Phoenix, Tubac and Nogales

We spent the morning in the bustling modern city of Phoenix, visiting the Heard Museum. This private museum shows artifacts from the collection of the Heard family, who explored the world and purchased an incredible number of indigenous crafts and relics from all over the world. It's housed in their lovely 1920s home. Here's the courtyard with its fountain.

And here are just some of the artifacts we saw.  Hats from Mexico, Canada, Africa, and the Arctic...

Then there was the collection of cradleboards from probably a dozen different tribal groups.  Here are just two:

The highlight for me was an exhibit depicting the harshness and horrors of the Indian Schools.  This is something we're very aware of in Canada, yet I've never seen anything like this exhibit, complete with written and spoken memories as well as haunting photographs.  There was one photograph of a graveyard with a heartbreaking number of stones, each carved with a name and the tribal affiliation.  Appache, Sioix, Cree, Blatcha, Alaskan, plus others.  All of these children from various parts of the country died at one particular school.

And there was this self-explanatory presentation:

It really moved me to read the words of this one-proud fellow and to the the changes in his appearance.

This afternoon we sped past Tucson and down Highway 19 that leads to Nogales and the border.  We stopped for lunch at Tubac, a very upscale spot about 15 miles north of the border, where there are lots of new built houses for retirees.  It's a charming spot to visit with art galleries and good restaurants.

A big thrill for me in Tubac was finally seeing a roadrunner.  Cute little fellow, isn't he?

Then it was on to Nogales and the border.  You can see the mountains of Mexico in the distance here.  Actually this is a little side road by Tubac.  The highway is a big four-lane freeway but this is more picturesque.

Tonight we're in a Motel 6 again getting ready for the border crossing.  We have our pesos, our passports, our Mexican insurance, and our car registration papers ready.  From experience we know that there's a fair bit of red tape to get through so we'll leave early in the morning and hope to beat the crowds.