Day 34-
As I mentioned already, Arcosanti is a hippie palace in the middle of the desert, and is especially eco conscious, less sprawl + ecology. The structures themselves are very cold and simplified, but integrate the natural. Last night we were able to stare out into the stars from the safety of our scorpion infested room:
We went on a tour of the small city:
This space is interesting because it brings heat in the winter and shade in the summer depending on the tilt of the earth. It functions as a banquet gathering hall of some sort:
This outdoor amphitheater space has 2 functions, not only is it an amphitheater, but it is also where they create ceramic bells which were designed by Paolo Soleri. The sale of these bells help support the building of the city:
Here is a model of the future of this city. in this model it is built to suite 5,000 people. As of right now it is housing 50 and is no where near completion:
The dark gray areas are the buildings that are completed:
Paolo has big dreams. I admire the effort and consciousness of Paolo and his settlers, but until it actually (if ever) is completed, Sean and I do feel that this project is a failure. Why? We had conversation with 3 residents and not one of them were friendly to us. They were all very standoffish and antisocial. Paolo envisioned a city without the automobile - in this city it can not only house people, but all the boutiques necessary for shopping, school, city hall, etc. The main idea was to remove the automobile from our lives because it not only creates pollution, but it makes us (*ahem*) anti-social. Well done Paolo. Not to mention the very communist qualities of this residence - I don't think that was in the master plan. From the way our tour guide described it, Paolo was their god, and was the say all to any unique invention. The residents work in the cafe, create his bells, and he even has people PAY to become a student. That sounds okay, but what does the student do? They help build the structures - ya, they pay to put in labor. Awesome.
Back to the bright side. There were other many qualities that I enjoyed, The ceramic and brass bells, seeing how they were made, and knowing that the profits go back to the community or a good cause. The entire city recycles everything. Everything. Even the food from the cafe goes back into the soil. They have a huge septic system that collects rainwater, and grow much of their own food (including a mega greenhouse they are building that surrounds the city (see across the bottom of the model picture)
Anyway, that was our adventure at Arcosanti. Next, we weren't sure what to do so we just went a few hours north to the grand canyon:
Even though we've both been here before, it's still an amazing sight. I also realized that it was exactly 4 years ago since I had been here last, I was on my way moving into LA!!
awww, cute!
After a small hike around the canyon Sean warned me not to get too close to the edge. I kept calling him a baby because he was too scared to look over...
Look who's laughing now.
The Hoover Dam is building this mega bridge bypass structure over the dam, which is almost as amazing as the Dam itself!
Dam!
Along the way Sean started getting frantic. He didn't want our adventure to end! Even though he has no interest in Vegas, he thought that we should make it a point to stop by. So I took him to a posh restaurant at the Bellagio that Jeff and I went to a couple summers back named "FIX" for our last vaca meal:
He had billy baldwin burgers!
If you ask Sean how he liked the meal, he would say that Krystal burgers are still his favorite. Ouch, so glad I splurged.
We walked right out to a classic fountain show:
And walked the streets of Vegas until 2 am:
All the tourists were conforming their bodies for a picture with this stupid ball, and we thought it was funny watching them:
And another:
And another:
And another:
Wait a second - that's me! Ah, well, we never denied our own tourist qualities...
The next 4 hours from 2am-6am back to LA were - I swear - the HARDEST 4 hours I have ever driven. I was tired and really upset that the trip was actually coming to an end :(
And of COURSE at 5am we get stuck in LA Traffic. grrrrr.
-- Posted from April's phone
Stay tuned for our final closing post!
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