Category: Arizona

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Wet Desert

The rain we’d had for the previous days stopped so it was off to Saguaro East National Park. If we were to recommend one of these parks, it would certainly be the West. There were nowhere near the wildflowers here and the terrain was predominately flat. However, we found a couple of interesting walks which included traversing a couple of creek crossings that were flowing quite strongly after all the rain.

This is a popular park for tourists and locals so, when the locals take their shoes and socks off to get over one of the creek crossings, so did we. And if you were wondering how cold it was? It was like ice water!

That afternoon we drove to Oracle, a town northeast of Phoenix to visit Biosphere 2.

What is Biosphere 2? I’m glad you asked.

In the 1991 a group of 4 men and 4 women (pseudo academics – their words, not mine) were isolated in Biosphere 2 with 3,800 species of plants and a few farm animals for 2 years. It was an experiment to see if they could remain self-sustaining, provide all their own food, water and oxygen for the entire 2 years. (Think The Martian with Matt Damon).

It was a small version of Earth, complete with its ecosystems. They were effectively guinea pigs and funded by a Texan oil baron, through his company Space Biospheres Ventures and costing $150 million.

The Arizona Daily Star newspaper called it a “latter-day Noah’s ark” and reported that 500 people attended the official shutting of the airlock door. “For the next two years, or at least until something goes seriously wrong, they will tend the self-sustaining miniworld, with its tropical rainforest, savannah, marsh, marine and desert habitats.” Unfortunately something did go wrong. According to our self-guided tour information, when the sphere was built they didn’t seal the concrete so their oxygen was gradually depleted to levels that became unsustainable. They also struggled to produce enough sustenance for 8 people from predominately plant based produce. While they lasted the 2 years, increased oxygen levels were required externally to sustain them. Although records were set and many experiments were groundbreaking, at its conclusion the external assistance was not acknowledged and this tarnished the entire project.

There were however, 2,000 people who attended the official return of the 8 Biospherians.

A subsequent experiment was undertaken for seven months in 1994 which alleged the sustenance and oxygen problems had been rectified.

Since then the property has undergone several private owners, but in 2011 was gifted to the University of Arizona. It now provides a research facility for experimenting and studying in large-scale ecosystems. It’s information brochure states it is “the world’s largest controlled environment dedicated to understanding the impacts of climate change.” Their website at biosphere2.org gives a full outline of their current research.

It certainly was a fascinating place. We were able to go inside the domes, view the spaces where the original, dare I call them guinea pigs, lived and worked and see the current ecosystems. We also did a “lung tour” where we went underground to see the technology that regulated the air inside the main dome.

These are some of the habitats they’ve created inside the dome.

They also have an ocean ecology system and current experiments are studying the impact of increased ocean water temperature on coral reef habitats.

Th left picture was one of the tunnels into the lung of the dome. The right, the bladder which helped to regulate oxygen. It’s a giant aluminum dome with a rubber bladder above that rises and falls to manage Oxygen levels between the dome and the outside environment.

The 2 1/2 hours we spent here were incredibly interesting and worth the time and money to see the biosphere. It will be interesting to see how it progresses in coming years.

Our next day was back in Phoenix and a chance to catch up with some wonderful friends. We had 16 years to catch up on! When our children were in primary school and the internet was a relatively new phenomenon, we thought it would be great for them to have a pen pal somewhere else in the world. I had pen pals when I was in school and it really gave me a great perspective of our place in the world. A wonderful family in America also had the same thought and their son and Elyse became writing buddies for several years. We visited them when we all came to America in 1998, again when we came in 2008 and now in 2024. Their boys and our girls are now all married and have families of their own, so we hope that someday soon they’ll all be able to meet.

One thing we’re particularly looking forward to is visiting as many of the natural wonders that America has to offer. So, next on our list was Tonto Natural Bridge.

The brochure told us it is “the largest natural travertine bridge in the world” (Travertine being limestone) at 183 feet high and 400 with a foot long tunnel, 150 feet at its broadest point. Joey was faced with traversing several kilometers of downhill road that the signposts warned were between 14 – 18 % gradient! Needless to say we were in low gear and inched our way down the winding road very slowly!

Descriptions are wonderful but this was one of those open mouthed, chin on the floor, wow experiences. It was worth the drive!

These pictures don’t do its magnificence justice. There was a small veil of water flowing over the edge which isn’t visible in these photos, but the wind was blowing so strongly the water was falling sideways and upwards!

Next on our itinerary was the Petrified Forest National Park, which is east of Flagstaff in Arizona. While travelling, we see many interesting, strange and quirky things and because we’ve given ourselves no end date to finish our US odyssey, we can stop or detour whenever we want.

On the way to the Petrified Forest we travelled through several interesting and quirky towns. We’ve crisscrossed the famous Route 66 a few times and this was an hotel from back in the day when it was the major highway. Still operating today, they had several people staying there. “Glamping” has clearly been around a while!

Holiday Road, didn’t see the Griswald’s.

We drove half way along Strawberry’s main street (yes, that’s the name of the town) and decided to have a quick walk. We visited the Gingerbread house Candy Shop and bought some saltwater taffy. We also went into a wood carving shop that had the most exquisite furniture all carved from local timber. I would have bought a bear if I thought we could bring it back!

Not long after leaving Strawberry we happened across Superior, another interesting town.

Being pescatarian, I won’t be trying the ground bison any time soon. Believe it or not, the gun was painted on a building advertising a realtor. In fact, many towns we’ve visited have advertised gun shows coming up.

There were only only a dozen or so streets in Surprise, nestled among the Apache Leap Mountains and Tonto Forest. But apparently it has featured in several movies over the years, from The Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood to Eight Legged Freaks! The townsfolk have painted numerous blank walls with colourful and unique murals and if it hadn’t been so late in the day, we might have ventured into one of the quirky cafes .

The following day we entered the Petrified Forest National Park. It can really be split into two distinct areas. The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We entered at the southern end from the Rainbow Forest Museum which has some amazing petrified wood carved and sealed artifacts and hundreds of different gemstones. We assumed the dinosaurs were to encourage people to stop.

The petrified forest is quite amazing. Not a forest but rather logs that are now stone on the ground of different shapes and sizes. Some, almost as big around as I am tall and strewn around as if someone had chopped them down and left them. Some were beautifully coloured like opal and others a rich red or cream. The road winds through 26 miles (42kms) of landscape barren of any foliage more than a few grasses or small shrubs. The day we were there they had 30-40 mph winds, the day before, upwards of 50 mph winds! It’s no wonder nothing above a foot high can grow here.

And yes, it really was that cold! The 30-40 mph winds tearing through here were freezing and being so open and exposed made it even more cold!

The landscape changes constantly and although the colours are muted, they are no less striking. The Painted Desert has hills of banded colours and the walks in and amongst them give you different views of the geological strata that form the colours.

There are also pueblos that the Indians constructed of the petrified wood blocks which are quite impressive and several groups of petroglyphs. Parks with natural phenomena are often labelled with appropriate epithets and this was no exception. So we visited Blue Mesa, Jasper and Crystal Forests, Agate Bridge, and below, the aptly named Newspaper Rock.

We arrived at the end of our trail with just 10 minutes to visit the Painted Desert Inn. It was built by Fred Harvey who, after travelling through the area on numerous business trips for the railways and being unhappy with the accommodation and meals en route, began building “Harvey Houses” along the Santa Fe rail line, beginning in 1876. In 1947 his company assumed the operation of the Painted Desert Inn and refurbished it as it is today. The girls (and they were all girls) who worked in his establishments were known as “Harvey Girls.” A position as a Harvey Girl was quite sought after according to the history, because the pay and the conditions were good.

Today it is a museum and gift shop, (there’s always a gift shop!) but it’s as fresh as the day the refurbishment was completed and stands as a testament to Fred Harvey “the Civilizer of the West.”

Shortly after leaving the Petrified Forest we crossed the border into New Mexico and spent the night in Gallop, another fascinating town.

Gallop, according to the tourist info, is the “epicenter of Native American art”, being situated between Navajo and Zuni Indian reservations. It established after the discovery of coal in the 1880s and the southern transcontinental rail line passes through the town. Not that you could miss it! We were there on a Sunday when you’d think the trains wouldn’t be running, but it appears they run 7 days a week! Goods trains, double stacked with containers and so long they needed not one or two or even three engines, but six engines to pull them! Did I mention they blow their horns at every intersection they pass? At least as many times as there are engines! And to say they’re loud is a major understatement! Deafening would be a better description.

Have a guess what these beautiful paintings below were on? You’ll never guess! I’ll let you have some thinking time and tell you at the end.

It wasn’t just the murals that decorated Gallop. There were statues, artworks, large urns, old mining carts and wagons, all adorning the streets and buildings (which were, unfortunately, all shut because, Sunday).

It certainly was worth the hour walk around the town. Now, have you got a clue what those paintings were on? They were square cement containers on most street corners and each of the 4 sides were painted differently, but in a theme. So the flowers were 4 sides of one container and they were about 2 feet square.

Rubbish bins! And they were just as exquisitely painted as the wall murals.

But, it’s not just the towns we drive through that are interesting. Something that’s very noticeable while driving is the varied and changing landscape. In a matter of hours we traverse up and over snow lined mountains, across barren plains, through spruce forests and see some of the most varied and unusual geology.

One place we remember visiting on our last trip was Mese Verde National Park, with its amazing Pueblos. It’s just over the New Mexico border into Colorado. We debated about the weather, knowing that Colorado is still subject to very cold and snowy conditions but the next few days promised clear skies so we decided to head north from Gallop.

The brochure informed us that the Mesa Verde National Park was “created in 1906 to preserve the archaeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblo people.” There are excess of 4,500 archeological sites across a wide area but the sites open for public viewing consist of 5 main areas. We stopped at all of the sites on the main 46km drive which included climbing to 8040 feet above sea level.

The cliff dwellings are quite astounding, not so much for their building but for their locations. The Pueblo people traversed the cliffs using rope ladders and cut small notches into the cliffs. From AD 550 for over 700 years they grew corn, squash and beans, hunted deer and rabbits, fashioned pottery and basketry, wore sandals and tanned leather and luckily for archeologists, threw any unwanted items over the edge of the cliff. They were also very adept at damming and rerouting water and snow.

We were on top of the opposite cliff and these pueblo were set about 100 feet above ground level and perhaps 20 feet from the top mesa.

The dwellings we visited were built between AD 1150 and 1300, some with up to 150 rooms. Many internal walls were also plastered and decorated with painting. However, for reasons still open to speculation, they inhabited the cliff dwellings for less than 100 years.

These are the 4 significant areas where extensive pueblos can still be viewed in the cliffs and many partial archeological ruins along the route.

Unfortunately, the guided tours don’t begin until mid-May and until November it’s possible to walk through 4 of these amazing buildings.

Some of the larger dwellings contained 120 or 150 rooms. The smaller ones, 30 – 40 rooms. Cliff Palace, which is the largest at 150 rooms was built in an alcove in the cliff 215 feet wide x 90 feet deep x 60 feet high. Construction occurred between AD 1190 and AD 1200 and it was inhabited by up to 120 people. All living their lives precariously in and around the cliffs.

There were living rooms, storage rooms, open courtyards and kivas which were round structures used for ceremonial and social gatherings enclosed with a roof where access was from above down a rope or wooden ladder.

These remnants of kivas have been excavated and are housed in large sheds to protect them from further degradation.

We were on a roll visiting the pueblo ruins around the area so next on the recommended list was Hovenweep (deserted valley), These dwellings were built on the edge of cliff tops and teetering on boulders. Discovered in 1854 and protected in 1923, archeologists have dated this site between AD 1100 and AD 1230.

As with the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, archaeologists are unsure whether they were built in such precarious situations for the ability to defend them, or merely because the terrain offered these situations. The people who lived here carved niches in the rocks to climb up and down.

This dwelling certainly uses the existing rock formation to its best advantage and is not perched atop the cliff but on the valley below.

This dwelling, built atop the boulders on the valley floor was still 20 feet above the ground and with little room left around the exterior walls for missteps!

The following day we slipped back into Colorado and visited the Canyons of the Ancients. Set among 170,000 acres of “high desert” thousands of archeological sites have been excavated here with an expectation of many thousands more. Our brochure tells us that this region has “the highest recorded density of prehistoric and historic sites in North America”.

Built in more hospitable terrain, these ruins are also freely accessible. The most extensive, the Lowry Pueblo was constructed about AD 1160 and inhabited for 165 years. Archeologists have determined that it began as a small village with only a few rooms and a kiva and was expanded to 40 rooms with 3 kivas.

Excavated in 1930, except for some stabilisation of the masonry walls, it remains exactly as it would have stood when first discovered.

Something we’ve noticed when walking around is how small the doorways and passageways are. If Peter hadn’t been wearing his hat, he would have had quite the scrapes on his head after several boofs! This was because the average height of adult female Puebloans was approx. 5’1″ (156cm) and 5’3″ (163cm) for men. I’m 5’4″ and Peter is 6’2″ so they were significantly shorter.

These walls and the timber lintels are original

Archeologists estimate up to 40 people lived in Lowry Pueblo and that while they resided indoors there is little evidence that they cooked indoors, cooking hearths were outdoors. They were also 2 or 3 stories high with access through the rooftops. Evidence from dating tree rings used in the construction, the masonry used and wall construction indicate that over 25 years there were 6 periods where building occurred.

The Great Kiva was 47 feet in diameter and its construction dates from AD 1086. When completed, there were no doors or windows in the walls with access being through a central hole in the roof.

By now we had spent several days exploring these Puebloan sites and learning about the people who built and lived here. Their skill in building and obvious dexterity in living in these dwellings was amazing. They were clearly not afraid of heights or claustrophobic! We debated about continuing through Colorado or heading south through New Mexico, but after three nights of below 0 temperatures and the third morning having frozen Joey’s batteries so nothing worked until the outside temperature warmed up, we decided on the warmer climate of New Mexico.

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Happy Easter!

In 2008 we arrived in America on July 4, so we experienced Independence Day. We were here for Halloween which we spent on the east coast and was the absolute best time of year! We also experienced Thanksgiving and spent Christmas and New Year in Las Vegas. The only holiday we missed was Easter, which we’ve now had in the Phoenix area. I imagined it would be similar to Halloween. Houses decorated, Easter treats filling supermarket shelves and public holidays. But no! It was rather underwhelming.

Easter in America is very different to Easter at home. It’s not a National holiday here and only 12 states have Friday as a public holiday.

They don’t have hot cross buns! Imagine our dismay!

We also didn’t see any chocolate Easter hunting eggs, or much in the way of Easter chocolates. Mostly bags of the usual chocolates like M&Ms or Hershey’s. There were a lot of Easter bunnies though.

They do have many different variety packs of coloured egg shaped plastic containers that you put small lollies, like jellybeans, or plastic novelties in. These are strewn around or hidden for children to find.

The main things we noticed on supermarket shelves were egg collecting baskets, large numbers of Easter themed trinkets and gift baskets of various sizes done up with cellophane, and filled with toys, games and some lollies or chocolate.

In a mega Walmart supermarket this was the extent of Easter chocolate.

Notice the Bluey egg?

So, without having to worry about Easter holiday closures or excessive crowds we spent Friday at Arizona Boardwalk. What a fantastic place!

It’s a collection of attractions in one area and you decide which ones and how many to visit. On offer were Butterfly Wonderland, Odysea Aquarium, UFO experience, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Lazer Mirror Maze, CyberQuest, Panagaea Dinosaur World and Museum of Illusions. We opted for Butterfly Wonderland because it’s the largest natural butterfly habitat in America and UFO experience because I wanted to visit Roswell in New Mexico but this had far better reviews. There were the obligatory themed gift shops of course and also several different food options.

We arrived early before the attractions opened and had it all to ourselves. So we enjoyed wandering around and having some fun taking photos.

The butterfly habitat was amazing! It’s very well set out and informative. The 3D movie about the Monarch butterflies migration was fascinating. Did you know that they are the only butterfly that migrates north to Canada and then returns south to Mexico again, like birds? And they take 3 generations to complete their journey. Being 3D, you really can’t help reaching out to touch the butterflies you’re sure are right in front of you!

Next, is the hatching room where hundreds of chrysalis are transforming into butterflies. Each morning and afternoon they transport the new butterflies into the habitat which visitors are free to wander around.

There were thousands of butterflies fluttering around the habitat! All shapes, sizes and colours and it was difficult to know where to look. Needless to say, I took a hundred or more photos!

Here are just a few

There was a pond with Koi fish that were over a foot long and a small collection of bugs, reptiles and also several aquariums with tropical and river fish and stingrays.

After lunch we went to the UFO experience. Considering the reviews, and as someone who can’t imagine we’re alone in the universe, I was quite looking forward to it. It started off with earphones that played actual excerpts from notable people about UFOs and included several air force pilots and even Bill Clinton. There were TVs replaying parts of the recent Pentagon inquiry into UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) which were interesting and numerous information boards which outlined various encounters since “the big one” in Roswell in 1949, including primary source documents that detailed what happened.

But I have to say the second half was not as interesting and some displays bordered on ridiculous and tacky. There was a whole room dedicated to people who believed they were abducted by aliens. Another room to aliens that appear in movies e.g. ET or Alien. There were displays of ‘alleged’ technologies of the future, e.g. time travel apparatus and finally a room which outlined previous civilisations’ feats and how they could reflect interactions with more advanced beings, e.g. the Mayan peoples and what could be interpreted as ‘otherworldly’ symbolism.

When we entered we were given a survey card and asked do we believe in UFOs? Yes, Maybe, or No. As we walked through the display rooms we ticked whether we believed what was outlined for each one and then tallied up our answers at the end to see if we had changed our opinion, or it remained the same. Mine stayed the same, notwithstanding the dubious displays. Peter started with yes and his opinion remained the same too. When educated, respected and well known people are prepared to make their experiences public, perhaps they shouldn’t be discounted.

By the time we had another walk around the butterfly habitat and revisited a couple of the gift shops, we’d spent an entire day here and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

On Saturday we had a very enjoyable walk around Papago Park, an extensive area near Phoenix CBD which includes playing fields, Phoenix Zoo, Botanical Gardens, a large number of walking/mountain bike trails and a cycling/walking path along the canal system.

Well, someone had to climb up to give an idea of the scale!

Indian civilisations that dwelled in the Phoenix region 1,400 years before European settlement built a complex system of canals over almost 500 miles. Subsequently, more recent settlers to the region continued building canals to transport water to areas previously underdeveloped. Today, there are 180 miles of canals that traverse the greater Phoenix region and on average are 16 feet deep.

It was a scenic and interesting walk. We discovered a man-made lake for fishing and an interesting mausoleum.

Apparently, George P. Hunt thought that this was the most scenic spot in Arizona and decided that he and his immediate relatives would like to spend their eternity presiding over this view. In a pyramid, no less.

Because it was Saturday, we decided to take a drive through Phoenix CBD and happened upon the Arizona Capital Museum. Over four floors there are very interesting displays outlining Arizona’s history including the judiciary, government, building construction and also exhibitions about Arizona’s history from 1845 and their campaign for statehood, the USS Arizona battleship and the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers (African American troops).

We learned some interesting things about Arizona too.

President Abraham Lincoln made Arizona a territory in 1863 but it wasn’t until February 14, 1912 that President William Taft declared it to be the 48th state.

The Capitol building was completed in 1901 and housed the Arizona Territorial and State Legislature until 1960 and the Executive Offices until 1974.

They have 10 state Emblems: The Saguaro (pronounced Sah-WAH-row) Cactus white blossom is the flower, and the Cactus Wren is the bird and were declared in 1931. The Palo Verde tree (green stick in Spanish), in 1954. The critters were all declared in 1986 and include the Ringtail as the State mammal (not a possum but related to the raccoon), the Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake as the reptile, the Apache Trout as the fish, and the Arizona Tree Frog as the amphibian. Turquoise is the State gem, and copper the metal. The most recent is the Sonorasaurus dinosaur, declared in 2018 after an 11 yr. old school boy wrote to the Governor to ask if the dinosaur, discovered in 1994 in southern Arizona, could become the state dinosaur.

They have a LEGO replica State flag built from 113,998 LEGO bricks which equals the square mileage of Arizona. The blue and red are custom colours made expressly by LEGO to reflect the actual colours of the flag.

On Sunday we visited the Saguaro West National Park and completed a 13km hike over an elevation of 572 meters! It was one of the most scenic and interesting hikes we’ve done so far. The wildflowers were so varied and abundant and at the peak of the hike we had stunning 360 degree views, including of the clouds and mist that rolled in as we were descending. Our visibility went from many kms to only a few hundred feet in a matter of 10 minutes! We arrived back at Joey just as it started spitting rain and within the hour, it was raining steadily. In fact, it rained almost constantly for the next 36 hours!

Because of the rain on Monday, we decided inside was the place to be so we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum.

I imagined I’d wander around for a couple of hours and then leave Peter to spend however much longer he wanted to view the displays. How wrong was I! What a fabulously interesting place! We arrived just after the museum opened and were some of the last the leave just before 5pm! It was so well set out and displayed with informative panels that gave details about the planes but also outlined much of the history of aviation.

There were 4 huge hangars over 250,000 square feet filled with planes from the Wright Brothers biplane to an F-14 Tomcat and some of the biggest, smallest and strangest planes I’ve seen. There’s a further 80 acres of land outside that is also filled with planes that we didn’t even get to. Partly because it was raining and very muddy around the planes but also because there were so many interesting things to see indoors.

The Starr Bumble Bee was built expressly to gain the record for the world’s smallest aircraft. It’s first flight was in 1984 and it still holds the record as the smallest bi-plane to fly.

Replica Wright Brothers Flyer.

Did you know that the first seaplanes were flown circa 1910?

This Mariner PBM-5A Amphibian was flown by the American navy between 1948 – 1956, and by civilians until 1971 when it made its last flight.

I found the historical information particularly informative. There were quite extensive displays that outlined women and African Americans in aviation from the 1900s until recently. It was surprising to read how difficult it was for these groups to be accepted in the aviation and defence industries.

There were also a number of prototypes that were great ideas at the time. Some, like this idea for a personal helicopter, didn’t make the grade, while others, like the first sea planes have continued to evolve and are common today. Did you know that the first sea plane flew in the US in 1910?

Remember back to our trip across London Bridge in Lake Havasu and the man that bought the bridge? Well, we learned some more history about McCulloch’s business enterprises. When it was founded in 1943, its prime business was building small gasoline engines. During WWII, most of these engines powered military radio-controlled target drones. This part of the business continued until 1967 by which time, more than 60,000 engines had been produced.

When we were last in America, Walmart’s were our often our accommodation spot for the night. This trip we’ve also discovered that a store called Cracker Barrel (a gift, clothes, knick knack store combined with a restaurant; odd but it seems to work) and Camping World also allow overnight RV stays. So, we made our stop for the night in the Camping World and hoped that the rain would stop by morning for our visit to Saguaro East National Park.

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A Grand Tour

One of the things I love about RV travel is that we are not beholden to anyone.  We have no specific date or time to be anywhere (except our flight home), so, until July we can go wherever we please!  We’ve changed our mind about which direction to travel in several times already.  Mostly, due to the weather.  We thought we’d head north to the California Parks, Kings Canyon, Yosemite and on to Lake Tahoe but the weather had other plans!  So instead, we’ve decided to head east, crossed the border into Arizona and took a lesser road up to Lake Havasu and then across to the Grand Canyon.

A veritable oasis in the desert, Lake Havasu is the culmination of one man’s dream to build a town around his business, right on the border between California and Arizona.

Here’s a question:  What do these two things have in common?

The answer comes under the “who would have thought” heading.  It turns out that in 1960, the inventor and entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch, (have you twigged?) sought a suitable body of water to test his boat motors, not his chain saws!  He purchased 26 square miles of barren land adjacent the Colorado River and with his friend, Cornelius Vanderbuilt (who designed Disneyland), set about developing a town around his business.  An extensive ad campaign and warmer climate encouraged many northerners to relocate to his oasis in the desert. 

What does this have to do with London Bridge?

I’m glad you asked.

Apparently, McCulloch heard that the City of London were selling their dismantled old London Bridge which had stood for 600 years.  Ever the entrepreneur, he made a successful bid for the bridge, which consisted of the ornate lampposts and 10,276 granite blocks which were subsequently shipped to Lake Havasu.  The current canal was dredged, creating the island that the newly erected bridge would span. 

The grand opening occurred on October 10, 1971, and included an “English village.”  It became Arizona’s only “beachfront resort.”

We arrived late in the afternoon and went for a walk along the canal, marveling at the pontoon boats that lined the shores resplendent with afternoon revelers and their tipple of choice, and very flash speed boats that motored ever-so-slowly up and down.

The following morning, we parked in the town and walked down to the canal and along the foreshore to the “English Village” and back.  Shorts and T-shirts were our chosen attire because by mid-morning it had warmed up to 30C.

Apparently palm trees are perfectly ok if you carve and stain them

A new movie? Honey I Blew Up the Dog. He certainly was much bigger than me!

It certainly was a change from the LA landscape we’d just left.  Palatial homes and lush gardens were replaced with bare, rocky hills, arid landscapes, pueblo-style homes and a quirky sense of humour.

Our summer attire was short-lived however, because late that afternoon as we settled into our Bureau of Land Management (BLM) disbursed campsite a short drive from the Grand Canyon National Park, the temperature had dropped to below zero.  These areas are set aside in many forests and parks for free camping and provide no services but are great bush camps where you can have a campfire.

Our temperature gauge at 7am.  The left number is inside and the right, outside and this is Fahrenheit which translates to 8 degrees Celsius inside and -5.5 degrees outside!

Our last visit to the Grand Canyon only entailed a short rim walk on the southern side because it was the end of the season, and most things were shutting down.  This visit, we said we’d do as many hikes and activities as possible.  

First up, an early morning walk along the south rim to the visitor center, museums and of course, the tourist shops.  Wearing several layers of clothes to keep the below 10-degree temperatures at bay.  We ended at Hopi Point and retraced our walk back to Joey.  We were just as amazed walking the other direction.

Hopi House is now a shop and gallery that sells jewelry, rugs, pottery, dream catchers and other items made by local native Indians. There were some exquisite pieces and I was impressed that any items not made by the local Indians were clearly marked. It’s lucky we live in moveable premises or I would certainly have bought a few pieces.

Rocking chairs were a feature on the porches of all the buildings we saw and they certainly fitted in with the decor.

The resort chalet was also build at the same time and is certainly in keeping with the rugged log cabin theme.

But what we came to see was the Canyon and it didn’t disappoint! I can’t tell you how many pictures we snapped because every time we looked out we saw a different view. The light hitting the canyon and highlighting another area, or the changing colours as the sun moved through the morning.

We even saw some squirrels that call this area home. They were quite striking to look at, unbelievably quick darting around and clearly not concerned about the sheer drop!

You can see how muddy the Colorado River is in this picture, the bridge and its shadow and the trail along the cliff edge.

There are no fences along the rim trail and many opportunities to get as close to the edge as you want. Don’t look down if you’re scared of heights!

I love taking pictures of dead trees and this one was quite striking.

The rocks on the path edge certainly aren’t going to stop anyone going over! You can see how close the edge is in some places to the path.

It really is a “Grand” canyon!  I don’t think you’d ever get tired of looking at this yawning abyss.  The colours, light and shade, varied rock patterns and its sheer size are spectacular.  We began our rim walk at about 7.30am.  By the time we got back to Joey in car park 3, (RVs and large vehicles always get the parking allocations the furthest away), it was after 11am!  Of course, this is still low season.  Several roads and hiking trails are still shut and road access to the north rim won’t open until mid-May.  However, many of the lookouts were several people deep by our return and not only were the 3 very expansive car parks full, but people had lined the roads, parked on dirt verges and around the perimeters of the car parks.  Note to self – make sure we arrive early tomorrow too!  It must be sheer bedlam in high season!

Because of the crowds we stayed put in the car park and had lunch, then walked the inner route, through the forest to the marketplace and the lookouts at the far end of the public access.  By 5pm and having walked around all day, we decided to catch the free shuttle bus that circumnavigates the marketplace, accommodation and the car parks.  We walked just over 16kms and felt that the canyon is so vast, we’d barely seen a fraction!

We stayed our second night in a closer campsite, determined to arrive earlier the following morning because it was Saturday.  We’d parked by 7am and planned to walk the rim in the other direction to South Kaibab trailhead. 

Views from this direction gave us better vantage points to see the mighty Colorado River as it snaked through the bottom of the canyon.  Until you know where to look, it’s difficult to spot from so high up because of it’s muddy colour.

There were already several people sporting backpacks and hiking sticks, headed down the trail, so we followed on down.  The trail snakes backwards and forwards across the cliff face with hairpin bends and nothing at all to stop your fall on the downhill side, should you take a misstep!  There were too many rough stone steps to count and not a foot of flat path!  It was downhill all the way, and you know what that means!  Uphill all the way back!

It’s recommended to take two days to hike to the bottom and back up, which means carrying all your camping equipment and tent overnight at the bottom.  We passed several hikers who had intended to make the bottom, but we were surprised because we knew what the weather held in store for later in the afternoon and following day.  Strong winds, rain and the likelihood of snow!  We hadn’t decided how far we’d hike down, but the lookout at Ooh Aah Point (yes it really is called that!) seemed like a good point to turn around.  Then we saw that Cedar Ridge plateau was actually not that much further, so we continued on down. 

Cedar Ridge is a relatively flat area with water available to refill bottles, long drop toilets and hitching rails to tie up the mules.  There were several mules corralled at the top and a lot of evidence on the trail that they’d recently traversed it. When we reached the top we saw two mules whose riders told us they were going down to Cedar Ridge to exercise them.  I certainly wouldn’t want to ride a mule down the very steep and narrow path or have to step to the downhill side to let them go past. 

What goes down, must go up and after taking time to take in the incredible scenery, we began our hike to the top.  We were quite amazed at the numbers of people now coming down the trail.  It was almost a constant queue.  Not surprising, however, were the numbers of people who were unprepared to leave the cliff side and pass on the right! The wind and cold change they forecast also arrived and on some of the switchbacks it was difficult to climb against.

Other than one brief stop on the way up for a drink, we made it back without stopping and were not out-of-breath at all.  All those morning walks have paid off!  Then we had the 4km walk back to Joey.

We saw everything we wanted to see and that was available, so we headed off along the alternate south rim road, stopping at the scenic lookouts on our way out of the park. The further we drove, the higher we got and the more snow we started to see.

We had planned to stay in Flagstaff for a day or two and see some of the sights, but the weather forecast for the Grand Canyon region reached Flagstaff overnight and we awoke to about 3 inches of snow!  Joey is unprepared to stay in below freezing conditions for lengthy periods and we are also aware of how treacherous driving in icy and snowing conditions can be.  

There was no snow here when we pulled up the night before. It all fell overnight!

Our windscreen wipers were under all that snow

Some pictures I took as we drove out of Flagstaff.

After braving the snow for photos we upped stumps and headed down from our 7,000 feet elevation to a small town called Black Canyon and below the snow line.  We found a very interesting community trail that snaked its way around the hillside in and around many cacti and succulents. 

We’ve discovered that many of the native Indian tribes’ own casinos and they are very happy to let RVs and trucks stay in their secure parking lots so that’s where we found ourselves in Sun City.  Just for something different we decided to check out the casino for dinner.  It was packed with people, most of whom were seated at the hundreds of slot machines.  We opted for Mexican cuisine.  Unsurprisingly, I opted for the salad with roast veg and Peter treated himself to the “lets eat all our calories for the day in one meal” nachos bowl. I’m told it was very delicious!

The following morning, we awoke to clear blue skies and light jacket temperatures.  We hiked two spots in the White Tank Mountain State Park, which, like most everything in this area, was either newly build (in the last 10 years or so) or currently being built.  The amount of new infrastructure here is astounding!  Housing estates, shopping complexes, an extensive road and highway system, and more gargantuan warehouses, manufacturing and office buildings than I’ve seen anywhere.  But I digress.

Our first hike to Petroglyph Plaza and Waterfall Canyon gave us some glimpses into how spectacular the cacti will be when fully out in flower.  There are also 11 archaeological sites where the regional Hohokam Indian tribes carved into the rocks between AD 500 & 1100.  The information provided suggested holy men carved the symbols while under the influence of hallucinogens, so their meaning has remained ambiguous however, archaeologists have discovered evidence of farming crops, damming water and living in villages. 

The trail culminated in a small water pool and the very slightest trickle of water at the waterfall site, but nonetheless worth the hike.  Our second hike led us around the mountain to view Willow Canyon and views of the towns below. 

On the search for interesting and scenic walks and hikes, we found Estrella Mountain Regional Park. It wasn’t as picturesque as the White Tank region but interesting in that it was so much more arid and dry, but only a few miles away. So, the following morning we found ourselves back in White Tank Park and trekking the Ford Canyon Trail.

While still arid and rocky it was much greener with a lot more grasses, ground covers and wildflowers. The hike takes you up and over the hills, along a water course that had, in the past been dammed, and snakes around the hillsides back to car park. We had intended to hike up to the dam wall and then retrace our steps back down but instead, we continued on to complete the whole 16km loop.