Walking around the Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, Arizona


Walk with me. Let's wander around one of my favorite places in the whole world, the Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. Yes, they misspell it that way. It's been there since the 1880s, now lost in a suburb of Phoenix that hides the secret well. But I know where it is, and you know me, so let's go walk around.

1889, when it was called the Bartlett Ranch, and was waaay northwest of Glendale, Arizona, almost to Peoria. You're looking southeast.

It's just north of Glendale Community College, which is on Olive between 59th Avenue and 63rd Avenue, and it's just south of the Main Library, which on Brown and 59th Avenue, just south of Peoria Avenue. And if you're trying to picture driving past it, you may have never seen it, although it's gigantic. It isn't on a major road, and the entrance on 59th is so subtle (just a gate with a peacock on it) that you'd probably miss it if you weren't looking for it. I like to walk there.

Yesterday I had a friend drop me off for a haircut at the Glendale Galleria, which is a strip mall behind Manuel's, and Arby's. After "lowering my ears" I walked back home, through the Sahuaro Ranch, entering on 59th Avenue, through the Library. There's a wonderful garden there, by the way, along the south side of Library, worth a look, if you're not in a hurry, and I wasn't yesterday.

There's an entrance (for people, not cars!) south of the Library to the ranch. And as soon as you step through there, you're transported. I took the photo that you see up there, looking west, from just after I entered the property. There's room to breathe there, and the kind of wide open spaces that I like to imagine Phoenix having a lot of, before it became a city of subdivisions and shopping malls.


I stopped at the Packing Shed, where there was an art show, and looked around, but mostly the idea of the ranch isn't to shop, or socialize, it's to wander. I like to stop and take pics of the old farm machinery that's displayed around, as if I'm trying to make it look as if I'm doing more than just walking around. But I'm just walking around. I know that you understand, but most people don't, and never will, so they wonder what I'm looking for? I'm not looking for anything, I'm just looking, but I don't want to say that to strangers, so I try to act like I'm looking for something, or doing something practical, like taking a photo. To my friends, like you, I can say that I'm just looking at stuff, and time-traveling. To us it sound perfectly normal, and reasonable, right? Right?

Listen to the quiet. It's an overcast day, which is rare in the Phoenix area, and the sounds, which are still out there, like traffic, or planes going overhead, are muffled. Looks like we may get some rain later on, so we'd better get a move on.

Thank you for walking around the Sahuaro Ranch with me!
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