THE JOURNAL

THE JOURNAL 09.15 X Marks the Spot

The sun illuminates the sandstone layers of Canyon X, a slot canyon near Page and Lake Powell. The canyon, more than 180 feet deep, is more remote and less visited than nearby Antelope Canyon. SUZANNE MATHIA To book a tour of Canyon X through the Powell Museum in Page, call 928-645-9496 or visit www.powellmuseum.org.

MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT

Montezuma Castle is not a castle, and it has nothing to do with the Aztec emperor Montezuma. Early settlers gave this name to what is actually an 800-year-old cliff dwelling built by the prehistoric Sinagua people. Nestled 100 feet above the ground, the five-story, 20-room complex has outlasted the Sinaguans themselves. A resourceful people, the Sinaguans lived in the dwelling for about 300 years, then suddenly vacated and integrated into other Native American societies. Now, Montezuma Castle is inhabited only by creatures of the desert, such as the Western diamondback rattlesnake. Located near present-day Camp Verde, Montezuma Castle was constructed from stones, mud and tree trunks in a limestone alcove above Beaver Creek. To preserve the ruins, visitors are not allowed inside, but the National Park Service has paved a walking path for unobstructed viewing. A natural well, called Montezuma Well, sits 11 miles from Montezuma Castle. Additional ruins and a prehistoric irrigation ditch surround the well.

Amelia Earhart in Arizona

McNeal, Arizona, has never been a hot spot for celebrity sightings. But one day in September, almost nine decades ago, one of the most famous women in the world dropped out of the sky. Literally.

September 12, 1928, dawned hot and still in McNeal. Farmers worked their fields in the small agricultural community about 20 miles northwest of Douglas. Members of the Ladies Aid Society prepared for their Wednesday lunch meeting. Then, a strange noise caught the attention of everyone in town. Fourth-grader Fred Stolp looked out the schoolhouse window and watched, openmouthed, as a blue-and-silver biplane, the first plane anyone in town had ever seen, circled overhead.

"We were beside ourselves," Stolp recounted in a 1992 story in Cochise Quarterly. "It was almost like watching a miracle."

Kids jumped out of the windows and raced to see the plane. Alva Rich Porter froze while pumping gas at McNeal Mercantile. Arnie Hongo, a local farmer, grabbed his camera and came running.

The plane sputtered as it banked, then touched down in a field studded with tumbleweeds and mesquites. In front of a stunned crowd, the pilot climbed out wearing a skirt and closefitting hat.

"A woman?" Stolp thought. "You have to be kidding!"

It had been three months since Amelia Earhart's trip across the Atlantic had thrust her into celebrity. She had just completed the manuscript of her book, 20 Hours, 40 Minutes, about that flight.

This trip would mark the first time a woman flew solo across the country and back, but as Earhart wrote in her autobiography, The Fun of It, she thought of it as a vacation, "a minor adventure in vagabonding by air and a relaxation from writer's cramp."

Running low on fuel, Earhart made the landing. The mesquites may have punctured her tire. More likely, an earlier patch failed. In either case, Earhart lunched with the Ladies Aid Society while Porter and Lewis Burton refueled the plane and repaired her tire, writing their names inside. It took three tries to get airborne again, Earhart's tires twice more going flat.

"She circled McNeal, waving to us," Stolp recalled, "then headed off into the southeast," leaving the residents of McNeal with a memory as lasting and ethereal as the sky.

This month in history

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

50 Years Ago

The Little Colorado River, which starts in the White Mountains and eventually joins with the Colorado River, was the focus of Arizona Highways' September 1965 issue. It included features on the Lower Gorge, Lyman Dam and the history of the river and its people.

Taking Us by Storm

For our third annual student photo contest, which we co-presented with The Nature Conservancy, it was Mary Siml of Tucson who impressed us most.

For our third annual student photo contest, which we co-presented with The Nature Conservancy, it was Mary Siml of Tucson who impressed us most.For the second consecutive year, I had an opportunity to be one of the judges for a student photography contest presented by Arizona Highways and The Nature Conservancy. More than 200 high-school students from around the state submitted photos. Sometimes, it's difficult to select a winner, but this year, among many strong entries, one stood out. The photo above, Desert Monsoon, took first place. It was made by Tucson's Mary Siml, who is homeschooled and just completed her freshman year of high school.

Mary is almost entirely self-taught. When she was younger, she wanted to enter the American Girl Photo Contest; the prize was a doll, which caught the interest of both her and her older sister.

Her father gave her a point-and-shoot digital camera, and she and her father would go out hiking and shooting together. She never ended up entering the American Girl contest, but thanks to the support of her parents, she learned that she had a passion for photography.

Mary made this image on the roof of her house as the monsoon storm was rolling in. She shot some photos in color but didn't like them as much. Maybe it's no surprise that she prefers black and white: One of her heroes is Ansel Adams, and she says she used to try to copy his style.

I like the natural framing of this shot. The low horizon allows the high clouds the space to expand. It's very dramatic, and the black-and-white rendering adds to that by making it an image about forms, rather than color. I asked Mary why she chose such a low horizon. She said she just moves the camera around until the shot feels right. That tells me she has a very intuitive eye, which bodes well for her future as a photographer.

To see the other winners and finalists, visit www.arizonahighways.com. And visit our site later this year for details on next year's contest.

To learn more about photography, visit www.arizonahighways.com/photography.

Look for our book Arizona Highways Photography Guide, available at bookstores and www.shoparizona highways.com/books.

~iconic photographers ~

It wasn't that Bill Ratcliffe didn't know how to use a telephoto lens. It was that he didn't want to. As a nature photographer, Ratcliffe preferred to get as close to wildlife as possible, which sometimes meant building makeshift hideouts and staking out animals for hours. “Many of the birds I have photographed could have counted the freckles on my nose,” he said in a 1963 issue of Arizona Highways. Born in Utah in 1925, Ratcliffe discovered his interest in photography around the age of 21, when he began working at Provo Flying Service. The airport was near Utah Lake, where Ratcliffe made scenic photographs and filmed birds as a hobby. His short film Bird Study landed him a photography job for the Walt Disney Productions movie Perri. After two years of film work, Ratcliffe became a test photographer for the Dugway Proving Ground. He photographed throughout the Southwest for magazines and books until his death in 2003.

Tourist Home Urban Market

What once was a boarding house for Basque sheepherders is now a small grocery store and café that features "American comfort food redefined." It's one more reason to hang out on Flagstaff's Southside.

FOR NEARLY FOUR DECADES, VISITORS AND residents steered clear of Tourist Home on South San Francisco Street in downtown Flagstaff. Rather than being inviting, as the building's fading sign implied, the longabandoned hostel was downright creepy, with whiskey bottles littering the yard, boarded-up windows and a collapsing structure that was a haven for vagrants.

Built in 1926 by Basque sheepherder Jesus Garcia and his mother, Tourist Home was originally a boarding house for sheepherders. But after the sheepherding industry disappeared, Tourist Home shut its doors. By 2013, it seemed tearing down the decaying building was imminent.

Enter cousins Scott and Kevin Heinonen, the chef and manager, respectively, of the successful Tinderbox Kitchen restaurant and Annex cocktail lounge next door. With the help of a Flagstaff developer, the Heinonens acquired the building and vowed to restore the historic structure.

Tourist Home Urban Market opened in October 2014 as a small grocery store and Tinderbox-inspired café. While the original exterior structure has been fortified and preserved, the building's interior is clean, modern and the antithesis of the neglected place it was just a few years ago. The café and market offers quick-service breakfast and lunch items from its kitchen, as well as specialty foods and grocery staples from the market shelves and deli cases.

You can pick up milk and eggs at Tourist Home, but you can also buy exotic cheeses, homemade pâté and gourmet cornbread mix. However, what really sets this new venue apart from the growing number of Southside restaurants is the selection of breakfast and lunch items, which are prepared in less than 10 minutes but reflect the Tinderbox motto of "American comfort food redefined."

"We are focused on fresh, flavorful ingredients," says Tourist Home general manager Dara Wong, who is also a gourmet pastry chef. "We are carrying over some menu ideas from the Tinderbox in terms of offering simple, bold food. Everything on our menu has minimal ingredients but is executed very well."

Take, for example, the pastrami sandwich (pictured). This exquisite rendition of an American lunchbox staple is packed 2 inches thick with pastrami made from New York strip-steak loins, treated in a special brine and then smoked. The savory sandwich is served on raisin-pumpernickel bread and also contains caraway slaw and melted Gruyère cheese. Other quick-serve items on the lunch menu include a warm spinach salad with duckfat vinaigrette and a steak torta made with carne asada and queso fresco. And Wong always has fresh-baked pastries popping out of the oven.

Just about everything Tourist Home serves from its kitchen is house-made, from the breads to the smoked salmon and even the ketchup. "We are raising the bar for quick-service food," Wong says.

Tourist Home Urban Market is located at 52 S. San Francisco Street in Flagstaff. For more information, call 928779-2811 or visit www.touristhomeurbanmarket.com.

Mexican Free-Tailed Bats

Every week, a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) can eat hundreds of tons of insects, particularly moths - some of which prey on cotton crops. The bats typically roost in caves and attics, under bridges or in abandoned buildings or mines. And they often roost near water, which attracts the insects they eat.

Mexican free-tailed bats are the smallest free-tailed bats, with bodies between 2 and 2.5 inches long and wingspans of about a foot. They're also among the fastest, moving at up to 65 miles per hour and feeding in flight, sometimes in areas 50 miles away from their roost. As most bats do, Mexican free-tailed bats navigate through echolocation, emitting clicks at a high frequency and moving according to how those sounds bounce back. The bats can be found throughout Arizona until October, when most of them travel south to Mexico and Central America. However, some will stay in Arizona in the winter, particularly in the southern and western parts of the state. Those that leave return to Arizona in the spring, coinciding with the mating season in February and March.

Female Mexican free-tailed bats bear only one baby each summer, in June or July. The females and their babies will roost in maternity colonies, separate from the males, and the babies will stay in the highest areas of the roost, where it's warmest. By about a month old, the babies can fly and find food. - MOLLY BILKER

nature factoid COMMON SUNFLOWERS

Common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are recognizable by their height (up to 10 feet) and their characteristic movement - they follow the sun across the sky throughout the day. Sunflowers, actually classified as a roadside weed, have a depth of culinary, cultural and medical history. Originally cultivated by Native Americans, they're part of the Iroquois creation myth and have been used to produce oil and coffee substitutes; treat kidney disease, chest pain and malaria; and kill flies, among other uses. - MOLLY BILKER

THE JOURNAL ~lodging~

"There ARE MANY THINGS TO DO in Bisbee," Fred Miller says, "but one of the best things is to not do anything."

Miller runs the three-room Copper City Inn - which he opened in 2005 and now co-owns with his wife, Anita Fox - with that mantra in mind. Guests are treated to a bottle of red or white wine and a voucher for breakfast

Copper City Inn

at nearby High Desert Market and Café. The Mary Jane Colter and Louie de Bisbee rooms are perfect for couples, while the larger Warren Suite includes a full kitchen and can accommodate up to four people. Each has its own décor and personality, but all feature a private balcony, soft lighting and soothing colors that encourage guests to relax. And Miller knows a thing or two about relaxing: He's the longtime bartender and beverage manager at Bisbee's Cafe Roka. "We want to provide people with a place where they don't have to think about the stuff they left behind," he says. "They can just be here and enjoy." - NOAH AUSTIN The Copper City Inn is located at 99 Main Street in Bisbee. For more information, call 520-432-1418 or visit www.coppercityinn.com.

~ things to do in arizona ~ Grand Canyon Salsa Festival Celebration of Art Brewery Gulch Daze

September 3-6, Flagstaff Look, we won't lie to you: This fes-tival is about salsa-dancing, not salsa-eating. If the former is more your thing, treat yourself to four nights and three days of dancing and workshops at Twin Arrows Casino Resort. Information: 928814-2650 or www.grandcanyon salsafestival.com town's main drag. This free celebration includes a chili cook-off, other contests, a kissing booth, live music and more. Information: 520-4323554 or www.facebook.com/ brewerygulchdaze September 12-January 18, Grand Canyon Help establish a permanent art venue at the Grand Canyon by attending artist demonstrations, an auction and a Kolb Studio exhibit and sale. Information: 928-638-2481 or www.grand canyon.org

Fiesta de Tlaquepaque Antiques on the Square Photo Workshop: Canyon de Chelly

September 6, Bisbee Dress in costume and "party like it's 1909" in Bisbee's historic Brewery Gulch neighborhood, formerly the copper-mining September 12, Sedona Celebrate Mexico's independence at the Tlaquepaque arts-and-crafts village. This year's fiesta includes mariachis, flamenco dancers and mouthwatering food from south of the border. Information: 928-2824838 or www.tlaq.com September 20, Prescott More than 60 vendors showcase antiques and collectibles at Courthouse Square. The event is sponsored by the Thumb October 21-25, Chinle Join Navajo photographer LeRoy DeJolie on a spectacular autumn tour to photograph the canyon, along with Canyon del Muerto. The workshop also includes photo sessions with Navajo weavers, potters and jewelers in traditional dress. Information: 888-790-7042 or www.ahpw.org AH Butte Questers, who donate 100 percent of their profits to local historic-preservation efforts. Information: 928-443-8909 or www.visit-prescott.com For more events, visit www.arizonahighways.com/events.

TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT.

Every month, we showcase the most talented photographers in the world. Now it's your turn to join the ranks. Enter your favorite photo in the 2016 Arizona Highways Photography Contest. You could win an Arizona Highways Photo Workshop valued at $2,500 or additional photography prizes.

Our contest is open to amateur and professional photographers. All photos must be made in Arizona and fit into the following categories: Landscape and Macro (close-up).

For details, visit www.arizona highways.com. First-, secondand third-place winners will be published in our September 2016 issue and online beginning in early 2016.