SW USA 2024: The Canadian Coddiwomplers*

 *Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."

Tucson – Part Three

 

One day we decided to ride the Julian Wash Greenway (a part of The Loop) in the direction away from downtown.  It was a beautiful day and a great ride.  Especially going back because we realized that the way out had been a gradual incline with a head wind.  Here are a few pictures from that ride – there is art all along The Loop.

We made it back to the Campground in time for an ice cream social.  Two scoops with toppings! We didn't have lunch.

We've seen these trees all along The Loop, they remind me of lilacs.

This one is outside the KOA Office.

A Prickly Pear

Our Self-Guided Mural Tour

 

I keep telling you that we are enjoying The Loop!  Sorry but we are doing a lot of biking here in Tucson.  We have been confident enough navigating the trails that we decided to tour the downtown murals on our own with the map from the Visitor Centre.  The city has produced three versions of maps for The Loop.  There is the straightforward biking routes plus one for Downtown Art and another for Art on The Loop.  I think I’ve mentioned there is a lot of public art in this city.

 

Our first stop was at the Felix Lucero Park: Garden of Gethsemane.   There are white statues depicting the last supper, the birth of Christ and the Crucifixion.  They are made from concrete, sand and debris recovered from the Santa Cruz River.  The garden was created to house the sculptures created by Felix Lucero.

The artist was a native American from Colorado.  During WWI he was critically wounded and vowed if he lived he would devote his life to creating statutes of Jesus.  During the depression he drifted but in 1938, he settled in Tucson, homeless and living in a cardboard shack beneath the Congress Street Bridge.  The original works were created with sand and plaster but later replaced with concrete.  Lucero built a shelter on the banks of the Santa Cruz River out of debris found after the monsoon rains.  He created the sculptures next to his hovel at the foot of the bridge.  The interior support for the table in the depiction of the last supper was a bed springs dragged up from the river.  His life-long work began to attract attention and it became a place for people to meditate and pray.

 

After his death, the Knights of Columbus and the City of Tucson preserved the site and turned it into a park.  We were not able to enter the park because it is temporarily closed for maintenance but Jerry scrambled over a rough terrain and managed to get some pictures.

Near-by the garden is the Mesquite Garden Archway.  Jerry is modelling his new "The Loop" bike shirt with the hummingbird theme - there are several themes to choose from. 

 

We realized we were very close to the Mercado San Agustín, so we parked our trikes and went into the market for a cold drink and a treat from the bakery.  The place was full of bikers and the line-up for the Seis Restaurant was down the sidewalk.  We also bought some really good palmiers, one of my favourite cookies.  We were very close to the market constructed out of old shipping containers and we took the opportunity to check it out.  Most of the shops were closed on a Monday but we still managed to spend some dollars.

After our break we consulted the map again and followed the route to see other murals, sculptures and bridges.

 

This is Sentinel Plaza built in 2004 at a place of historical significance.  

The four monolith structures face Sentinel Peak.  They were built to honour the peoples living here before European contact. The massive columns are made from pure rammed earth - combining an ancient material with modern composition and process. 

The small column is clad with multiple coloured glazed tiles.

This was near the Mission Garden.

La Chaiteria on W Congress

I liked the Lion.

Dia de los Muertos Frida and Diego Mural

An interesting entryway near the mural of Frida and Diego.

On the Luis G. Gutierrez Bridge, we saw Lorraine conducting another bike tour but I think it was the mural tour because we didn’t cross this bridge on our history tour.  This bridge is very interesting and contains 12 solar art icons.  There are descriptions of important events in history carved into the sidewalk.  Each one has a specific day and time associated with the event.  We gathered that if you are on that spot on the specific day at the specific time and the sun is shining, an appropriate image will be projected onto the sidewalk.  For example, on February 19 at 8:45 a.m. a propeller blade will be projected onto the image of a 1910 airplane embossed into the sidewalk.  None of the events were during our time here in Tucson! Apparently, they appear every year.  

Luis G. Gutierrez Bridge

The history and creation of this bridge makes interesting reading.

Tucson Water Building Mural ... it's huge.

A closer look at the Water Building Dragon

We've shown you this one before.

The Path Unpaved on Alameda Street.

This was in a large parking lot.

Linda Ronstadt ... same parking lot.

On a 5th Avenue Hotel

Desert Soul on Congress Street

A storefront on Congress Street

La Pilita Mural on Main Street

Running of the Piñata's - in a narrow alley close to 6th Avenue

This is a new mural on the Rialto Theatre.  

Apparently, murals are replaced or restored on a regular basis.  The previous mural here was Bill Walton Riding a Jackalope.  Which is what we expected to see.  I guess the Downtown Art Map is not updated quite as regularly.

This little cactus isn't on the tour but we thought it looked like it was dancing.

This mural honours Chicano activist, Cesar Chavez. I believe it is one that gets restored.  The figures represent other human rights activists from history ... Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and to his right is the Aztec goddess Tonan.

The building of the railroad.

The city is trying to preserve old signs like this one from the 50s.  We see them all over - it reminds me of some items we've seen on Route 66.

Saw this Cowboy Sculpture when we got lost - no idea where it is.

We got tired and lost (of course) and spent some time circling around the downtown area so we choose to leave the rest of the stops for another day or maybe another year, who knows.

Love from,

Jerry, Elizabeth, Misty, FJ (Flat Jesus), the Guys, Miss Adventure Too and Clifford the Big Red Truck.