Monastery and Quilting

Benson, Arizona High 81 Low 52

Today was a little warmer but windier day. Rain is predicted for tomorrow.

 

Yesterday on the way back from Tombstone we stopped at the Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David. We walked around a bit and looked at the grounds. It is a pretty place. The inside is not as ornate as some churches we have been in. From their website, it is only 40 years old, construction having started in 1974.

Today Cindy finally finished the Alaska quilt. The pattern called it Quilting on the Kenai. I think it turned out very nice. It may not be large enough for a king size bed and we may have to add some more boarder.

 

We went to the Escapee Park here in Benson to quilt with the quilting group at their park. All the ladies were exceptionally nice to both of us, and invited us to come as often as we wanted. One of the ladies recognized us from the Escapee Park in Sutherlin, Oregon. She said she recognized us, but couldn’t remember where. She thought about it for a while and asked if were had stayed at the Oregon Park. I told her we had, and that’s when she remembered where she had seen us. We were there just before they left for Arizona. She and her husband have lots at both Parks, and spend about 6 months at each.

I told her I should wear a badge that I had seen once that said: I can’t remember you name either. I have a hard time putting a name to a face. (We were both wearing our Escapee name tags.)

We plan on spending some more time at their Park next week.

Thanks for visiting.

Tombstone

Benson, Arizona High 73 Low 43

It was a little windy today, but still very nice.

 

Today we went to Tombstone and our first stop was the Boot Hill Cemetery. There were a lot of interesting head stones. It looked like a lot of them were dated 1881 and 1882. One little plot had the graves of the men that died at the OK  Corral. . There was also a marker by the 3 that said they were murdered in the streets of Tombstone.

I liked the ones of Lester Moore and George Johnson. There was also a section that looked to be mostly Chinese.

 

We went into town and walked around the old section and looked at the old historic buildings.

We saw an old stage coach that gave tours of town.

There was a lot of what I guess were town people dressed in 1880’s type clothing. We learned that there were 8 different gunfights put on around town. One claimed to be the only historically accurate depiction of a gun fight. Another said theirs was kind of a comedy.

We went to the Birdcage Theater, which claims to be the only remaining original building in town. There are many bullet holes inside, which have been left. There was a picture of a shadowy figure, and the sign said it was the most haunted building in Tombstone.

After we saw everything we wanted to in Tombstone, we drove out to the ghost town of Gleeson. Since we had been at other ghost towns that interested us, Gleeson totally under whelmed us. There are a few old parts of adobe houses, a cemetery, and an old 1910 city jail. It wasn’t worth the drive.

On the way back we stopped at the old Monastery, but I will talk about it tomorrow since I have so many photos today.

Thanks for visiting.

The Hall of Flame

Benson, Arizona High 73 Low 43

Today we drove from Mesa to Benson. With stops it took us 3 and a half hour. It is going to be a lot cooler tonight.

 Yesterday we went to the Hall of Flame. There were lots of old and newer fire engines. The oldest was built in 1725. A lot of the fire engines were hand drawn, and as they got larger they had to be drawn by horses, and by trucks in the early part of  the 20th century.

A lot of them were pumps ran by hand with a crew of firemen, like this 1725 model. They would line up on each side and pull the long bars up and down.

There were a group of school children from France going through and their guide told them the first fire wagons were buckets handed from person to person, until the closest one dumped the bucket of water on  the fire.

One of the pumps on display looked more like Cinderella’s chariot then anything to do with fires, and the description said it was more for show than functional. A lot of the old horse drawn pumps were very ornate. A lot of them had gold leaf paint on them.  

Another view of the Chariot.

This is a Japanese pump that was used by a wealthy rice dealer on his plantation from 1800 till 1870. It actually put out at least one fire.

We also saw a sleigh fire apparatus from Northern Michigan. It was used to haul hoses, ladders and other firefighting equipment. Attempts were made to convert steam pumps to sleighs, but proved to be too top heavy, and were hard to pull, stop, and turn.

They also had displays of different fire helmets from all over the world.

We found out that the museum was started in 1955 by Mrs. Getz buying a 1924 fire engine as a Christmas present for Mr. Getz. This started his interest in the various fire engines. The collection is now run by his grand-son.

 We even got to see a horse drawn fire chief's buggy.

 Some of these fire Engines are very ornate!

The paint is gold leaf.

This one just hauled hoses.

Old steam pump.

 

This model shows how the big ladder was hauled.

  One of the Engines was painted white for Norfolk, Nebraska.There were also several other towns that painted their's white. Most couldn't    afford the pricey fire engines.














 We didn't know the Liberty bell was originally a fire warning bell.

There is a section honoring firemen who have fallen in the line of duty.  There are also boards with various English Fire Department Shields.

There is a board that tells about the 19 that died last year in the Yarnell fire.

It was an interesting display and I would recommend it.

Thanks for visiting.