Arizona Trip - Day 12

We took our second trip to Taliesin West today for the third and fourth tours we  had planned.  The weather was a little cooler (in the 80's) with a little breeze and some light cloud cover.

The first tour was the "Desert Walk", a 90 minute walk exploring the desert trails around Taliesin West.  Our guide was "Frank", a 75 year resident of the valley, a former practicing architect, and now a member of the faculty at the school. He was very knowledgeable about the area and explained the history and geology of the site and answered all our questions about the plants, flowers, wildlife and history.  The walk was really special in that we were the only people on the tour and had the guide all to ourselves.  We saw a few birds but didn't see any other indigenous wildlife such as mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, snakes, scorpions or other critters.  Frank said the snakes, primarily the Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes are starting to stir from their winter inactivity and have recently been seen in the area amongst the rocks.  We didn't see any and were not disappointed.

We had originally planned to go into town for lunch between the first walk that started at 10:45 am and the second at 1:15 pm.  The first tour took a little longer than scheduled however, so we just had a light snack in the garden while waiting for the second tour. 

Next was a two hour tour led by two students currently enrolled at the school.  This tour visited the student shelters in the desert surrounding the campus.  Frank Lloyd Wright's teaching philosophy was that his students had to live and experience nature as they learned to integrate it into their designs and creative expressions. Originally, each student lived in a "Shepard's Tent"  on a 8' x 8' concrete pad.  This tradition continues today as each student has to sleep in a shelter in the desert they have either built themselves, modified or improved from a previous occupant, or just live in as it presently exists.  These shelters are mostly open to the the elements and subject to frequent visits from everything that lives out there.  There are no bathroom facilities or electricity in the shelters, although a few shelters have rigged-up limited solar power installations. There is a fireplace in each shelter which is the only source of heat.  Each student has a locker in the main building and their bathroom and shower facilities are there.  They eat all their meals in the dining room in the main building.  For all this, each student pays $30,000 per year for tuition, room and board.  The school offers both undergraduate and masters degrees in Architecture. Undergraduates usually have completed the first two years of their degree program elsewhere and complete the last two years at Taliesin West.  The masters degree program takes three years to complete.  There are presently 16 students currently enrolled, although the school can handle up to about 25 students.  About 1/4 of the students are from other countries. Our tour guide, Conner is a first year student, and Alex is in the second year of her masters program.  Each student has to complete a certain number of tour hours in order to graduate.and all the proceeds from this particular tour go into the Student Fund, used to help pay for field trips as part of their courses.

Both tours were really great and very enjoyable.  After the tours, we picked-up a few grocery items on the way back to the RV and dinner, after which Judy did the laundry.

Tomorrow is a short road trip.  We discovered a Civil War battlefield we never heard about at Picacho Peak State Park, about a one hour drive south of Phoenix..  There is a Civil War Re-enactment of the Battle of Picacho Pass this weekend so we thought it might be interesting to see how the Civil War was fought in Arizona.

Day 12 Pictures