Portal, Arizona

From El Paso we headed west. We took Highway 9 along the Mexican border, the same quiet road we did our high tows from. We stopped in to visit some acquaintances that I met at their summer home in Clearwater, BC. They live in Portal, Arizona - a tiny town on the edge of the Chiricahua National Monument. I like the idea of heading somewhere warmer for the winter, but the usual snowbird destinations like Phoenix don't interest me at all. Somewhere like Portal, on the other hand, would be great. It doesn't hurt that it's one of the top spots for biodiversity and especially bird watching. If you visit, don't miss the Chiricahua Desert Museum in Rodeo, NM. Among other things they have an amazing collection of (live) snakes.

Knowing that it's still winter at home in Saskatchewan, it's a treat to see the willow catkins out already here, and being visited by the bees.



Of course, I can't resist the water. It especially stands out surrounded by the desert.





The area around Portal has great mountain scenery.





I was taking a picture of the detail of this plant, when I noticed it had an interesting occupant.





At first I thought it was a spider, but looking at the photographs I think it only has six legs (and long antennae) which makes it an insect instead.

We saw lots of hawks along the roads. Eventually I got out my long lens and kept the camera on my lap while Shelley was driving. When we spotted a hawk, we'd try to stop (if there was a shoulder). Half the time just stopping was enough to make the hawk fly away. But occasionally they would stay to be photographed.



I think we were seeing at least two different kinds of hawks. I haven't got around to identifying them.



See all 23 photos as a slideshow or overview

Canyon de Chelly

On our way from Winslow to Moab we stopped at Canyon de Chelly since we were going right by. We didn't have a lot of time so we just drove the south road as far as the White House ruins viewpoint. It's quite spectacular and it would be nice to explore a bit more, although there are people living in the canyon so it's not exactly wilderness.



There were puddles from the recent rain that added an interesting visual element. The reflected blue sky contrasted with the color of the rock.



And a chance for more reflections :-)



The White House ruins were quite impressive, even from the viewpoint. It would be nice to hike down to see them up close.



The layers of rock made some amazing patterns.



I like the color of the red rock, but I converted a few of my photos to black and white to emphasize the shapes and lines more.



Ansel Adams also made some black and white images of Canyon de Chelly as part of a commission by the National Park Service.

See all 13 photos as a slideshow or overview

See also Shelley's blog post

Winslow La Posada

We hoped to climb at Jack's Canyon near Winslow, AZ. There is supposed to be nice camping, which was the original plan, but the forecast was for rain so I took a quick look for other options, not expecting too much from a small town. I discovered La Posada, a historic hotel and gardens designed by Mary Colter. We couldn't resist stopping overnight to check it out.



The interior of the hotel was beautiful, especially considering what it's been through. It opened in 1930. After it closed as a hotel in 1957 it was gutted and used as offices. All the furnishings were sold and all the interior decorating was removed / replaced. Since being bought and rescued in 1997 they have done a great job of gradually restoring it to something like its former elegance, using original items when possible, and similar or reproductions otherwise.



It looked like the gardens would also be lovely at the right time of year. Now, it was quite bare and brown. Just a few flowers poking up.



I don't know the significance of the metal animal sculptures, whether they are original or new. They were fun, though. In addition to the camel and the donkeys, there was also a life sized giraffe.



You might know Winslow from the Eagles song, Take It Easy, that contains the line "Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona".

Winslow also turned out to be an Amtrak stop on the Southwest Chief route. (Originally, before the automobile took over, tourists came to the hotel primarily by train.) Someday I'd like to do a triangle route on the Southwest Chief and California Zephyr, Chicago - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Chicago. We've done the Los Angeles - San Francisco section before but the rest would be new.

We didn't end up climbing here because the weather was too rainy. That'll have to wait for another trip.

See all 6 photos as a slideshow or an overview

See also Shelley's blog post

Sedona

I have mixed feelings about Sedona. On one hand it's a beautiful location with fantastic rocky scenery, good restaurants, and great hiking trails. On the other hand the hillsides are overrun with the mansions of the rich which frankly turns me off a little.

We hadn't decided our plans in advance so we ended up booking a place to stay in Sedona at the last minute (that morning). Trip Advisor showed The Inn on Oak Creek as the #2 rated hotel, and the last minute price was comparable to a chain, so what the heck. I booked through Expedia because that's what came up with the best price. Sometimes hotels treat bookings through web sites like Expedia as second class, but The Inn cheerfully upgraded us to a creek side room without us even asking. We liked the place so much we immediately booked two more nights. They couldn't give us the same room for the third night so they upgraded us again to the huge over the top fancy suite for that night (at no extra charge!) We'd definitely recommend this place.

the view from our balcony

We were still a little worn out from our hiking and climbing and other activities in Phoenix so the rainy weather in Sedona wasn't a big problem - it gave us an excuse to relax a bit for a change. We still got in a 15 km hike - a loop including the scenic Highline Trail. We ate at Elote and Rene - both very good and both within walking distance of the inn.

Shelley on the Highline Trail

One of the best parts of travel is serendipity - take advantage of it when you can. About a year ago when we were on our round-the-usa train trip we stopped at the Holland Hotel in Alpine Texas (recommended) to hike in Big Bend National Park (also recommended). Chris Jameson, a young singer/songwriter played at the hotel and we were pretty much the whole audience. (Alpine is a tiny town, and it was off season.) We really enjoyed his music and bought his cd's and listen to them fairly often. Fast forward to this trip. We happen to stop in Sedona, find a place we really like, stay a few extra days, get some bad weather, and visit Page Springs Cellars. While we're tasting wine, we happen to see that they have live entertainment and Chris Jameson is playing the next night. So we came back to hear him and had a great evening sipping wine and listening to great music. Again, we were pretty much the whole audience (although other people were there for the wine). It turns out that he's now living in Jerome, AZ - not far from Sedona.

Of course, serendipity doesn't always work so smoothly. A few years ago when we were traveling in Australia we saw posters for The Pirates of Penzance, a Gilbert and Sullivan musical, that happened to be playing that night. I convinced Shelley it would be good and we bought tickets. It turned out to be a bunch of very young local school kids dressed up as pirates singing and dancing (and falling down). I think we were the only members of the audience that weren't parents! Shelley will never let me live it down.

We also stopped at a birding area just near the winery. We again saw northern cardinals but the best photo I got was pretty poor - just enough to prove we saw them! There was a big group of great blue herons that were fun to watch and photograph. I don't think I've ever seen them in groups in a dry field or perched in the top of tall trees. Maybe they're migrating?

colorful Northern Cardinal

Great Blue Herons

See all 31 photos as a slideshow or overview

See also Shelley's blog post

Phoenix Zoo

One more Phoenix attraction that we hadn't visited up till now was the zoo. I love zoos so I'm not sure why we hadn't made it here yet. We passed signs for it on the way to the botanical gardens (they're close). Walking to the entrance you pass over a bridge over a pond and I figured it was a good sign when I was taking pictures of ducks and turtles before I even got inside :-) Half a day wasn't long enough to see the whole zoo, but I would say this is one of the better zoos we've been to. It's quite large and many of the animals are in quite natural settings.

one of the unofficial residents of the zoo (not in a cage) love those ears!

coyote

turtle convention (more unofficial residents)

See all 39 photos as a slideshow or overview

Phoenix Climbing

After spending the morning at the arboretum we went to the nearby Queen Creek climbing area for the afternoon. I don't know if we were having a bad day or weren't used to the rock, or whether the grades are really stiff here, but we struggled on 5.9 sport routes whereas normally we'd find that grade straightforward.





The next day we chose a climb called The Crying Dinosaur which is on the end of Superstition Mountain, accessed via Lost Dutchman State Park, just near where we were staying. It took us a while to find the route, partly because you can't see it until you've already gone too far on the main trail. It was easy but fun, with great views from the top, and a long free rappel on the descent.







See all 12 photos as a slideshow or overview

See also Shelley's blog post

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Another spot we hadn't made it to on previous trips to Phoenix was the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It has some similarities with the botanical gardens but it's outside town, in a more natural setting. It also includes plants from other countries, for example there's a big Australian portion. And there's a pond and a creek. Overall, I think we liked the arboretum better.

One of the excitements at the arboretum was seeing a (wild) rattlesnake. Everyone out here always warns us about the rattlesnakes when we're going hiking but we've never seen one till now. I had walked by some bushes beside the main path and heard a noise that didn't sound like the typical bird or lizard, but I couldn't see anything so I kept going. A few minutes later Shelley called me back - she'd spotted a snake. We couldn't see the whole snake since it was under the leaves and branches, but we could see its middle section moving slowly along. It was quite large, maybe 2 inches in diameter? Finally it's tail came into view with its identifying rattles. Considering Shelley says she doesn't like snakes, she was quite calm and interested. Especially considering it was only a few feet off the path. But it was obviously uninterested in us, and just going about its business.

We also saw some red cardinals, but they didn't cooperate enough to get photos. They are such colorful bright red birds.



















See all 44 photos as a slideshow or overview

Parking Lot Flowers

One of the nice parts of warm climates is that there are a lot more flowers around. I had half an hour in a strip mall parking lot waiting for Shelley to get her haircut, and I had my little camera with me (the RX100m2) so of course, I took some photos.

My family has always had a thing for bougainvillea - my father's saying was that man should not live where bougainvillea will not grow. (So why did he move to Saskatchewan when they could have moved anywhere in the world?)













(click on the photos to view larger)

Arizona Trail

Recently we hiked a 70 km (43 mile) section of the Arizona National Scenic Trail. The complete trail runs almost 1300 km (800 miles) from Mexican border to Utah. We went from Roosevelt to Superior (just west of Phoenix). It was a great hike - dry and rocky, but with some nice canyons and beautiful scenery. There were quite a few flowers blooming.

We took four days to do this section but it probably would have been nicer to take an extra day. It took us 26 hours of hiking (5 hours on the first and last days, and 8 hours on the middle days). The first half was quite rough and rocky and had a lot of up and down climbing up to our high point. The second half was better trail and mostly downhill and went quicker..

One of the complications was that the only reliable water (according to the guidebook) was about half way, at Reavis Creek. So we started out with enough water for two days, hoping we wouldn't get to halfway with minimal water left and not find any! And then from halfway we again had to carry water for two days. As it turned out, there was water at a number of intermediate points so we didn't have to worry. (But that might be different other seasons or other years.)

the view down to Theodore Roosevelt Lake near the beginning of the hike

Shelley on the trail

sunrise from our tent at our first camp

second camp at Reevis Creek

soaring raven

butterfly feeding on ocotillo blossoms

See all 65 photos as a slideshow or overview (sorry I didn't narrow it down more!)

See also Shelley's blog post