Ron and Donna invited us to visit the town of Superior with them and tour some interesting homes. Superior is located about 32 miles southeast of Apache Junction. The house tour was interesting and lunch was great - if you get the chance to visit Superior stop by De Marco's Italian for homemade pizza or a wonderful hamburger on a homemade bun. On the way home we even made time to visit Queen Valley. Ron and Donna spent some time in this oasis a few years ago.
Postcard of Superior from the old days. Main Street looking toward, Apache Leap Superior.
Magma Copper Company - this huge smelter was constructed in 1914 and continued successful operation until 1981, when copper mining began to diminish in the Superior area. Copper mining finally ceased altogether in Superior in 1995.
Colorful buildings
Do you remember Sprouse Reitz?? This chain was founded in Tacoma, WA in 1909 and went out of business 85 years later.
The backdrop of Superior is awesome mountains.
Becky - these are the cool scissors I was talking about.
Mural being painted
Art Gallery
This artist paints on everything. I love the wash basin.
Outdoor courtyard with a quiet place to rest.
Presbyterian Church of Superior celebrating it's 100th Anniversary.
Inside the church. If you made an offering to the building fund you could ring the bell.
Superior High School
Check out these roses - beautiful orange and pink blooms. Oh yeah, there is a monkey on the porch too!
This three story house was on the tour - the lines were long.....
Balcony on the third floor. Funny the colors are so garish when the building is in the desert.
A shaded resting spot. The temperature today was in the 90's - Yep! That's Arizona winter.
Artsy!
Ron and Donna - great friends from Minnesota.
Beautiful fan lamp in one of the houses. Each house had it's own unique style.
Lots of Adobe homes.
Me and Bruce - I had Ron take this picture and Bruce didn't notice he was in back of some branches.
Handmade flag in front of each house on the tour.
The Rainbow House - three stories of art.
Garage art
Yard art
Entry sunshine
Art from broken pottery.
Bed-frame art
No words were ever truer!
We met the artist in her kitchen - Marilee Lasch had a story to tell! This is kitchen art!
Giant mural at the bottom of her staircase - this is just the end of the painting. Something was looking familiar to me.... I believe this painting is by James A. Kirkpatrick of Jamestown, ND. When I looked up the artist that lives in this house it turns out she is from Jamestown too! Small world. Wish I would of known while we were touring I would of asked her some questions.
Outside space on the second floor.
Donna posed for me on the top floor.
Ron and Bruce decided to skip this house because of the long lines. They found a garden bench made out of an old bed frame.
Looking down I saw this window art. Notice the broken geodes on the window sill? Crystal art.
Second floor terrace.
Nice!
I thought I saw my friend Jewel walking down the road - check out these tights Jewel! I thought they were tattoos!
Funny bathroom in a teeny tiny house. This house was so small I couldn't get a picture. The beds were actually hammocks tied to the ceiling in the living room.
Bruce enjoyed himself.
Ron and Bruce resting....again! They were very patient as Donna and I enjoyed all the homes.
Lots of cool trucks and cars in town for the show.
The creek house - in the process of being restored after sitting empty for decades.
Pretty fireplace.
The Varied Decade House -
This house had an amazing floor - handmade terra cotta tiles. I loved the tiles with tiny paw prints embedded in them. Reminded me of our house back home - we laid cement and a cat walked through it before it was dry. Such character can't be imitated.
End of the tour - the last house was the best!
Mountains headed back down Highway 60.
Tons of daisy's blooming everywhere!
On the way back home we took a side road and visited Queen Valley, Arizona. This community is about 4 miles off of Hwy 60.
Love this pink trike and four buzzards built out of old shovels.
Art along the dry wash.
Sense of humor - I thought at first these were blooming plants. Nope, some kind of balls on the end of the cactus.
So nice to see the pretty blooms.
Lots of interesting cactus and palms grow in Queen Valley.
Palm trees on the golf course.
This is a very quiet community - I think we only saw two cars on the road while we were in town.
Cattle grazing right outside of town.
Back to the highway - lets see....don't turn right, watch for trains and look at that view!!!
On the way home we got passed by this pretty red trike with a couple of hands waving. Fun to see Dick and Mary Ann on the highway! Perfect end to a great day.
