WQ #15: April 12: BE A TOUR GUIDE WHERE YOU LOVE #Prescott Walk
¨Life is a tour; we are all tourists.”
— Dr. P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
Hometown Travel Brochure
“I want someone to look at me the way I look at a travel brochure.”
—Anonymous
Happy Wednesday, and welcome to #WQ Here’s your chance to be a travel writer. What’s great about your town or someplace you love? Tell it with a quote and a photo, story, poem, or combination.
Last Week’s Featured Bloggers on Changes
- Keep It Alive – Poems to renew and inspire
- Lady Lee – Beautiful flowers, poems, and some lovely music
- Loving Life – Lots of Easter activities with grandkids
- Middleton Road – t-shirt weather
- Pictures Imperfect – Watch out for the shiny sword!
- Wind Kisses – Buzzing with bees!
Your Post Goes Here
- A FRESH CUP OF COFFEE – POSITIVE MOVER – GREAT GUIDE
- DEB’S WORLD – VISIT TUMBARUMBA
- KEEP IT ALIVE – VISIT PLACES IN YOUR IMAGINATION
- LADY LEE – BEAUTIFUL MUNICH
- LOVING LIFE – TRAVELER OR TOURIST?
- MINDFILLS – GRANDMA’S PERFECT CHRYSANTHEMUM
- PICTURES IMPERFECT – SPRINGTIME ON THE RHINE
- SUNDAY STILLS – PERFECT PASTELS ON HER TOUR
- TRAVELS AND TRIFLES – TOURS OF TINA’S FAVORITE PLACES AROUND THE WORLD
Or use Mr. Linky to link your post, or to read other posts. 🙂
Highlands Center for Natural History in Prescott, AZ
“It’s usually a jolly good trick to pick up a local tour guide. They can tell you all the anecdotes that make a place interesting. I’m one for rushing off to museums at the crack of dawn, eating fabulous things on terraces for lunch, and enjoying long dinners on balmy evenings.”
–Jane Birkin
Monday reached 80 degrees F. (26.7 C.) for the first time in Prescott, AZ, this year. Vince and I set out to find something new in Prescott to share with you for this week’s WQ. We first discovered the best-kept secret in Prescott online, then entered it into our GPS to ensure we didn’t miss it since we’ve driven by it hundreds of times and never noticed it.
“Established in 1996, the Highlands Center for Natural History is a science-based non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) developed to foster an appreciation for and knowledge of the natural wonders of the Central Highlands of Arizona. Operating on an 80-acre campus near Lynx Lake through a Special Use Permit with Prescott National Forest, the Highlands Center is a hub for lifelong learning, designed to invite discovery of the wonders of nature through on and offsite programs reaching over 15,000 children and adults a year and supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations and community partners.”
- 1375 S. Walker Road, Prescott, AZ 86303
Federal Tax ID# 86-0798677 - Phone: (928) 776-9550
Sadly the Center was closed today, but the paths were open. We nearly walked into a training session led by Tom Benson specifically for seniors to learn about geology, edible and medicinal plants, and nine lifestyle habits to support and lengthen life. He greeted us and told me briefly about his course, which runs through August, before returning to his gathering class.
Surprisingly, the first place he directed me to visit on our self-tour was the ladies’ restroom – to see some local art. The entire walk was jam-packed with public art. We had so much fun with our cameras. I’ll have to do another post even to get all the best photos displayed.
Left to our own devices to explore the broad paved paths, we wandered separately taking pictures as we ambled.
We saw one of the Beetles, probably Paul McCartney. This guy was huge! Actually, the place was crawling with bugs. PPAC (Photographing Public Art Challenge) bugs, of course!
Did you know that arthropod means jointed legs? So if you smoke one of them, you’d be smoking a joint. Tom Benson didn’t say that, by the way. You might learn something more useful in his class.
“Teaching history to eighth graders is like being a tour guide for people who hate their vacation.”
–Chuck Klosterman
Trust me, you won’t hate this well-kept secret unless you wait until it’s 100 degrees outside to go there! The wonderful thing about doing a travel brochure about your home town is that you can go back. If you are interested in Prescott, search for #Prescott walk on my blog.
Our only disappointment in doing a travel brochure on Prescott, AZ was the total absence of superblooms.
AZ Valley Superblooms
“To travel best requires some time preparing for your visit to a particular location – that you don’t travel anywhere without spending a few nights reading about the culture and history of the place you are visiting. This is what most of us don’t do – we fling ourselves on an exotic destination hoping that someone will tell us what we are looking at, but by that time it’s too late, and all the lectures and tour guides simply add to our confusion.”
— Arthur Frommer
That quote could easily be me trying to cram so much in that I’m not prepared for anything. This month we’ve been back and forth between our condos in Scottsdale and Prescott doing projects in both of them.
It was great to be with our AZ blogger friends for lunch in Scottsdale. Isn’t this a fun looking group? I loved Janet’s cute hat, Jodie’s green earrings, and everyone’s glowing faces and beautiful smiles!
Ingrid told us about a drive to Saguaro Lake to see the Superblooms. We did that the next day.
Colleen’s poetry challenge yesterday was a Double Ennead is 99-syllable poetry written in three stanzas with a syllable count of 6-5-11-6-5 per stanza. Sarah Southwest from dVerse, says, “Let’s have fun with yellow.”
petals drop one by one floating on the lake "He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me! Yes!" girlish laughter bubbles vibrant daisies count poppies dot the foothills spreading joyous gold amid the glowing cacti arms stretched above tickling toes that dare tread through the tangled path ©Marsha Ingrao 4-2023 Double Ennead
WQ #15 Inspired by
- Lens Artist Photo Challenge – Glowing Moments
- FOTD
- Cell Pic Sunday – How to take a picture while zipping along in the car
- Tanka Tuesday – Yellow Double Ennead
- Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share & PPAC – coming Friday
Upcoming and Ongoing on Always Write
Lots of love to all of you and best wishes for a wonderful week.
- WQ Page
- WQ #16: April 19: EARTH/NATIONAL GARDENING DAY
- WQ #17: April 26: ABSTRACT/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES
- #DICKENSCHALLENGE started February 7th. Join Yvette Prior, Trent McDonald, and me in reading ONE – not THREE Dickens’ novellas by June 9th. Donna from Retirement Reflections posted an excellent review on her challenge, What’s On Your Bookshelf this month.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
80 responses to “#WQ #15: Be a Tour Guide”
Fantastic post and I am putting the Highlands Center on my list. It looks fun and informative. I love ethnobotany. A great meet up and I am glad you found the Saguaro Lake blooms.
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Next time we have a meetup in Prescott, we can do that. They are closed on Mondays so that is the only restriction. Lynx Lake is nearby as well. There’s a nice hike around it. A Wednesday would work because parking is free at Lynx Lake.
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We have been to Lynx Lake. Pretty.
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We have too, but it’s a good hike.
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[…] for Marsha’s WQ: Be a Tour Guide and Earth Day, Denzil Nature’s NPC long-legged birds, Don’t Hold Your Breath’s […]
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I enjoyed the paintings, the bugs, the superbloomers, the flowers… Good read! #Weekendcoffeeshare
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Thank you so much, Karen.
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I don’t know where to begin to be honest I enjoy playing tour guide because it gives me a chance to explore another part of LA I’ve been meaning to go to for some time and they’re all food places lol.
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Food places are good, Julie! There must be so many great restaurants in LA. 🙂
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Here’s mine! I tried it out 🙂
https://mindfills.wordpress.com/2023/04/18/my-grandmas-garden-a-phonecoll/
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Thanks so much for linking. Beautiful post!!!
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Thank you for hosting WQ! ❣️
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My pleasure. It’s fun because of people like you who join in.
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What a fun idea Marsha! Enjoyed the tour 😊. Now that my brother has sold his home in Scottsdale I’ll be a much less frequent visitor so probably this is my only exposure to Prescott which looks like lots of fun. Loved your meetings with other bloggers! I suppose after 20+ years on Kiawah and the same amount in suburban NYC I could be tour guiding in either place – but I’ll take Kiawah any time LOL. Here’s a link to MY tour of city and country life for your viewing pleasure! https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2023/04/15/lens-artists-challenge-245-environments/.
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Thank you Tina. You always create a post that inspired and informs – my favorite kind of post!
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lovely tour and pics Marsha. Wow 80 degrees… love it. What a wonderful poem and love your pics of blogger friends~!! Soooo special~! In my heart, I’m there with you all! 💞
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In our hearts you’re here with us, too. 🙂
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Hi Marsha,
Here’s my post
http://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/04/16/a-tour-guide-to-the-world-of-stories/
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Fabulous post, Sadje.
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Thank you my friend
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[…] Marsha’s Wednesday Quotes: Be a Tour Guide […]
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Marsha – some parts of your post and humor that reminded me of the “eucman” blogger i folks – like your smoking a joint joke – lol
Very fun
And the bathroom art sounds like a great use of space to share the art / last time I was at the Buffalo/Niagara airport – they did that too – lots of art in the restroom
And speaking of art – the insect art seems so well done
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The insect art is amazing. They are large metal structures. I want to go back soon when the museum is open as well. There are longer hikes we could have gone on, but that will be another hike for another day. 🙂 Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
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😊☀️☀️☀️
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Highlands Center for Natural History looks like a fun and interesting place. I did have to giggle about one of the beetles being Paul McCartney. And how cool – I follow Jodie’s blog too. Looks like a fabulous get together. Lovely poem.
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It was really fun. We have been meeting fairly regularly for about a year now.
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What a cool place, Marsha! Thanks for sharing your photos. I love your poem as well.
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Thanks, Yvette. 🙂
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LOL! So the challenge was the photo of Terri’s white lily. But what a great post! I didn’t see much when I lived in Prescott. I was either working or going to school. So, I’ll see the sights in your photos. The artwork is spectacular!
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Thanks, Colleen. I was late to link to her post, but oh well. I wrote it in a comment. You’ve lived in Prescott, too – amazing!
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We lived in Prescott Valley. I worked in Prescott. 🥰
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Wish you lived here now!!!
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No thank you! We left because it was too crowded. I love East Lansing. I feel at home here.
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I keep trying!
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I loved having you as my tour guide Marsha. What a great place to visit. I loved your colourful photos and the sculptures. Great photo of your bloggy friends having fun. I would love to have so many blogger friends close by.
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Thank you so much, Jennifer. What kind words. I hope you’ll join me and give us a tour of your wonderful home town.
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Marsha, What a fantastic find, the Highlands Centre for Natural History! I love your public art photos taken there and how fun to meet blogger friends again. The superblooms are beautiful. Spring is the best time to explore and see what nature gives us. There is an app named Seek by iNaturalist that you can use to take photo of the plant and learn its name. Thank you for your weekend coffee share. Enjoy the weekend!
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I’ll check out that app. You always have names on your plants, so it must work! I was so pleased to find this wonderful Highlands Center. You have a great weekend as well! 🙂
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So pretty Marsha! Those sculptures were pretty cool. I think I’d enjoy a visit down there, though not in the heat of summer. Some friends of ours recently moved down that way. I can’t remember exactly where though.
I did the link, but I”ll also add my link here.
https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2023/04/putting-fingers-to-keyboardwq-be-tour.html
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I saw that you added your link to Mr. Linky. I’m still getting used to Mr. Linky and trying to find entries on my dashboard. What I like about it is that it displays a picture and has all the posts lined up in a row – easy to visit. What I don’t like is that the addresses are InLinkz and I have a hard time finding the actual ones still. But I’m getting the hang of it.
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Great mix of interesting things in your post Marsha, I always enjoy popping in to see what you’re up to. I wrote a post a few years ago about being a tour guide in my town and it was fun to share my small corner of the world with others. #weekendcoffeeshare
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Send me the link, or share it in Mr. Linky and I’ll post it! 🙂
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It’s here Marsha – https://debs-world.com/2022/12/06/a-tour-of-tumbarumba-for-sundaystills/
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Thanks, I’ll add it!
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Hi Marsha, your posts are always packed so full it is difficult to decide how to comment. Your pictures are wonderful and I enjoyed the quotes and your lovely poem. I am surprised at the quote about teaching history, my sons love it and often have lengthily discussions about historical events with me. They teach me a lot.
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I just thought the history quote was funny. I was the history consultant for Tulare County, where we lived in CA. I love history. Not all eighth graders do, I’m sure. It depends on the teacher, for sure. Thanks for your inciteful comments, Robbie. I appreciate that you take the time to read and comment. 🙂
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💕🌸
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great place you have there, Marsha 🙂
https://ladyleemanilablog.wordpress.com/2023/04/13/munich-is-a-beautiful-city/
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Thanks Lady Lee!
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Put that place on our list for the next visit. 🙂 It was 102 here a few days ago so give me 80 any day! The meetup was great as usual and I’m looking forward to the next one. Enjoyed your poem.
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Thanks, Janet. 102 is a bit much. I’ll be down there on May 5th, so I wonder where we could go to discover a little gem.
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Hmmm. If I knew, it wouldn’t be hidden. 🤣🤣🤣. We’ll have to see what we can find.
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This little park is the one I was looking for when we went to Lynx Lake and then past that found the pink Bonnie and Clyde car. I told Vince about the car as we left, but he went back home instead. 🙂
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You’ve been busy, and how great to find a fantastic new place to visit.
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It was a beautiful drive. I wish we could have spent more time at the lake. People were pulled over on the road to the Lake, but the police were on the road towing cars away.
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So much fun to discover those ‘hidden gems’ right in our backyards! We’re very new to the area we live in so we have lots of places to discover. Glad to have found this link-up and hope to keep joining in – thank you for hosting and for the fascinating tour! You’re an excellent guide!
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Thank you for the kind words. I think there are so many stories to tell, so I’m looking forward to seeing some “other local areas!”
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Interesting place, thanks for sharing!
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Thanks, Jennifer.
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You were a fabulous tour guide when we were there–to the nail salon and store, LOL! Not to mention our walk along the parkway near your condo! We have some downtime here in Helena, Montana, today as I work on my post for Sunday. Can you believe it’s cold and snowy? Bleah! Your images of all of us at the meet-up are so great! I can’t believe I didn’t walk around and take more pics! You are a natural at being a tour guide because you take pics of interesting things and can share something interesting about them. I had fun reading this post. Now (at 4:30pm MT as I write this) we are contemplating an early dinner, LOL! Talk soon.
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I’ve been wondering where you were today. Good to read this. I’m sorry it’s cold and snowy. It was cool and windy here, but I didn’t have to wear a winter coat. Your pictures so far have been very compelling. I think I might prefer going when there was no snow, though. Poor Flagstaff is getting flooded again as the mountain snow is melting fast.
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Maybe we need to go to that museum next time we come up??
XOXO
Jodie
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You would love it, and it would be a great photo shoot. You should definitely come up this summer!
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It was so nice meeting you Marsha. I hope I sent you in the right direction for your quest for wildflowers.
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It was so fun meeting you and also Nancy. I’m glad you came and that I got to sit across from you.
Saguaro Lake was so easy to find and pretty close to where our condo is. I wouldn’t want to go on the weekend. It was pretty busy as it was. We didn’t get out of the car much because of the traffic and because they were towing cars that were parked on the street. I don’t know how they chose which ones to tow because there were hundreds of them. The lake was beautiful, but again we didn’t get out and hike, just took a few shots. We both want to go back.
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You really should apply to take the photos and write the text for the next tourist brochure for AZ!
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You are so kind, Elke. That would be a fun job, wouldn’t it?
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Definitely! I was very fortunate to have six of my photos included in a book about my hometown (another blogger on here had 7 included) and it’s a thrill to point that out to visiting friends.
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That is cool. How did it happen. No one has come hunting for my Prescott pictures recently! 🙂
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The town council mentioned in a press release that they were going to publish a book about Weinheim. And immediately the admin of our facebook group (Fotos aus Weinheim und Umgebung) suggested that we had talented photographers in town who knew the good spots much better than an outside pr company. The town then started a competition and they chose from 1500 entries or so to make the book and it’s now sold in our tourist information office, which is really cool.
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How cool. I should really join a local FB photo group. We had contests like that in CA when I lived near the Sequoia Nationa Park. I didn’t think of myself as a contestant, though. 🙂 I’ll keep my eyes open here.
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There are not that many sequoias in Germans. However, my hometown is known for the “exotic forest” where exotic trees, mainly from the Americas and Asia are cultivated in big lots (not just single specimens). We have quite a number of sequoias, which are over 120-150 years old. And one of my photos accepted for the book was of one of them (I had to offer that bit of information after you mentioned Sequoia National Park).
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Interesting, I didn’t know sequoias were found in other parts of the world – or maybe that would be giant sequoias. What a small world that you should have a picture of one accepted for that book. Awesome, Elke! I’m super impressed.
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[…] Wednesday Quotes […]
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Loved seeing us all on your post today! It was so wonderful to get together and meet one another.
I enjoyed all your pictures of Prescott and the superbloom flowers!
Until we meet again~Nancy🌼
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Yes, May 5th, I don’t know where yet. Any ideas? Are you interested in a field trip?
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I need to meet early and get back somewhat early on that day. But don’t let me hold you or the others back from doing something that takes longer.
🙂
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We can always meet for lunch somewhere and do a field trip before or after, or not at all.
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This definitely caught my attention. Thanks Marsha
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I’m glad, Anita! 🙂
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