Tucson with Bernie and Elinor

Home again!  David and I lived for four years in Tucson, from 1972 to 1976.  Dave was a social worker in the Air Force, and he replaced Bernie Engelhard.  Bernie and Elinor were our first friends in Tucson, and they have been dear friends ever since.  Bernie and Elinor had two baby daughters in the 1970s, Sandy and Donna, and we had two baby daughters, Lisa and Camille.  Our daughters are now grown up with adult children of their own, but the Engelhards and we have stayed close.

Bernie and Elinor live in a lovely home on an acre of land on the east edge of Tucson.  Their pool and backyard was featured in Sunset Magazine several years ago.  Jonny and Michael still remember swinging from the rope over the pool when we last visited Bernie and Elinor in the 1990s.

Bernie and Elinor gave us a typed agenda, when we arrived on Thursday, February 22, 2018.  It was filled with four days of delights--gourmet meals at home and at local restaurants and slide shows of trips and family.  We especially enjoyed the video of the Engelhards taking their grandson, Nicholas, to Israel, where he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at the Wall in Jerusalem.  We also went on hikes, visits to Sabino Canyon and the Desert Museum, and the Tucson Rodeo.  Most special was joining Bernie and Elinor at their synagogue and then attending a brunch at which Bernie and Eleanor told about the trip they took to Germany and Poland last year, searching for their ancestors.

On Thursday afternoon, we took a tram ride through beautiful Sabino Canyon.  When Lisa and Camille were little, we took them on picnics there, so long ago.

 Elinor walks 30 minutes every day, so she was always searching, while we visited, for new trails.

 Elinor and I hiked to the waterfall in the Sabino Canyon state park.  It had just rained, and so there were pools everywhere.  "You could not have chosen a better time to visit Sabino Canyon," Bernie and Elinor told us.

On Friday morning, Dave and I woke early, for the 7 a.m. session at the new Tucson LDS temple.  Bernie called Dave, last fall, to say that he and Elinor were going to tour the temple, and wouldn't we like to join them?  Bernie attends and teaches Jewish genealogy classes at an LDS stake house each month.

 We appreciated the beauty of the desert even more on this trip than when we lived in Tucson.

 On Friday afternoon, after lunch at a popular Mexican restaurant, we visited the Desert Museum.

The Museum has stunning views of the Tucson valley, as well as a memorable collection of desert animals and plants.

The Museum defines Baja California as part of the Southwest desert ecosystem, and so has stocked a pool with friendly sting rays.  We reached in and let their silky skins rub against us.

 Big horn sheep ruled the rocks and spiders hid among the crevasses.

 We searched for javelinas and coyotes, the wild animals that lurk around Tucson homes.  It was a sunny day and the havelinas were cuddled up together, asleep.

On Saturday morning, we attended the prayer services at Bernie and Elinor's synagogue.  It is a Conservative congregation (rather than Orthodox or Reform).  The 2 1/2 hour morning service was mostly in Hebrew, with English transliterations and translations in the prayer book.  The Rabbi/Cantor and laypeople led the psalms and other readings, and I sang along with other members of the congregation.  After the service, there was a wonderful lunch of lox, breads, salads, and cookies, which is a weekly incentive to attend services!

 David wore a cap to the synagogue, as did the other men.

On Saturday afternoon, we attended "La Fiesta De Los Vanqueros," the excellent Tucson rodeo.  It drew cowboys from all over the country, including a bronc rider from Panguitch, Utah!

No photography is quite so fun as a rodeo.  I captured horses with some or all feet in the air, and a bullrider flipping head over heels off of his bull!

 One cannot forget the rodeo clowns.

 The solid row of cowboy hats showed the devotion of rodeo guests to "western culture."

 Tucson definitely has the flavor of the Southwest, including this churros stand and a tortilla factory next to the parking lot.

 Note the license plate on this truck!

 On Saturday night, we dined at Vivace, one of Tucson's finest restaurants, located high in the foothills.  The food was luscious, including my seafood stew.

 On Sunday morning, I helped Elinor prepare for the fifteen guests who came for brunch.  The food was wonderful--bagels and lox, tuna and vegetable salads, fresh fruit, Elinor's homemade banana bread, and brownies.  One friend brought quiche and another brought her much-praised apple cake (and I got the recipe!).

 After brunch, the guests listened to Bernie and Elinor tell about searching for their relatives in Germany and Poland.  Some were caught in Europe during WWII, and not all survived.

 After the presentation, a few of Bernie's and Elinor's friends shared their ancestors' stories, as well.  It was an experience I will always remember.

 Dave and I went hiking with Elinor, on Sunday afternoon, along the Rilitto River to the Jewish Community Center.  We admired the many classes offered at the JCC (such as Syrian cooking), the huge gym, and the displays of art.

We were touched by the memorial to those who had died in the Holocaust.  We then spent one more evening eating barbecue and watching slides, and then crept out Monday morning at 5:30 a.m. to catch our plane home.  We are already looking forward to meeting Bernie and Elinor at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in July.  They may stop by, in the meantime, on a trip to Idaho, and we would love to repay their graciousness!  We will have to prepare our own agenda of Salt Lake City's best sights....