Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Many years ago, we experienced our first Mexican food while we were in New Mexico. After eating barrels of refried beans, burritos, and guacamole in the days since, we still love it. When we were planning our vacation this year, we decided we would have Mexican food everyday while we were in the West. The problem wasn't finding a Mexican restaurant, it was deciding which one to go to.  It's all good. The picture above was from  Mariscos Altamar in Albuquerque.  Highly recommended; they had good food, live music, and freebies because we were staying at the Hampton. The one above was from Arriba Mexican Grill in Glendale, Arizona. The food was good and plentiful.  We went during the lunch special and this was $4.99. Here, we were eating at El Encanto, a unique place in Cave Creek, Arizona.  They had a pond with huge fish and turtles swimming just outside the windows from our table.  The entree above was a grilled chicken breast with spin...

The saguaro cactus defines the Sonoran Desert, the only place it grows. These are in Cave Creek, Arizona, a western tourist town located a little northeast of Phoenix. Saguaro cactus can grow up to 60' tall, and have up to 25 arms.  They produce white blossoms in April, then red fruit in June.  The birds love them. Can you see the round hole in the cactus near the top? That is a bird's nest.  Sometimes, there will be several in a mature cactus. When I first saw them, I thought that the red was the blossom, but one of the locals informed me that the blossom was white and  long gone by June.  The red petals are part of the fruit that the cactus produces and the birds love. The local fellow also told me that getting water from a cactus was a bunch of baloney made popular by movie westerns.  The inside, I was told, is similar to a pine tree.  After a cactus dies and the soft flesh decomposes, the woody ...