper mine, the New Cornelia mine, which was the apparently the second biggest open-cast mine in the world. And according to Wikipedia, produced over 6 billion pounds of copper! Blimey! You seem to drive beside the tailings for at least 10 minutes as you leave town, staggering. There’s no way to photograph it which captures the scale (you can see a panorama shot though).

Organ Pipe was our key destination. here's an 'organ pipe cactus (the busy one in the middle of the pic):
The park runs along the Mexican border, and unfortunately most of it is currently closed for “security concerns”. Damn! We did three hikes, up valleys and up into the mountains for two. The first was damn spectacular, a hike up a canyon, with views of a 90 foot rock arch high to the right, then a cairned scramble up to just above and behind the arch. Spectacular views across miles and miles of desert, into Mexico and beyond.

The absolute highpoint was seeing a hummingbird!! Both of us associated hummingbirds with jungles, but no, they’re common in Arizona (we saw quite a few more). Here’s a pic of a different one:

We also saw millions of lizards, birds of a various stripes, including the massive and impressive turkey vultures, and my personal faves, the rock squirrels(!).

AND luckily no snakes. Very very happy about that! D was rather disappointed. You learn to live with such disappointments. But hiking among cacti is not without risk:

Much of the desert was in bloom, being 'spring', so it was pretty special...

After a full day of hiking we set off back to Tucson as the sun turned the desert into a glowing thing of beauty:

We passed through the spectacularly named towns of Gunsight and, best of all, Why

We got stopped by Border Patrol. We’d be warned out the seriousness of them, so that when I was asked where we’d been, I completely panicked and forgot the name… duh! Luckily we were the right colour, and after checking our passports, we were wished a good night and off we drove. The road passes for probably close to 100 miles through the Tohono O’odham Nation (‘reservation’). Starving at about 9pm we stopped at a roadside place in the one town on the road, hoping for some ‘local’ food options, only to be greeted with burgers and chilli-cheese-fries (which won on the night)! While waiting we ‘gringos’ (seems appropriate, given it once was Mexico) entertained the little kids by our mere presence. Another ghastly cheap motel on the edge of Tucson, then a visit to the really quite fab Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, a bit more like a zoo/museum, where we got to enjoy all the animals trough the safety of glass… those snakes are damned small; in my imagination, they were far bigger… glad I’d seen them at that late point in the trip. The high point for both of us was the hummingbird enclosure; I could have stayed for hours. Heaps were nesting. The low-point: Oh so many loud Americans and their even louder offspring…

Our farewell to desert hiking was a switchback ridge climb in the West Tucson mountain part of the Saguaro National Park.

The next day we got up early and drove the spectacular road (designated a national scenic byway) up to Mt Lemmon, a road which ascends from about 1000 ft above sea level (Tucson) to close to 10,000ft over 27 miles.

Part of the Coronado National Forest, we got high enough to encounter big green and brown things (aka trees, conifer etc!), and even SNOW! A ski-field in winter, we hiked up to the top, for stunning views of the mountains and drop back down to the Tucson plains.

Both sides of the mountain had been decimated by fire earlier this decade, and regrowth was really slow. The burned out trees were, however, stunning

Running late for getting our hire car back, we thought we’d jump on the chairlift back down the mountain… but NO! you had to buy a ticket at the bottom. And when we asked whether we could buy it down there, well no, because you have to sign a waiver that you won’t sue if you managed to hurt yourself! Honestly! So we raced back down the mountain, and it was worth it for some very cute Abert’s squirrels with these super tufty ears. (I geekily bought a National Audibon Society Field Guide to the Southwestern States, so we know all the names of what we saw now. Fab!)

Sun, heat, and even more heat was a treat to break the slow start to spring. Conference was great for me, but it was good to be heading back to NYC too… The desert was amazing, but I could not live in that environment: too harsh, too prickly, and far far too dry (not to mention deathly hot in summer).

We caught a ghastly ‘red-eye’ flight back to NYC from Phoenix (9.30pm dep, 4.30am arrival, less than 4 hours in the air!) and come to a city where spring had arrived. Glorious day, trees bursting into blossom, it was wonderful (if still rather cold!). Now it’s colder (about 7°C today), and wet… gotta love that water though! The return was rounded off perfectly by a lovely neighbourhood wander in bright sunshine (we passed little Matilda Ledger/Williams[?] - her presence indicated by the 6 paparazzi busy photographing her mundane childish climbing of a fence!), some fabulous 4pm Sunday soccer and post-soccer pub action; and then a gig by Steve Abel who’s visiting NYC, and was playing at this totally cool little venue, Jalopy, about ½ an hour’s walk from us; definitely a venue to return to…

Now it’s back to work – and trying to figure out how this country doesn’t do a public holiday around Easter/Passover at all. Possibly going to a Passover Seder this weekend, which should be an experience. Enjoy your long Easter weekends, in those countries that do!

Adios

spring... and a lack of adventures...

Well, 'in like a lion out like lamb' started out accurately for March, with the snowstorm of the season, but so far the lamb bit has been pretty slow coming! but now a few of the spring flowers have pushed on up. here's a couple of pics from central park, taken not for their artistic quality, but to illustrate the season:


The buds on the trees are starting to appear:


It is refreshing to know there's life under all the brown and grey - and soon it will be glorious, I'm sure. we've even had a couple of warm days, but there are still plenty of sub-zero ones to counter-balance it. Central park is starting to pack out, and on the weekends if you're not in early, Prospect park is a bustling highway of runners, walkers and cyclists all doing the exercise thing...

I played soccer again this week - first time since the cracked rib - in this new game, at 7.30 in the morning! fab, great way to start the day. it's an 'intermediate' level with some of the same people from the weekend game, but much faster. no pain or re-damage to the rib, so all is good. hurrah.

We decided we' re not going to do the Brooklyn half marathon - it feels a shame, but we realised how much time we were going to have to put into training, and felt that it wasn't worth it, when there's so much else good here to do... so we'll do one in NZ sometime instead.

No great adventures to report, but we ate the famous magnolia cupcakes with Simon:


And good they were, too, though I'm not enough of a connoisseur to tell the difference between many bakeries in terms of quality. The red velvet cupcake concept (on the left) is pretty delicious, as I think I've mentioned before; that day, however, we opted for the hummingbird (on the right), which was more like a cake, and oh so yum. Oh and we went and ate a huge pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie Deli (v classic, and v expensive!), or rather D and Simon shared one (and I stole bits), and I had a matzoh ball soup. absolutely delicious. but in all my imaginings of this classic Jewish dish, which I had never had before, and had to try in NYC, I had never thought the 'balls' would be as enormous as they were... We also took Simon to Doughnut Plant and the creme brulee doughnut got the big thumbs up!

A rather low key week recovering from Simon's visit... but we saw a sweet film - Sunshine Cleaning, directed by 'our' very own Christine Jeffs... thoroughly enjoyable, and made even more special for us by the fact that the main character (Amy Adams) drove (wait... you better believe it) a tercel, and one exactly the same colour as our old blue-grey one... actually, there's a tercel in the neighbourhood here, but it's gold (how tasteless!), and pretty beat up. Still, it's still a rare car to sight.

Oh, and of course I have to mention that I got proposed to - yesterday - by a homeless man in Greenwich Village. I am walking to the subway to go to work after collecting my camera, and this guy is coming in the other direction, and as he approaches says something along the lines of 'why cain't [pronounces like that] I marry you girl?' at which point I neither point out that a) I haven't said he can't or b) give him a sociopolitical critique of the institution of marriage... I just keep walking, but he makes me smile (he keeps walking, too, and talking away about this marriage), and that is worth something (I wasn't smiling after my $250 camera bill...)

We're off to Arizona tomorrow to try and have some fun - I've got a conference at the end of the week, so we're holidaying for a few days beforehand. Avoiding the 8 types of poisonous snakes (ugh!!), scorpions, spiders and cougars in the Sonora Desert is my main aim! Some days of hiking and holidaying are just what the doctor ordered. and the temperatures. It will still be cold at night, but mid-high 20s and low 30s in the day. Hooray. My adventures this week have been costly preparations for the trip - buying some new hiking books, and getting my camera fixed - US$250! bloody hell, take me back to the film age please, my old SLRs never played up like this digital one. grrr. But the silver lining, if there is one, is that the NZ$ has rallied some against the US$, so it ain't all as bad as it would have been 2 weeks ago. long may it last!

For those of you in the southern hemisphere, enjoy the last summerly days of summer, as we start to feel that we can even dream of it here!

ciao.

when does a squirrel become a rat?

squirrel? rat?

newport RI

I'm back in Brooklyn after another sojourn, this time to Newport, Rhode Island, for a conference... Rhode Island is one of the smallest states, and it was great to be on an island! We drove into Newport over a fab bridge - America does do bridges well, it has to be said (view from my hotel room)!


Newport was the home of the America's Cup, and so the Marriott (situated on America's Cup Ave), where the conference was, was quite nautical in its theme. the rooms had delightful rope-on-water carpet...


That's enough to give any girl nightmares... I managed to escape the conference at various points and explore the place. Newport was founded in 1639 - 201 years before the signing of the treaty of waitangi! - and has the oldest synagogue in the US - dating from 1659. One of the attractions of the is the 'cliff walk' - 3 1/2 miles along the coastline of the next bay. Quite scenic but the warning sign certainly overstates the risk... even for someone like me who has in the past proved quite skilled at falling off or down things...


It was gloriously sunny and bitterly cold - back into the minuses... not that you'd know from the picture.


I have to say, I am a fan of the sunny winter! and it was wonderful to be back by the sea... I've been feeling quite ocean/sea deprived here, even though I see water pretty much every day, it doesn't feel like the ocean is right by. There, you couldn't miss it.

The other thing about Newport which you really start to appreciate on the cliff walk is that it was the summer playground of the uber-wealthy in the 'gilded age' of America. So all who wanted to see and be seen built incredibly OTT mansions along the 'cliff top', so the Astors, the Vanderbilts, everyone who had, and wanted to display, incredible wealth:


No detail was spared. I liked the pelican gate markers from one:


Architecturally they seemed to hark back far more to Britain/Europe than the US, in contrast to the rest of the town which seemed very 'US'. But what was nice about it for me - gave me a pang of homesickness - was all the weatherboard houses... different designs, but the basic concept was familiar. Someone else at the conference from Auckland remarked that it reminded her of Devonport, and it did have a sense of that.

I enjoyed two particular features: an open-air petrol 'station' at the intersection of 5 roads:


and what I think has to be safest ATM in America - perhaps the world? In the very same building as the police! you'd just be asking for it, trying to mug someone at that machine...


Speaking of mugging... I think I walked past someone being mugged the other day... I was completely absorbed in thought, not paying attention, and as I walked past these three guys, on a quiet street, at dusk, i half noticed that one had his arms up, and the others were talking at him, and standing very close. Of course I had passed by the the time I processed it, and didn't want to look back (alone on the street), but it was freaky.

No such actions in Rhode Island, it has to be said... in contrast to this city, where people assiduously avoid all eye contact, and no-one says 'hello' when out walking or running, there everyone said 'hello', even in the most unlikely of circumstances. very friendly.

It was sleepy and quiet, for the most part. I can imagine it's heavingly busy in summer, and probably quite awful. We were there the weekend before St Patrick's day, and there was a huge parade on the saturday, and that was bad enough. It's quite a tradition, apparently. At least they didn't dye the harbour green (as they do with rivers in other cities). The morning after the harbour was grey/blue, and perfectly still (with very small patches frozen) - quite stunning without boats at the moorings:


One of my favourite moments on that morning walk was seeing a seagull try to wrestle a starfish... I don't know how the great battle between the gull and the echinoderm ended. While the starfish was adept at escape, the gull was persistent in recapturing it. Clearly, the answer to one of life's great questions will have to remain a mystery.


Back to NYC - yay! Only here for a bit before the next trip, to Arizona (another conference). Arizona is going to be hot and sunny and I'm taking togs! But here spring is almost upon us, which is very exciting! I have seen the odd daffodil out already, and there are sprinklings of crocuses throughout central park. I can't wait! I'm officially over winter, even if it is sunny. Humans were surely not meant to live in such conditions for extended periods.That said the excitement of spring was tempered somewhat this week. Simon came to visit for a few days from London, and on the first morning he was here is snowed all morning. so much for the end of winter.

We've filled the days of his visit with much exploring and eating... it's been exciting having him here, not least because his enthusiasm for the city has made me realise how quickly it had become 'familiar' and 'normal', and that the initial rush of crazed excitement (the city crush, if you will) had been tempered by time. So it's nice to have it back, by proxy, and re-find it...

On that note, gotta head out to meet S & D at MOMA, before heading up to the top of Manhattan to visit Inwood Park, which has original manhattan forest apparently, and then down to the bottom to catch the Staten island ferry for sunset. gotta love this town!

But gin, in case you thought i was neglecting such things, never fear... this one's for you! a black one, in central park... They're extra delightful at the moment, and moving extra fast with 'spring fever'!

over and out...

Lincoln and more

In NYC, so the saying goes, March comes 'in like a lion' and goes 'out like a lamb'... Sunday (March 1) was forecast to have horrendous snow - the biggest storm and snowfall to hit NYC this winter... We woke early to a light fall of snow, and so I dragged poor d halfway across NYC to the upper west side, to first and foremost, sample a bagel from H&H bagels - who are, apparently, in fierce competition with Ess-a-Bagel for the crown of 'best bagel in NYC'. Well, to be honest, we didn't rate them at all, either in texture, or flavour... and the cost. holy hell, $1.40 for a bagel with nothing! not even a schmear of cream-cheese, or even a slab of butter (and no, that's not a typo, do they lay it on thick, or what!?). I have to say my day-old half-price terrace bagels from the Park Slope Food Coop (29c each) are a much better deal - and nicer. Won't be going back there!

After a brief foray into the wonderful Zabar's Deli (mmm, free samples) we walked across to central park, in the light snow, and had a wonderful almost full circuit of the park. most of the squirrels were safely tucked away out of the snow, sadly... but the kids were out in full regalia playing ice-hockey, which we watched for a bit.

i was thinking perhaps to get some of their padded gear for soccer playing, it'd be just the thing to stop me hurting myself. on that note, i'll digress to moan about my cracked rib. bloody sore! but the good news is that I have managed to avoid sneezing for an entire week! not a one. several close calls but.

Anyway, the walk also took us past the Jackie O Reservoir, full of billions of gallons of water that supplies NYC - just looking at it makes you thirsty...

Mmmm, rubbish. But it does give spectacular views of manhattan, and a walk around it is definitely recommended for anyone visiting this fine town.

After a great walk it was back to Brooklyn to a cafe that seemed to get highly rated on the 'Brunch' front - the Brooklyn Beast. Now, this was ours first foray into 'brunch' in NY, and to be honest, they do it weirdly here... for a start, lots of places seem to have a set price menu for brunch - and then a range of menu options, which for the most part don't seem spectacularly interesting. But I thought to try this place out, as it had been reviewed well and was popular (we had to wait for a table. but to be honest, while it was nice enough, it was far from spectacular, and (weird in the US) actually quite small in size - Auckland does a lot better, and a lot more informatively. As you can see, i'm a true 'scientist' and basing such a generalisation on a sample of 1. brunch won't be a frequently recurring event...

Then we walked to DUMBO, the area of Brooklyn under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge overpasses (hence the name - they love such 'names' in this town: NoHo [North of Houston], SoHo [South of Houston], TriBeCa [Triangle below Canal], BoCoCa [Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens - in Brooklyn]), and went to the great Brooklyn Flea Market - indoors at this time of year. Lots of delicious free food samples. I read a story this week of a woman who lived for a week of free samples. genius. it would take time and concerted effort, though. and you'd possibly lack a balanced diet.

Anyway, the impending storm to be hadn't arrived, but they sure were hyping it, with constant reference to the weather, and warnings of flights cancelled and delayed, not to mention emails to me from locals saying 'it'll be a miracle if you get to Nebraska tomorrow'. by the time we went to bed, it had started lightly snowing... and I awoke to: a world transformed! Masses of snow, everywhere... the biggest snowstorm of the season. A 'lion' for sure! here is our 'stoop':
my morning flight to Lincoln, Nebraska (via Minneapolis/St Paul) was still scheduled to leave (miraculously), but I got in time for a quick wander up to Prospect Park before schlepping the luggage through the piles of snow to the airport. it was beautiful!

I love the serenity of snow... it masks the world. except for the incessant engine revving of cars that are stuck trying to get out of it... but in the park, none of that. few dogs, but boy were they happy dogs. there could perhaps have been far more than we saw, but is the micro 'dogs' would have been buried in snow drifts...

So, heading out to JFK not knowing if I'm going or staying, but the weather managed to delay both the subway and the air-train: the air-train because the doors at one station seemed to be iced-open, and had to be forced shut before we could leave. with icicles like this, on the outside of the train, you get the picture...

The flight did indeed leave: here's my plane at the gate:

Now, being somewhat of a 'nervous' flier, these conditions didn't exactly arm me with a new-found confidence - quite the opposite. but I had a new experience: plane de-icing... we rolled back from the gate, and they sprayed the entire plane with this slimy pink gunk, and then I think a green gunk. it really was like something from Aliens... but hey, it worked, and eventually I got to Lincoln, Nebraska.

here's the man himself:

A very strange place. My first foray into the mid-west, which I think it is... it's kinda central though, so maybe it's just mid... anyway, it's prairie land. it has a fab deco capital building (it's the state capital):

And some really great modernist and other architecture. I really liked this building (foreground):

But other than that, it's a strange place. It felt like the recession/depression was hitting home there a bit:

But I still couldn't work out what was strange about it. Then it struck me... two things that made it odd - to an outsider.

1. it is a town of banks. I have never seen so many banks! you could barely walk a short block within the centre of town without passing 1, 2, or even 3 banks. I think 1 intersection had 3 banks on it. My favourite bank name: the bankers bank of the west... creativity exemplified. But they don't only just have banks, they also have drive through banks...

gotta love the US and their love of their cars... 'park, and walk, to a bank? Are you kidding me!?'

2. I realised that there are no shops! well no apparent shops. Walking through the city centre, it's just banks... (perhaps they are the ultimate saving town - they save, instead of spending). But then I noticed all these big buildings are connected by 'sky' walkways so perhaps the shops are all inside, and you just don't see them. perhaps they're even drive-in shops! Anyway, it makes for a very odd feel to a town, when the key thing you associate with a town (shops and commerce) are just not there.

But the trip was good, and it was even better to be home - did I mention I'm loving NYC? :-) Walking in to work the next morning, central park was still stunning in the glorious sunshine and still-snowy frozen splendour:

In the interim, I've managed to eat bagels from another 'highly rated' place - Bagel Hole, just close to us... These were much nicer than H&H in my opinion - small and dense, not at all super-sized. and they gave the jaw a serious workout... Bagels seem to be taken very seriously here, and I'm just trying to do my bit and fit in with the rest of NYC... obsessed :-)

So that's an update... and just in case you were feeling somewhat deprived on squirrel action, here's one that got away... evil genius.