Scheduled maintenance and Scottsdale & taking inventory

Nothing for the memory books today… On a long trip, maintenance items need to be done.  Today it was the truck oil change.  We took time to explore downtown Mesa, as well as old town Scottsdale.  We walked around the shops and had a coffee at a non-chain business. The weather was wonderful and we… Continue reading Scheduled maintenance and Scottsdale & taking inventory

Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix AZ

Desert Botanical Garden Today, we visited Desert Botanical Garden. Unsurprisingly, this is by far the best botanical garden we ever visited dealing with desert-condition native plants.  We were literally stunned by the quantity of visitors, on a Monday…  It is well organized with a short central loop that provides a quick overview, and side loops… Continue reading Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix AZ

Drive to Mesa AZ – and down we go

Today we drove from from Camp Verde to Mesa, which is itself a significant community (more than 1/2 a million residents), essentially in the suburbs of Phoenix (the Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical area counts 5M residents, the 11th in the USA by size).  It was literally a downhill drive from Camp Verde which is at an… Continue reading Drive to Mesa AZ – and down we go

Montezuma Castle National Monument

We visited Montezuma Castle National Monument, which was a very short drive from our Campground.  Although the site was looted in the early 1900s, and therefore no historical artifacts remain, it was still impressive to see the structure itself Visiting the above didn’t take much time at all, so in teh afternoon, we decided to… Continue reading Montezuma Castle National Monument

More Grand Canyon National Park – South Rim

On our second day in the park, we did more hiking and taking in of the beautiful vistas.  One could stay in one spot and have an ever changing view of the Grand Canyon due to the ever changing light conditions as the sun moves across the sky and changes what portions of the scenery… Continue reading More Grand Canyon National Park – South Rim

Grand Canyon National Park – first impressions

Our reaction at the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon is that pictures don’t do it justice.  It needs to be seen to appreciate the magnitude of it. To help with this, here are a few fun facts: The Grand Canyon is 1 mile deep (3 stacked empire state buildings), 18 miles wide, and 277… Continue reading Grand Canyon National Park – first impressions

Walnut Canyon National Monument, AZ

Walnut Canyon was a drive-by opportunity that we spotted, as we were getting close to our destination in Flagstaff AZ.  Turns out that access to the National Monuments is also included in our lifetime National Parks pass! Walnut Canyon is very popular, judging by the nearly overflowing parking lot, and it is indeed a wonderful… Continue reading Walnut Canyon National Monument, AZ