Anne and Shawn visited us on the weekend of July 7 and 8. Saturday, we relaxed at home and caught up on all the news. This included Anne's new job with Aspen University, and Anne and Shawn's Alaska cruise in September. On Sunday, we went to Granite Creek Vineyard where we shared a bottle of their wine with lunch and celebrated the July birthdays of Shawn and myself. We also joined their wine club and split the purchase of a case of the Sunset Red Blend wine. A good time was had by all, and then we bade Anne and Shawn goodbye as they returned to Phoenix just as a heavy rain began.
As on our prior visit to the vineyard, we were visited by the local peacocks.
On Tuesday afternoon, Patty and I visited the Smoki Museum - it is pronounced Smoke-eye. The name comes from the group founded to raise funds to keep the Prescott Rodeo going in the early 1900s. A group of white businessmen dressed up in Native American garb and performed Native American dances and ceremonies in front of paying audiences. It raised enough money to keep the rodeo going and they established it as an annual fundraiser. This went on until the early 1990s when AIM (American Indian Movement) complaints and a dwindling number of business supporters caused it to cease. But the museum continued to grow and incorporates many of the Native American artifacts and relics found in the area. One of the things I learned in the museum was the difference in construction of some of the baskets. In the Sonoran Desert around Phoenix, the natives used Devil's claws and fibers from yucca plants; in the high desert around Prescott, the natives used Devil's claws and fibers from willow trees.
Patty and I joked about finding long lost Ware family relatives including "Prescott Gray Ware" when we saw signs about the pottery made from the local gray clay.
The history of the Smoki reminded us of Indian Camp, a program ran by the Vermont Boy Scouts at Camp Norris in Eden, Vermont. Our son Ben attended for several years. It was a week long camp experience where the attendees dressed and lived as Native Americans. It ended in the late 1990s after complaints from the AIM about white people trying to act like Native Americans, and not doing so in as positive a manner as should have been done. They have replaced Indian Camp with Frontier Camp.
As on our prior visit to the vineyard, we were visited by the local peacocks.
On Tuesday afternoon, Patty and I visited the Smoki Museum - it is pronounced Smoke-eye. The name comes from the group founded to raise funds to keep the Prescott Rodeo going in the early 1900s. A group of white businessmen dressed up in Native American garb and performed Native American dances and ceremonies in front of paying audiences. It raised enough money to keep the rodeo going and they established it as an annual fundraiser. This went on until the early 1990s when AIM (American Indian Movement) complaints and a dwindling number of business supporters caused it to cease. But the museum continued to grow and incorporates many of the Native American artifacts and relics found in the area. One of the things I learned in the museum was the difference in construction of some of the baskets. In the Sonoran Desert around Phoenix, the natives used Devil's claws and fibers from yucca plants; in the high desert around Prescott, the natives used Devil's claws and fibers from willow trees.
Patty and I joked about finding long lost Ware family relatives including "Prescott Gray Ware" when we saw signs about the pottery made from the local gray clay.
The history of the Smoki reminded us of Indian Camp, a program ran by the Vermont Boy Scouts at Camp Norris in Eden, Vermont. Our son Ben attended for several years. It was a week long camp experience where the attendees dressed and lived as Native Americans. It ended in the late 1990s after complaints from the AIM about white people trying to act like Native Americans, and not doing so in as positive a manner as should have been done. They have replaced Indian Camp with Frontier Camp.
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