Spring Break outings

It is Spring Break time in Arizona but it has felt more like summer with temperatures in the mid-90's and breaking old records.  I still ventured out for a couple of adventures with my sister, Lynette visiting from Kansas and a couple of my granddaughters.

After breakfast at Crackers we were off to Heritage Square in downtown Phoenix.

We went through the Arizona Doll and Toy Museum located in a brick home built in the early 1900's.  There are several original homes as well as some that were moved to this site which is called the Heritage block.  It is the only historical block preserved like this in Phoenix.  It used to be on the outskirts of town.

The first home built on the block was the Rosson House built in the late 1800's by a doctor for his wife and five young children.

When the city took it over almost 100 years later it had become essentially a flop house.  Originally constructed for $7500 it took $750,000 and six years to restore it to its former glory.

We went a tour of the home and it is beautiful inside and out.

It is filled with antiques from the time period including wallpaper reprinted from a sample of the original and restored woodwork.

We toured two floors of the house, the main and the second.  The attic was off limits as per the fire department.  This was really sad because I would have loved going into that turret to see what I could see.

Each room opened out onto a porch or balcony.

This is the back porch leading into the kitchen.

See, blooming roses in March located next to the back porch.  It's summer.

The bump out you see is the pantry.  It was full of beautiful wooden shelves and cabinets.

The woman in the white apron was our guide.  She is standing by the service entrance which led to the doctor's at-home office as well as the kitchen and a door to dirt cellar.

These windows in the bump out housed a small solarium.

The views are of bustling downtown Phoenix,  the Arizona Science Center, ASU's downtown campus, and the Diamondbacks Stadium.

We loved the shady wrap around porch.

This is the front entrance.  All of the screen doors were beautiful and complemented the wooden doors.

The best feature and one that every desert Arizona home should have were these "window doors," one for each room which lead out to a porch or balcony.  The window slides up from the floor, is latched, and then one can exit through the screen which is in fact a door.  This also creates great cross ventilation throughout the entire house.

I'm so happy that Phoenix took the initiative of saving this home.

This was the view from across the street.

The next day we were home in Mesa where a "Create" festival was taking place at the Mesa Arts Center.

All the water features provided a great way to cool off.

Julianna joined us for this "grandma date."

I love the special bond that joins these sisters.

The delightful architecture that is the art center provides lots of eye candy.

The lower level was filled with this floral art installation.

Colorful florals and

their shadows.

So cheerful!

Local knitters added to the cheeriness.

The space was filled with color and music.

Cozy palm trees wearing sweaters on a 95 degree day :)

Including a lone one wearing crochet.

Colorful people roamed the crowd.  They moved very slowly and as Julianna stated, "They don't even talk!"

Green silence.

Blue silence.

Red silence.

And Mr. Yellow and his streamer.

A very entertaining streamer.

I wanted a picture of Julianna with some of that color, but she preferred inanimate objects over animate objects that didn't talk.