Little Big City Thrills.

All I did Saturday night was wait for my cell to buzz, or my email to pop up with a message saying that I was needed at work. Let us just say I managed to get a lot of cross stitching done that night. In the morning, at the breakfast the hotel provides daily, I met one of the project managers and he mentioned that they might need me this morning or later today. I just needed to check my email and see if someone had reached out to me that way. So I took a four hour nap (waking up at the two hour mark to check my email) and came to the conclusion that I could probably find a better way to spend my time than sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

Warning: Lots of pictures in this post. Lots lots lots.

I quickly searched for interesting lunch venues, and came up with Pane Bianco. The owner works here during the afternoons, then closes up shop and heads to Pizzeria Bianco for dinner service. I had read a review on SeriousEats and figured if it was good enough for the internet, it was good enough for me. And I did not want to have any sort of fast food while I was still on the third shift diet, which equates to thinking you are incredibly hungry when in fact your stomach only wants you to eat a teeny tiny bit of something. But more on that later. I ordered the Sopressata - the internet tells me this is some sort of salami, and this restaurant paired it with caramelized onions and provolone on house-made focaccia bread. I wish I had taken a picture inside the restaurant; the building is split in half, with one side seating and one side an open kitchen. I could see the bread baking in their wood fire oven and it was just fascinating.

This sandwich was simple yet absolutely delicious. 

Earlier in the morning I had checked the local news to see if there were any festivals taking place on this gorgeous Sunday. There happened to be one such event I wanted to see - the Pueblo Grande Indian Market, said to be host to about fifty vendors with Native American goods. I took a few fliers, but not many pictures, and happened to find a gorgeous copper bangle that I could not walk away from.

I loved the atmosphere of the whole festival, and wanted to stay to discover the insides of the museum itself, but my gut decided that I was done with fun for the day. I retired to my room and relaxed into a second nap that lasted until dinnertime.

Monday was my flight-out date. Unfortunately, I had been booked on a flight later than I would have liked, but this gave me the opportunity to do some more sight seeing before traveling back home. One of the local colleges has a horticulture program which maintains a rose garden that was planted way back when in 1997 - the Rose Garden at Mesa Community College. I had pretty high expectations for this garden, and I was thrilled to spend two hours in the gardens taking pictures and enjoying the art the college had grown.

This next part is going to be difficult, deciding what pictures to post. These are roughly in the order I walked through the garden.

Wrist included to show proportion. This bloom was huge. 

One of my favorite types that day. 

I'm a sucker for multicolored roses. 

Miniature Fireworks Blend.
If I ever got good at growing things I would love to try some tiny roses.

These were in my top three for rose that day,
and as you can see these guys were tiny.
 I couldn't find a sign anywhere telling me what variety they were. 

Such a huge bloom for such a small plant. 

Alright, to get a Judy you take a circus, a sabine, a circus, and a pineapple. 

This is that Judy Garland bloom. Gorgeous. 

Did I mention I love the multicolored roses? 

This bush was unique in that it had red berries on some of the ends.
I'm not sure if it was actually a rose bush, but these groups of blooms were beautiful 

It occurred to me near the end of my walk that the varieties have sometimes hilarious cross breeding. 

This is the hot cocoa, and it looks nothing like hot cocoa, but I love it. 

These blooms were on a bush about shin high (not even knee high). 

I think I want a miniature rose garden really, really badly. 

This rose bush was about a foot taller than I was. 

Oh that makes sense. Lincoln was really tall, right? 

In the last picture, you can see the college's plans for continued growth along the tall metal pipes, with curving bushes along the wire. I think the garden was about a half mile in length, but don't quote me on that, the real distance is most likely on the website. And now for some short flower videos.

The last location I went to before packing it up and heading to the airport was St. Mary's Basilica in the heart of the city. I wish I could have gotten better photos of the outside, but I'll have to make do with words. There was a sweet little block dedicated to the basilica, the education center / administration center, and the park in between the two, all expertly taken care of. There were great swooping trees lining the outer ring of the park, and a medium sized wide-rimmed fountain in the middle made out of a red concrete mix. When I first arrived, I was the only person save for two service folk beside the fountain. I'm not very good with uniforms, but I believe the woman was in a navy uniform with dark and light blue camouflage and big black combat boots, and the man was in an air force white collar shirt and dark dress pants, with epaulets on his shoulders. It looked like they were having a wonderful picnic lunch sitting on the ledge provided by the fountain's concrete blocks. There was such a peaceful, calm mood in the air when I walked through the little park. Maybe it was because of the basilica, but it felt like even the trees were reverent. It's a difficult feeling to describe.

St. Francis of Assisi

Mother Teresa 

Pope John Paul II

Originally built using adobe in 1880, the church was rebuilt over the years and declared a minor basilica in 1985 by Pope John Paul II, who also visited the basilica two years later in 1987. The full history can be found here. I wanted to spend some time inside the basilica, but there was a baptism about to take place, so I only took photos from inside the annex.

I visited the gift shop down below the basilica, and I met a lovely lady who, now that I think of it, never told me her name. I picked a few things to take back home with me, and she gave me a beautiful postcard with the church facade on the front. Such a wonderful person.

And that's when I headed off to the airport. The events after this are quite unremarkable, other than to say I made it safely back home and I secretly want to go back for a week or two in the spring next year. The weather was amazing for the days I was there - the thermometer said fifty or sixty degrees, but with that strong sun it felt more like eighty degrees and a cooling breeze. Absolutely perfect weather.

Now comes the push until Christmas. I will be working every day until the new year, but I believe the workflow will subside slightly to accommodate for people spending time with their families and (hopefully) not getting sick and going to the doctor. Tis the season of giving, but let's keep those colds to ourselves, yes? I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season with their loved ones, and I can't wait to see what next year brings.