Come and listen to a story about a shop named J.E.D.'s: J E D's Rock Treasures of Tucson, Arizona

On your way to (or from) Tucson, Arizona's cactus-tacular Sonora Desert Museum, you'll pass by an unassuming but delightful eccentric roadside attraction on North Sandario Road: J E D's Rock Treasures. I'm trying to get a fix on the correct spelling of their name -- the letters J, E and D are usually capitalized but not always and sometimes they're followed by periods, as if they're abbreviating a proper name or phrase. But not always.

J E D's is a mineral, sea shell, fossil, crystal, jewelry and gift emporium of the highest order, surrounded by a funky rock garden strewn with antique implements and a table and chairs shaded by what looks like an ingeniously inverted former TV satellite dish. Mixed in with the agates, polished rocks and geological wonders are a quirky assortment of earthy objet d'art, many with a Arizona desert theme, and all at reasonable prices.

I did an internet search on J E D's and found this sad note posted on 5/26/10 attached to an EBay classified ad: "These people lost their home to a lightning strike. They can use any sales they can get. I am posting this ad to help them. The rock shop escaped damage, but their home was gutted. Thank you for your help. They would never ask."

Places like this are a true treasure, indeed, and we hope the proprietors of J.E.D.'s get over their troubles and will continue to rock on.

A Lark that's an ark in a park: Tucson, Arizona's Sonora Desert Park Studebaker

Tucson, Arizona is blessed with The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, a spectacular private and nonprofit zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden. Exhibits recreate the beautiful natural landscape of the Sonoran desert region and the grounds contain 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants.

They also have an unexpected eccentric roadside attraction next to their parking lot: a 1960 Studebaker Lark VIII station wagon, beautifully restored and dubbed "The Desert Ark." In 1955, Mr. Hal Gras created a program to take live animals to schools and other venues. For more than 30 years he loaded numerous station wagons (all known as The Desert Ark) with porcupines, snakes, badgers, ringtail cats, and a mountain lion named George L., and drove them around to schools to educate students and the public. This particular Studebaker was beautifully restored in 2002 to coincide with the park's 50th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the Studebaker car company. In it are photos of Mr. Gras in his heyday. I believe in a nationwide survey, Studebakers were preferred by porcupines by a two to one margin.