West Wishes Recommends

We have made so many good choices on this trip. I didn’t want to plug every place we went in a post because (1) it would be lost in the text of the post and (2) it would disturb the flow of the post. So here’s a (constantly being updated) list of places I’d recommend visiting if you’re ever in the Southwest US: 

Place: Slater’s 50/50 in Huntington Beach, CA

Website: https://slaters5050.com/

Reason for visiting: substantial draft beer list, burgers that are half beef/half bacon, fried mac and cheese balls, and general restaurant atmosphere. 

Place: Mi Patio in Phoenix, AZ

Website: http://www.mipatioaz.com/

Reason for visiting: the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, plus delicious $2 margaritas

Place: The Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ

Website: http://heard.org/

Reason for visiting: a well-curated collection of Native American artifacts and art along with really quality guided tours. If you’re like me and you missed the section on Native Americans of the southwest other than the Navajo, there’s so much good information presented so clearly here. Plus, and I can’t stress this enough, the Superheroes exhibit is fantastic (through August 23rd, 2015). It’s not free, for sure, but it’s awesome. Also, we met some really knowledgeable staff members who were more than happy to share tips and recommendations for visiting the Grand Canyon. 

Place: Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ

Website: http://mim.org/

Reason for Visiting: Have you ever wanted to see musical instruments from the entire world and then hear what they sound like? Have you ever wanted to spend an entire day surrounded by music? Do you want to see a brass band made out of bamboo or an orchestra made out of recycled materials? Boy, do I have a place for you. It’s a little pricey, but worth it. 

Place: Cheba Hut sandwiches

Website: http://chebahut.com/

Reason for Visiting: Their beers are good, their atmosphere is stoner-chic, and I have never enjoyed sprouts on a sub so much. I don’t think there’s a poor choice on that menu. Also this Star Wars picture. 

Place: Navajo Point

Reason for visiting: There are plenty of viewpoints around the Grand Canyon, but this and the Watchtower were my favorite. Not very crowded but still beautiful views. If you want somewhere to just be near the Canyon, this is where I’d go. 

Place: Bryce Canyon Pines

Website: http://www.brycecanyonmotel.com/bryce-restaurant/

Reason for visiting: Homemade soup and homemade pie. I don’t recommend pie lightly, so know that this is quality, quality pie.

Place: The Hoover Dam

Website: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/

Reason for visiting: If you can appreciate good engineering, the Hoover Dam is the place for you. If not, you can stand in two states at once. There’s also a bunch of stars on the floor of the monument near the top of the dam. 

Place: Devilicious Food Truck (seen in Anaheim, CA)

Website: http://deviliciousfoodtruck.com/

Reason: Best BLT I’ve ever had in my entire life. 

Place: Tanor Fresh Mediterranean Grill in Anaheim, CA

Website: https://www.sites.google.com/site/tanorfreshmediterraneangrill/

Reason: Looking for a shawarma place within walking distance of the convention center? This is it. 

Place: California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA
Website: http://californiasciencecenter.org/
Reason: This is where the space shuttle Endeavor is housed and the exhibit staff is superbly knowledgeable and happy to answer endless questions about the shuttle. There's also a fantastic mini-aquarium and tons of well-done interactive exhibits. You can easily spend a day in here.

Place: The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, CA
Website: http://www.tarpits.org/la-brea-tar-pits
Reason: First off, this is a lovely park area right beside an art museum, so if you're looking for a picnic in this part of LA, I'd recommend it. It's right off Wilshire Boulevard, so it's easy to find. Plus, you have the added benefits of being right near paleontology happening right now. Also, these guys:

Do it for the Unconcerned Baby Elephant

West Wishes 1: A Comic Book Aside

Okay, I promise I’ll tell you about travel and the Pacific Ocean and food and mountains and the Canyons, but before I do those posts, I need you to see this post. 

In Phoenix, we went to the Heard Museum, which I’m going to strongly recommend to anyone who can reasonably get to Phoenix, especially before the end of August. It’s an American Indian art and history museum. We tagged onto a guided tour through all the history, which was really well informative and fascinating, just really well done all around, and, having been in informal science education for four years, I have a pretty solid sense of what’s well done.

But the section I really want to talk to you about was the superheroes exhibit, which of course I bought a ticket to, because, come on. It’s me. Like most things involving superheroes, I bought it without any idea of what to expect. And I was blown away. 

Have you ever seen a picture of what Superman would look like if he were Cherokee? 

"(Su)perman," 2014, by Tom Ferris (Otoe-Missouria/Cherokee)

Did you ever expect, among the many reimaginings of famous characters, to see a Salish version of Rocket and Groot or Hulk and Wolverine? Are you like me and had no idea what Salish referred to? 

Left: "Untitled," Spring 2014, Jeffrey Veregge. Right: "As Nature Intended," February 2014, by Jeffrey Veregee (Port Gamble S'Klallam)

In this exhibit, there was Batman pottery, Thor pottery, Pueblo Powerpuff Girls. All of these native takes on heroes we’re familiar with, they're beautiful and unique and a not-so-subtle reminder of the whiteness of the dominant culture in America. Which is why I was ecstatic to see the native superheros of the exhibit. 

Super Indian. 

Created, drawn, and written by Arigon Starr (Kickappoo)

Captain Paiute. 

Created by Theo Tso (Las Vegas Paiute)

Kagagi.

Drawn and written by Jay Odjick (Anishinabe/Kitigan Zibi Algonquins)

Pueblo Girl (Wonder Woman’s cousin). 

Autumn Borts and Susan Folwell (painter) (Santa Clara Pueblo)

These are new stories, new takes on old stories, stories we’ve never heard before, but stories that fit perfectly into the genre. They’re beautifully drawn and pull from tried and true storytelling traditions. It’s exciting and I’m so glad to know that these books exist in the world, so I had to share this with all of you. 

If you want to read a couple of the Super Indian comics, the books are available online. If you’re in the area, or if you’re planning a trip, head over to Phoenix while the exhibit’s going on- it's open until August 23rd. If nothing else, take a second when you’re planning your next book to look for stories told by people you haven’t heard from before. You’ll find wonderful things that way, I promise.