Hot Stuff

Arizona

I mentioned recently that my return to blogging after a month of non-posting was a follow-on from my return home from Arizona.

I know this is not exactly a travel blog — [insert guffaw, here] — but I thought it might be fun to show you some photos from my trip. For some of you it will be old hat; at least one couple who blogs in my ‘genre’ lives in the desert, I know. For others, though, perhaps it will be a little peak into a place you’ve never been but want to go (KD, who recently got roasted but{t} not by the sun, says it’s on his bucket list), or – if nothing else – it might bring a tiny ray of sunshine to the wintry cold misery my northern-hemisphere readers are probably enduring.

SO

In the coldest month of the year, when the days are getting ever-darker and the drear just.will.not.STOP, here is some light and warmth:

Phoenix ~ Scottsdale ~ Tempe ~ Mesa

One of the things that blew me away about Phoenix was how HUGE it is. When we landed at the airport — which is like a city unto itself — and then were making our way to our hotel (we stayed in Scottsdale), it became clear that Phoenix is a metropolis. The statistics we found said 1.3 million people reside in Phoenix. And that’s JUST Phoenix.

The greater Phoenix metro area includes the cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa as well — which each have about 250,000 people of their own — and when you do the math, there are over two million people who live in the area.

And I can understand why.

For people like me, who live in the constant cold rainy UGH of the Pacific Northwest, the idea of year-round sunshine is like a dream come true. And it is SUNNY there. Even the cloudy-ish days were sun-drenched.

AND

Even though it’s in the middle of a desert, we found water (we are definitely water babies!) without a problem. The photo above is of a fountain in El Dorado Park, which was right across from the hotel we stayed in. The park is actually called several different things; it runs for several miles along a fairly busy stretch of road and changes names between landmarks. The area we enjoyed walking the most is actually called El Camino Park and it has a lovely path that goes around a pond.

Oasis in the Desert

We also took a day trip to a place called Saguaro Lake, which was beautiful. I’m not exactly sure how the lake was formed, but the water is pretty cool given the air temps. It’s surrounded by hills (that are covered in cacti) and it is apparently a popular place for people to go fishing and take their families picnicking during the busy season. The day we were there, though, it was quiet. Very few other people were visiting the lake that day (probably because even though *I* think 75 degrees is warm, the people who live in the desert all the time have different internal thermometers and think 75 degrees means “Get out your parka!”) and it was just…

Peaceful.

Lovely.

AND

There were water fowl! (Remember that song I told you about? Yep, we started singing it when we saw this bird. *laugh*)

^This guy got annoyed with us and flew away _right_ after I snapped his profile.^

Prickly, much?

Probably the coolest thing — which came as a surprise to me! (in terms of how fascinated I was by them) — were the cacti. They are ALL OVER Arizona, but there are designated national forest lands in which only cactus grow. The ‘trees’ of the forest are cacti!

Saguaro Lake is in the middle of one of those national forests.

And the trail we walked along the lake led us straight up to one that we could actually touch.

^This guy — and my regular readers will understand why I call it a ‘guy’ — stands about two and a half stories tall, and the number of fully grown arms indicate that he is likely over 150 years old.

(Which, I guess if you’re that old…)

Suffice to say there was much commentary between my spouse and I on the nature of… erm… old pricks.

: laugh :

Oh! AND…

Hey Fondles — I finally remembered to take photos of food!

(I just had to travel to Arizona to do it.)

Seriously, the food was delish. Even the chain restaurants — because they were different from what’s available where I live — were a tasty change of pace. But the little independent places were BOMB.

The photo above is of my veggie pizza I got from a wood-fired pizza place in Mesa.

One word: YUM.

And really, that same word pretty much sums up our week of soaking up the Arizona sun.

I’m so So SO glad we went (budget be damned!) and it was such a beautiful escape that we are already talking about going again next winter.

Stay tuned. 😉

~~~~~~~~~~

for Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge: travel

and