Scottsdale

Scottsdale is where the rich and famous, and also the outdoorsy types, go in Arizona. This is our third trip to Phoenix and we had never been there. So Thursday we decided to remedy that. We are staying in the eastern part of the Valley of the Sun and Scottsdale is to the north. It was an easy drive.

We parked in Old Town Scottsdale, a part of the city that keeps alive the western history of this area. The city's official seal depicts a mounted cowboy and numerous bronze statues on street corners keep that image alive. At least most of them do. With the exception of the last statue in the slide show.



Here we are welcomed to the city.



Many old westerns were filmed in the Southwest. Here John Wayne is honored.



I couldn't pass up a visit with this old fellow.



I think this woman was waiting to take my place on that bench.



According to a plaque on the side of this building, it was constructed in 1929 as the first permanent post office in Scottsdale. In the 1950s the post office moved and Porter's Western Store took over the space.



We didn't shop in the western store or many other establishments. We used to spend lots of time shopping--which for us usually meant looking, not buying. But since we began seriously "de-stuffing," we find we usually don't even want to look. We did enjoy Gabriel Ortega's store, filled with really fine Indian jewelry and art. One tiny basket cost $600. We looked a t-shirts, of course, and bought a few post cards for our grandchildren. That was all. But the sights on the streets of Old Town were worth the trip.

In the area called the Scottsdale Mall, we saw this attractive window.



We wanted to learn more about this Old Adobe Mission, but it was closed for restoration.



As we were leaving Old Town, we saw this beautiful building, the Camel View Condominiums. If I was going to live in Scottsdale, wouldn't this be a good place? There are units for sale.



We couldn't pass up the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park (of course) before leaving town. Isn't this a neat old engine?



The park is mainly oriented to children, with a small diesel train that runs around the area, an old dining car set up for birthday parties, and a carousel. But the most interesting exhibit was this 40 and 8 box car, the Arizona car on the 1949 Merci Train. You can learn more by clicking on that link, but basically, after our country helped free France during the war, then provided 700 box cars of relief supplies for its starving citizens, the people of that country decided to say thanks. They filled 49 train cars with gifts--one for each state. A 40 and 8 was a box car designed to carry 40 men or 8 horses.