10/11APR11 - Phoenix, AZ

Sunday, 10APR, we finally “escaped” from the snow of Flagstaff & drove south to northern Phoenix. Snow from yesterday’s snow storm was on the ground for half the drive south on I-17. We could see several places where people had ended up in the median ditch, & could understand why I-17 was closed for most of Saturday. Monday morning Dan started the day by washing one months worth of dust off the Toad, & then vacuuming the inside.

After lunch we head out to hunt down & photograph eccentric sites in the northern Phoenix area. Two unique things happened during this expedition. The first was at the “Sunnyslope Rock Garden” (aka Grover Cleveland Thompson Museum), 10023 N Thirteenth Pl, Phoenix, AZ, 85020, where we ran into Marion Blake.

Grover Cleveland Thompson built this rock garden in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Phoenix, AZ, from 1952-1974. He began building when he retired here at the age of 65. Thompson was inspired by Petersen's Rock Garden in Bend, OR, which was near where he used to live. He used concrete, rocks, broken pottery, bottles, and other discarded objects to create sculptures and fountains. One of his favorite materials was Fiesta Ware. It seems that at one time the bright pigments used to color the classic dinnerware was radioactive! End result was many people thru their Fiesta Ware away & Thompson scooped it up. Thompson died in 1978 and the property has been cared for by a new owner, Marion Blake, since 1979.

Our intention upon finding the Rock Garden behind a locked fence, was to just get a few photos from the road. Ms Blake saw us & immediately invited us in for a private tour. She also was a wealth of information on Mr Thompson. Dan’s favorite rock “sculpture” was an eight foot high model of the Seattle Space Needle.

The second unique experience was at the site of a Paul Bunyan Muffler Man located in a residential neighborhood, where we discovered an entire yard of eccentric stuff. Dan even got invited inside by the owner Don Parks, & was overwhelmed by everything taking up every square inch of the house!

He bought his house in 1971 and started "decorating with junk." There are road signs, telephone booths, & fire hydrants. The statues include a lifesize elk, a Humpty Dumpty, a cowboy on horseback, & of course the Paul Bunyan Muffler Man we came to see. In fact, there is no more room in Mr Parks house & yard, so he bought the empty house across the road!