Best things to see in Sun City: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Today we start our first day of Coast to coast trip through the United States in the company of our friends Dolors and Miquel.

And our first objective is visit downtown Phoenix.

Very similar to other American cities of its size, it has two distinct characteristics: the prevailing dry heat and the absolute tranquility of a large city center with almost no pedestrians.

We walked around a few times, photographing the large skyscrapers, the stadiums, their desert streets full of offices, some museums or cultural centers that were open to the public.

From there we took the car and approached Sun City, a city that was born in 1960 and is dedicated almost exclusively to being the residence of retired people, the vast majority of them Americans.

I have not been able to know how many retirees reside in Sun City, but you can walk kilometers and kilometers of streets and avenues surrounded by beautiful houses.

Almost all on one floor, they are independent from each other, without bars or separation fences, surrounded by grass, palm trees and cacti and with plenty of swimming pools.

In the existing commercial areas there are many services necessary for a majority retired and elderly population.

From medical centers and specialized clinics. to travel agencies, restaurants and cafes.

We entered one of these cafeteria restaurants where, despite our age, we were the youngest, including the waitresses.

As a curiosity, the table chairs had small wheels on each of the legs to facilitate their movement.

From visit Sun City, and on the way to the headquarters of the Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation We stopped to eat at a typical establishment irish pubWell, looking for a nice place to eat, cool, with more or less attractive food and, above all, where they could serve alcohol to be able to drink beers. One becomes saturated with large glasses of various soda filled with ice!

After a pleasant meal sitting on high stools next to large barrels as a table, we headed to the founding headquarters of the aforementioned architect.

Frank Lloyd Wright, who died in Phoenix in 1959, was an American architect and one of the leading masters of XNUMXth-century architecture, known for organic architecture and functional of its designs.

La Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation maintains its international headquarters in Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, near Phoenix.

The foundation encompasses a wide range of activities to preserve the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Among them, it offers the opportunity to the general public to learn about the main ideas that have generated their work; increase public awareness of the importance of architecture for both society and the individual; stimulate a demand for excellence in architecture and design.

Located in an isolated, semi-desert, arid place and, like Arizona in general, full of chungueros cacti (called there saguaros) type of western movies, we went to the foundation because Montse, daughter of Dolors and Miquel, is an architect and highly recommended this visit to us.

Then we headed to visit Mystery Castle, original construction carried out in the middle of the last century and recommended by some website on the Internet, but it was closed, meaning our joy in a well, and return to the hotel.

Today has been more or less a day of transition, calm, for get to know Phoenix and surroundings, and thus allow our traveling companions to recover a little after the long flight.

Tomorrow we leave for Monument Valley, 600 kilometers, one of the highlights of the trip.

The day has been hot, very hot, dry, with 44º, a desert heat that makes us wish for a strong storm that never comes.

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