JWM - Volume 2, Issue 3 - (Page 60)

Day 3 Shop the World: The Lost Barrio Though it’s less than a mile from downtown, the Lost Barrio, a three-block stretch of home-design warehouses, does feel lost in time—and geographic context. Each store is different. At Eastern Living, I found everything from a monumental dining table hewn from a single slab to jade jewelry on chains woven from golden threads. Southwest Furniture & Design is all furniture handcrafted by Tucson artisans (hammered copper-top tables, ornately carved cedar-lined chests). People’s Imports carries a vast array of the arts and crafts of tribal communities from around the world (think lapis necklaces from Afghanistan and African sculptures). In the last couple of years, quirky newer shops have emerged, such as the workshop-turned-store Mast, which sells, among other flights of fancy, necklaces made of antique compasses and earrings made of old Lucite beads. I usually devote the better part of a day to the Lost Barrio, stopping at least once at Tooley’s Cafe for enormous but healthy Mexican dishes on the patio. Day 4 Day of Wellness: Starr Pass After all my shopping, sightseeing and art-ogling, I spent my final day of this trip creating a day of self-directed wellness. I stayed at JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa, which I’ve been visiting since it opened in 2005. Sequestered about six miles west from downtown Tucson, the hotel may be best known as a conference center; but in my mind, it’s always been a sort of wellness retreat. It’s been doing innovative things since it opened its doors. Outside its Mediterranean restaurant, Primo, an organic garden has been flourishing with crops like strawberries, tomatoes and mint, which go straight from garden to plate (long before other restaurants caught on to the trend). Other crops come from the Tohono O’odam Nation. At Hashani Spa, Native American treatments like hot stone massages are integrated into the menu. And my stays have always included a drive 15 miles northwest of Starr Pass, where you’ll arrive in the west section of Saguaro National Park and be able to see petroglyphs left by the Hohokam. But perhaps the most interesting new development here incorporates the rituals that Tucson’s many cultures have held dear since long before golfers, gourmands and culture-junkies discovered this area. In March, JW Marriott added to its already popular rituals (such as the sunset tequila toast around its roaring fire pits) guided morning hikes and a morning “prayer”: the Lakota Mitakuye Oyasin, which acknowledges our interconnectedness to each other and the land. In it, staff, guests and anyone else may wrap their private intentions in a sageand-cloth bundle and release them to the universe via fire. It is perhaps just the connection people seek when they come to this very special land in the first place. [ hospitality Sofie Albertsen Gelb (right), co-owner of Mast, offers a warm welcome to visitors, as does the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass (far right and above).

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JWM - Volume 2, Issue 3

JWM - Volume 2, Issue 3
Table of Contents
Contributors
JW Experts
Editor’s Letter
Distinctive Products, People, Ideas & Style
A Quiet Place
Dive Into Transcendental Meditation; Road Warrior Secrets
A Fish Tale; Beyond Sake
Photography 101; Sharp Shooters
The Portal
The Warmth of the Sun
Storied Cocktails
Pedal Pushers
Mixed Media
JW Experience
My Passion

JWM - Volume 2, Issue 3