Tag Archives: Arizona

A week in Phoenix with my dad

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In Cave Creek Regional Park

Be sure to check out the full trip photo album.

Sat and Sun: I had some extra time off and had been wanted to get out to Arizona to see my dad and Sharon. With other time constraints, including the desire to avoid the hot weather that would be there during my mid-August week off, I decided the first week in March would work well. Kyle and I hopped a plane for the nearly six hour trip from Newark. After a bit of a rough descent, we landed a bit early and met my dad and Sharon at the airport. We stopped for some good pizza at Picazzo’s in Glendale on the way to their place in Sun City West. We had a nice evening of just hanging out. On Sunday, Sharon, my dad and I headed up to Cave Creek for some nice hiking, good Mexican food at El Encanto and a wander around town. After dropping Sharon off back him, my dad and I hit up the State 48 Brewery right near them. (Decent enough beer.)

Mon: This was a quiet day. I got a morning run in and then we spent most of the day around the house. In the afternoon, my dad and I headed up to do the really nice Waterfall Canyon Trail in White Tank Mountain Regional Park. On the way home, we stopped by O.H.S.O. Brewery in Surprise for a couple of burgers and some decent beer.

Near Bell Rock, Sedona

Tues: We had originally talked about going overnight to Sedona but ended up making the roughly 2.5 hour drive just for the day. (This ended up being fine.) After a quick stop at the visitors’ center, we all headed out on the Bell Rock Trail. Kyle and I went a bit further than my dad but eventually got to a point that involved rock scrambling. I went up one tricky bit but am glad Kyle did not as getting down was interesting. After the hike, we headed up to the wonderful Airport Scenic Viewpoint. This is supposed to be spectacular at sunset but was still very nice midday. Is was then back into town for lunch at Sedona Pizza Company (good pizza but pricey) and a wander around town. Next up was the drive to see some Native American ruins at Tuzigoot National Monument before a quick stop in the old mining town of Jerome.

Wed: Another quiet day. I got a morning run in where I saw two coyotes. (I had seen a single one Sunday morning as well.) Late in the afternoon, Kyle, my dad and I popped over to one of the Sun City West the rec centers for some time playing pool and then a round of mini-golf. We had a ton of fun.

In Wickenburg

Thur: Sharon, my dad and I headed up to the old town of Wickenburg, about 40 mins away. After some good Mexican food (though way too many Trump signs) at Anita’s Cocina, we had a nice visit to the Desert Caballeros Western Museum. This was quite a nice museum and includes a reconstructed bit of town inside the museum. After the museum, we wandered town and headed back to Sun City West. Later, my dad and I headed over to the Cactus Taproom and Beer Store in Peoria for some really good beer there and to bring home.

Fri and Sat: Friday morning, it was actually raining quite hard. We spent most of the day just hanging around. In the afternoon, I grabbed and Uber downtown (a bit over an hour) to hit up Arizona Wilderness brewery (great beer) and then Greenwood (good beer as well). I had planned to hit up Roses by the Stairs as well, going as far as to do the 25 min walk there, but decided just to head home. On Sat, I snuck in a short morning run before finalizing packing and heading to the airport. The flight home was fine, even getting in a bit early.

We had a great time being out in the Phoenix area, which was the first time for us. It was great to see my dad and Sharon. I hope to get back at some point and see more of the area as well.

View from Bell Rock, Sedona

Trip 2012 – Day 4 – Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon

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Here are some photos from day four, our day to make the long drive from Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon. (I don’t have many good photos of Bryce from this day as we got into the park around sunset and it faces east. Sunrise is much better. Stay tuned for those.)

One last view of the Grand Canyon on our way out

Horseshoe Bend

Moon over Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

View from Bryce Canyon

Trip 2012 – Day 1 – Travel and Route 66

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We Made It!

We had a pretty good, though long, first day of the trip. The car to the airport arrived a bit early. With the very light traffic, it was 6:15 in the morning after all, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We even had a decent breakfast before going though security as the offerings once past at Newark’s terminal B are pretty poor. Our flight was pretty full, but left on time and arrived in Minneanopolis 20 or so minutes early. This was nice as our connection as scheduled was a but tight at 49 minutes. We did have an issue in that we somehow messed up our seat selections for this leg. (Kyle and I were on one reservation while Suzanne was on another due to number of frequent flyer miles we each had.) Instead of sitting three across, Kyle and I were in one row in the window and middle seats and Suzanne was in the row behind in the window seat. The lady in the aisle seat very kindly offered to swap. (I wasn’t even going to ask as she was traveling with someone across the aisle, but she offered and insisted.)

We arrived in Las Vegas right on schedule. After getting our bags, we managed to get our rental car, a nice Chevy Malibu, right about when I had expected. On our way out of town, we stopped by Wal-Mart for lunch at McDonald’s, kind of grungy one, and some supplies.

Heading down Route 66

We were then really on our way, down over the new bridge by the Hoover Dam and into Arizona. After a brief stop in Kingman, we headed up Route 66. It was kind of cool to see some of the old places along it. Parts of it really are in the middle of nowhere, at least for us Easteners. Part way down, we stopped at the Hackberry General Store. This was certainly worthwhile for some kitsch and some good photos of lots of historic “junk”. Then it was back in the car for the hour drive to Seligman along some of the straightest stretch of road I’ve ever seen. (I swear it was 10+ miles without a turn.)

Hackberry General Store

Seligman is a cute little town where Rt 66 intersects back with Interstate 40. (Rt 66 takes a big loop between Kingman and Seligman while I-40 does it in a straight shot.) We checked into our very nice room at the Canyon Lodge. (Funnily enough run by a gentleman from Freiburg, Germany, who was born in Mainz. Mainz is just outside of Frankfurt, so quite close to Marburg.) He recommended a great place for dinner which I had planned on going to anyway (Westside Lilo’s). The food was very good. (I had the Weinerschnitzl.

Route 66 Gas Pump

Their chef was from Weisbaden, also right outside Frankfurt.) Also interesting was the waitress was from Michigan and had lived in Ypsilanti and Manchester, two towns right next to Ann Arbor where we lived while I was in grad school at MSU. Even better, Kyle was in a bit of a mood. (To be fair, it was getting on 10:30 Eastern time and he had been up since 5:45.) The only kid’s meal that wasn’t available was pancakes, which, of course, he wanted. They actually made a special dinner-plate sized one for him. (I’m not 100% sure they even charged us for it.) One thing we found very interesting about the town is the number of foreigners. At dinner, there was an Italian group, a German family, possibly another German family, and a French, I think, couple. At the hotel, there is a group of older motorcyclists whose language I don’t recognize. I find this pretty cool.

Tommorrow, our plan is to see a bit of the town and hop in the car for the 90 or so minute drive to the Grand Canyon. It should be exciting.