3:10 to Yuma!

Wildflowers at Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site

It was quite a busy ordeal getting the Love Your Parks Tour out on the road, but we made it and we are officially on tour! Yay! From putting a few of their prized treasures in storage to giving their furniture, books and plants to friends and donation centers, Nancy and Lisa put in a lot of work closing up the Big Blend home base in Tucson. Packing the car was a reminder of how simple life on the road has to be. Along with carrying me and my entourage, camera and computer gear, plus a few on-the-road kitchen essentials, they're each only traveling with a suitcase and small carry bag.

The trip to Yuma, Arizona was a spectacular showcase of desert wildflowers! Orange mallow, purple lupine, pink verbena, big white poppies, yellow desert marigolds, dandelions and brittlebush - it was just incredible! The music was jammin' with all of our classic favorites, which is one of the best parts of being on the road. I say turn up the tunes and sing out loud!

A Toast to the start of the Love Your Parks Tour! 

We stopped at one of our favorite spots, the Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site just outside Gila Bend. The crossroads for the Juan Bautista de Anza Expedition as well as Mormon Battalion and Butterfield Overland Mail Route, it was a fitting location for a celebratory champagne toast. Plus, it’s always neat to visit the giant clump of volcanic rocks and look at the ancient petroglyphs.

We made it to Yuma before sundown and got all settled in our tour headquarters the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel, which has been in operation for over 80 years. Not only is it the first motel in the state, it's home to the Yuma Historical Society Museum of Aviation Tourism, and the Yuma Landing Bar & Grill which is located on the site where the very first airplane landed in Arizona! I love how the bougainvillea is in bloom all over the property, and I’m having a lot of fun swinging in the palm trees where the birds hang out.

Bougainvillea in Bloom at the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel

Over the weekend we rested up and recharged our batteries. We got to spend some quality time with our dear friends John and Yvonne Peach (owners of the hotel), and catch up on all the exciting new things happening in Yuma. In fact, Yvonne joined us on our Big Blend Radio Champagne Sundays show to give everyone and overview of what there is to see and do in Yuma, like floating down the Colorado River, visiting the historic Territorial Prison, and bird watching in the East and West Wetlands. You can hear the radio podcast below, which also includes Steve Schneickert’s Yuma Hollywood History segment.  

Yummy Cookies from Holly!

Big thank you smiles to John and Yvonne for having us back home here at the Coronado Motor Hotel, and to Holly T. Hansen (Big Blend family history expert) for sending us the yummy cookies, and to Dorothy for taking care of our plants and sending us off with a bottle of bubbly! What a sweet way to start the tour!

From the Palm Trees,
Miss P.

A Fond Farewell to Tucson

Beautiful Tucson! We're only 48 hours away from saying goodbye to the vibrant Old Pueblo that's been our home for the past 3 years, and 6 years before the start of phase one of the Love your Parks Tour. Goodbyes aren't forever though, we'll be back to visit our friends, favorite parks and places, and to discover even more about this historic city.

It's been a hectic last few days getting things ready, but we did manage to squeeze in a few walks and visits to a few of our favorite places: Saguaro National Park, Christopher Columbus Park, Sweetwater Wetlands, Maeveen Behan Desert Sanctuary, and DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.

From poppies and lupine to jewelflowers and penstemon, all kinds of spring wildflowers are starting to bloom at the Maeveen Behan Desert Sanctuary and in Saguaro National Park. It's the perfect time to get out on park trails and enjoy the spring weather, all the flower power, birds and butterflies. It's a really beautiful time to experience Tucson!

Speaking of birds, we had to go say goodbye to the ducks and waterbirds at Sweetwater Wetlands and Christopher Columbus Park, and boy did they put on a show for us! We saw a roadrunner hunting in the wetlands, ducks having territorial wars, and anhingas, cormorants and herons out fishing. I love anhingas - I first saw them in the Everglades. Did you know that they are known as "snakebird" for the way they dive underwater after fish, and also as "water turkeys" for the way they fan out their tail feathers.

Photographer Susan Priscilla Thew

"If you are weary with the battle, either of business or the greater game of life, and would like to find your way back to sound nerves and a new interest in life, I know of no better place than the wild loveliness of some chosen spot in the High Sierra in which, when you have lost your physical self, you have found your mental and spiritual reawakening." – Susan Priscilla Thew

When we were in Sequoia National Park, I learned about another Priscilla who loves parks just as much as I do. She was a photographer and a conservationist, who wanted to preserve and protect the park....and increase its size. Now this was back in the 1920s, and off she went on horseback, covering hundreds of miles and photographing the magnificent wilderness of the Southern Sierra region.

She compiled a massive photographic record of the region and produced a publication "The Proposed Roosevelt-Sequoia National Park," for distribution to members of Congress promoting the park expansion idea. Her efforts not only helped triple the size of Sequoia National Park, her work inspired Ansel Adams to create a collection of photographs to support the campaign to create Kings Canyon National Park (expanding what was then General Grant National Park) in 1940.

Now that's what I call Priscilla Power!

You can hear the story on SoundCloud with Park Ranger Dana Dierkes, or see the whole feature in this past issue of Big Blend Radio & TV Magazine. 

Happy International Women's Day,
Miss P.

ALL PARKS MATTER

In exactly two weeks from today we'll be saying Goodbye to Tucson, and Hello Yuma, Arizona! The countdown is getting real!

Today we launched a brand new "All Parks Matter" T-shirt to celebrate that the Love Your Parks Tour is focusing on ALL PARKS & PUBLIC LANDS including National Parks, Historic Parks & Sites, State Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, National and State Forests, County and Municipal Parks, Preserves, Memorial Parks, Battlefields, Seashores, BLM Land, and more.

This t-shirt not only helps keep the tour wheels rolling forward, but 50% of the profits also benefit the National Parks Arts Foundation (NPAF). We love NPAF because they have unique national park artist-in-residence programs for all types of artists, from filmmakers and photographers, to painters, musicians, poets and performing artists. Chosen artists get to spend one full month creating in the park, and we're talking places like Hawaii Volcanoes, Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys, Gettysburg, Chaco in New Mexico, Death Valley....amazing!

Our "All Parks Matter" T-shirt is on sale until March 21st  and is available in a variety of styles, colors and sizes. Get it here on Bonfire.com. I give it the Priscilla Style Stamp of Approval, and I approve its message!

Your support is appreciated!

Fashionably Yours,
Miss P.

The Day We Met John Muir

Get the cake out, today is Kings Canyon National Park's Birthday! We did a lot of exploring in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks in the Fall of 2013, and one day was extra special....along with seeing the the Nation's Christmas Tree and hiking the Zumwalt Meadow Trail, we met "John Muir!"

 

Mr. Muir, the "Father of the National Parks" was taking a stroll with a bunch of park visitors, sharing fascinating facts about the Giant Sequoia Trees, and all kinds of plants and critters, and even some neat looking bugs. But then, he gathered us all around in a circle, and asked us to hold hands. Uh oh....was I going to have to sing? Thankfully not....us sock monkeys have some screechy tones!

What he did do, was share the story of The Web Of Life...how we are all connected and in some way depend on each other to survive. Just as we could all find something in common with each other in our little circle, so does the plant and animal world. Bugs need dead leaves, hawks need the chipmunks, bears need the grubs, bees and hummingbirds need the flowers, even ants help plant roots....Wow! Every living thing has a purpose!

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."

At the end of our nature lesson with Mr Muir, he gave me a big hug and told me that I was a special little monkey, and that he was proud of me for being an advocate for National Parks. Thank you Mr Muir!

It's amazing who you can meet in a park!
Miss P.

PS....Did you know that Kings Canyon is one of our oldest National Parks? It was originally established on Oct. 1, 1890 as General Grant National Park, to ensure the permanent preservation of wilderness character 25 years prior to the passing of the Wilderness Act.

PPS....Did you know that John Muir loved Kings Canyon so much he once called it "a rival to Yosemite!"

Priscilla's Got Style!

Hi Everyone! 

As the Love Your Parks Tour mascot, I am absolutely delighted to take on the role of sharing all the tour news and updates with you. I think after traveling with Nancy and Lisa since 2012, I'm pretty qualified in a lot of things, especially posing for the camera. In fact, it's my good taste and stylish poise that got me this cool gig in the first place. 

It all started back in the late summer of 2011 when musicians Michael and Spider saw me under the big bright lights in a big box store. I was beyond bored with just sitting on the shelf and was trying my best to catch their attention, which thankfully I did. Not only did they see me and rescue me from the retail jungle, they took me to a fun little dinner party at the Big Blend headquarters, where I met Nancy and Lisa. 

The girls may be chatty, especially on their radio show, but when it comes to having their photos taken....well, good luck! That evening, during a conversation about their traveling radio show, it was decided that my place in the Big Blend family was in front of the camera! How exciting!

In January 2012, we set off on a cross-country road trip from Tucson to Miami, where we were to host a radio show at a tropical plant expo. We snuck out for a visit to the Everglades, and wow, I saw my first alligator! I saw tons of them! It was here where the Love Your Parks Tour started, but under the name Spirit of America Tour as a nod to the upcoming centennial of the National Park Service, and for our National Parks being known as 'America's Best Idea.'

We've been to over 100 parks since we first set foot in the www.LoveYourParksTour.com site launched, we've managed to document 60 of the parks we've visited on an interactive map -- keep watching as more get added!

Until next time, enjoy the little video spotlight above on how I jumped off the shelf and into a great adventure! Oh....and please subscribe to get my updates.

Stylishly yours,
Miss P.