Last Thursday's Road Trip

To complete our visitor's tour, we took them on the Florence to Kelvin Highway (more dirt than pavement) to view the open pit cooper mine, to Superior and then back to CV...after visiting St. Anthony's Greek Monastery and lunch at Mount Athos, the Greek restaurant. Thursday was a FULL day topped with dinner at Old Chicago.

I thought the Florence to Kelvin road would be interesting for several reasons. This was the first one.

the boulders appear in a small desert area

they are HUGE boulders

unusual geologic feature

This was the second reason for the back road, short cut.

crested saguaro along the road

these mutant cacti are rare

Then it was onto the Ray Mine, an open pit copper mine. We have not been there for a couple of years and were very disappointed to find the viewing area was not open. In fact what was the viewing area is now a mountain of trailings. We were able to stop along the highway and get a glimpse of the mine. It wasn't very active at 4:00 on a Thursday afternoon, but then we saw only a very small area of the mine. A local shared the mine had recently laid off over 100 miners over a dispute. He did not share what the dispute was. There is more than 10 miles of mine trailings along the highway from Kelvin, north towards Superior.

These photos are from our visit to the mine in March 2010.

a nice comparison in size: school bus and ore trucks

history of the Mexican owned mine

comparison of a pick-up and ore hauling truck

This IS what we saw last Thursday when we stopped.

this was the viewing area back in 2010

now a mountain of trailings

We continued north to Superior, driving through main street. Once again I was totally surprised when I saw the MacPherson's Hotel Magma.

serious renovation

lovely new windows

Surprised because this is what the hotel looked like in February 2014 when I spent a day in Superior visiting historic homes & buildings.

open roof

no windows

a new mine is opening in a couple of years

maybe that is the reason for the hotel reno????

building to the east

it also has a roof and new windows AND

is connected to the hotel

this is part of the connecting hallway between the two buildings

it is now enclosed with windows

evidence of progress

restoration instead of demolition

February 2014

We drove east of Superior to view the old highway and some of the prettiest mountains in this area.

interesting hoodoos

I do not know the name of the mountain range 

We also saw some awesome spring wildflowers on Wednesday & Thursday, but I did not stop to take any photos. 

We enjoyed your visit and hope you will come back next year Bill & Donna! There is more to see.

St. Anthony's Greek Monastery

Our final road trip with Bill and Donna last week was back to Florence and St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. This was my third visit to this little oasis in the Sonoran desert. For 'history & info' see my post from March 2013. I also noted many of my photos are of the same things. Like I said in an earlier post, if I liked it the first time, it catches my eye again and again. It was 138 photos in March 2013. It was about 75 photos on this trip.

started in 1995

St. Elijah Chapel in the background

St. Elijah Chapel is off limits to visitors

built on a hill outside the monastery visitor's area

another view of St. Elijah Chapel

monastery's main gate

the 3 women in black made certain we were appropriately dressed

I don't know if they are sisters or volunteers

there is no mention of them or their title in either publication

they speak English with a thick Greek accent

long sleeves, long skirts, head scarves

my heels were showing and I was supposed to wear socks

but she didn't give them to me, so I didn't

(my skirt, my long sleeves, their scarf)

(Donna's long sleeves, but their skirt & scarf)

3 caged birds greeted us

the guys in long sleeves & long pants

a pot of pansies in the courtyard

cross on the entrance wall

notice the 3 arm cross engraved in the cross

see the March 2013 post for the meaning of the

3 armed Greek Orthodox cross

St. Anthony's Church

as seen from the courtyard

one of my favorite views 

daily services are conducted in this traditional 

Byzantine style, domed basilica church

icon of the Virgin Mary painted specially for this church

all other icons came from Greece

taking a picture of taking a picture

St. Nicholas' Chapel

St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, patron saint of sailors

through a window, through an archway, to the chapel

the ornate fixtures came from Greece

the grapefruit trees were laden with fruit

oranges were picked, lemons were picked

fountain near The Chapel of St. George

brickwork of The Chapel of St. George

detailed wood 

ceiling in The Chapel of St. George

the dome of The Chapel of St. George

more interesting brickwork 

all the icons and furnishings were brought from Greece

outside brick design on The Chapel of St. George

architecture is typical of Romania

The Chapel of St. George

olive groves are near this chapel

table covering from St. Demetrios' Chapel

bees swarming around a wood shingled dome

St. Seraphim's Fountain

blooming hedgehog-type cactus

a view of St. Elijah Chapel

outside the grounds

we are not to take photos of the monks,

but this one had a cell phone and was in the courtyard

one of the 45 monks and novices

Besides prayer and spiritual readings, the monks and novices' tasks include grounds keeping, tending to the various gardens, orchards, and the vineyard, construction, woodworking, publishing, food preparation and offering hospitality.

There were more orthodox visitors on the grounds than I have every noticed before. I know they were of the Greek Orthodox faith because of their dress, all black on the men and black and white on the women including black socks and shoes.  There were also young children, dressed in black, among the visitors.

We stopped at the Greek restaurant in Florence for lunch. I assured Bill they had American food. We continued our road trip after lunch.