Museums, Museums

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Today Ron and I met with our RV friends to tour two different kinds of museums here in Tucson.

Our first stop was at the Museum of Miniatures which opened here in Tucson in 2009.  What a fabulous place and what amazing artistry goes into these small works of art.  The Museum contains over 275 miniature houses and roomboxes, both antique and contemporary.  The museum is named "The Mini Time Machine" because visitors are transported to many different times and places, both real and imagined. 

A close up of the sewing machine above

There are three main galleries, the Enchanted Realm, the History Gallery and the Exploring the World gallery.  The museum also hosts temporary exhibits which today is “The Art Science of Portrait Miniatures."

Miniature portraits

The Museum was just fantastic and there was so much to absorb and to study in each of the exhibits.  I was sorry that there was no local artist working on a project while we were there though we did see the space for that person.  I took so many pictures of the many different houses, boxes, displays and it has been hard to give you a sampling that would do this place justice but I hope my reader will find the ones I selected interesting.  All I can say is if you are ever in Tucson, make the time to visit this place.  It is probably more interesting to women than men, but the artist (male or female) would certainly enjoy it.  The miniature scale is 1 to 12.  The detail in these miniatures is incredible.

Detail of the shelf from the top floor on picture above

Close up of room on right on top floor of picture above

Christmas Houses

A craftsman house replica of one in Pasadena, CA

Children's Dress Shop

Close up of  one side of Children's Dress Shop

Close up of store above

Close up of bottom two floors of picture above

After finishing at this Museum we drove a short distance to a more male oriented place.  This was the Museum of the Horse Soldier that can be found in Trail Dust Town.  Trail Dust Town developed around a restaurant called Pinnacle Peak which has been in Tucson since 1962.  There is also one in Phoenix.  More about Trail Dust Town after our visit to the Horse Museum.

The objective of the Horse Soldier Museum is to preserve the history and heritage of our United States Military mounted services and to recognize the horses contributions to U.S. military history.  The Museum contained displays of military uniforms, saddles and other military horse paraphernalia.  A small museum but displays were well laid out with interesting verbiage to read.

Saddle

Flag lost from Battle of Wheatfield, Gettysburg, PA 1863

We walked around Trail Dust Town taking pictures of the various buildings which at the time we were there were all closed.  They do not open the restaurants and shops until 4:30 in the afternoon.  The Town features shops, events and other attractions like Wild West Shows, a train ride, ferris wheel and carousel.  Kids can also pan for gold and all ages can test their aim at the shooting gallery. 

I have very fond memories of Pinnacle Peak Restaurant which in the 1960’s was the only building located here and out in a very open and unpopulated area.  The restaurant at that time featured cowboy steaks (large T bones which filled the plate) and cowgirl steaks which was the T-bone minus the rib eye.  They served a tossed salad, cowboy beans, and a roll for the price of $5 a person, if memory serves.    What a deal it was.  You sat at wood picnic tables covered in red and white check oil cloth tablecloths and if men came in with a tie on, they rang a bell and came with a pair of scissors to cut off half of it and hang it on the ceiling along with your business card or other descriptive information you provided.  What fun it was.  They still cut off ties today and you can see evidence of this in the picture below. 

Ron and I said goodbye to our friends until sometime next year and returned to our RV.  Since we had had breakfast at a late hour this morning, we later went downtown to the old Congress Hotel where Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger, was captured in 1934.  

This is a small hotel with interesting southwest architecture inside and a cute little restaurant we learned about from the days when Rachel Ray was doing her $40 a day meals in different location.  The restaurant is called “The Cup Cafe.”  We had eaten here several years ago and wanted to experience it again.
 

Hotel Lobby

Remember these?

Interesting chandelier in The Cup Cafe

Ron ordered a club sandwich with ham, turkey, bacon and avocado and lettuce and tomato sourdough with fries and I ordered a pastrami with bacon and peppery slaw, Gruyere cheese and grilled on marble rye served with fresh fruit.  Delicious.  The sandwiches were huge so we brought half of them home to be eaten at another time.

This week has been a busy one with lots of sightseeing.  After having lived here and visited on so many occasions, I am surprised at the things we have found to visit that we never had before.  Tomorrow will be our last day for this visit.  Believe it or not, we have found a few more things we want to see but will keep those for a visit next winter when we are in Casa Grande and can come for a day or two visit.