Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ: January 7-11, 2019 - In The Sonoran Desert

When I was about 9 or so, my family took a big vacation right in the middle of summer, while my sister and I were out of school, to the Grand Canyon.  For some reason, maybe as a way of "seeing the country", or simply to avoid airplanes, we drove from North Carolina all the way there and back.  We were gone about three weeks, and at the time and in the years since, we've referred as a family to this trip as the "Out West Trip".

I've actually been back to this part of the country, or very nearby, a couple times since then, one of which - ACDA in Salt Lake City - is recorded in this blog, but I haven't seen this heart-of-the-desert area of the southwest since that summer, until this trip at least.

Another tangent from my childhood: we've always had, as far back as I can remember, a timeshare in NC, and since we (i.e. my parents) weren't able to use it at the appointed time this year, they traded it, with only one stipulation: it had to be somewhere warm.  So Scottsdale, AZ, it was.

I, by some stroke of luck, was able to shift my work schedules around to be able to join them for just the middle portion of their week there and see some sights in the Sonoran Desert.  This is one of four major deserts in North America by the way, the other three being the Mojave, which everyone knows; the Great Basin, just a little north of that; and the Chihuahuan, centered mostly in Texas and Mexicos both old and New.  

The primary feature of this desert is that famous Saguaro Cactus, found basically here and nowhere else in the world, which we saw quite a number of:

This was at our first stop, the Desert Botanical Gardens, which we went to Tuesday late morning.  I'd flown in the day before, nearly missing my connection in Denver, where for the first time in my life I sprinted to catch a plane.  We grabbed a beer at a local brewery once I'd landed in Phoenix, which after that day of travel, I deserved.

The next morning, on our way to the Botanical Gardens, we stopped at The Breakfast Club, which was great.  We went out to breakfast every morning and I don't think we had a bad meal once.  Apparently breakfast places are kind of a thing out there.

We got to the Gardens right as the day was hitting a perfect just-around-70-degree temperature, making for quite an enjoyable day as compared to what I would have gotten in January back in KY.

Here's the entrance to the gardens:

And an image dump of the various succulents found therein:

And some of the structures:

We returned to the timeshare for a bit to regroup, then went out for our second activity for the day: a hike up one of the mountains in the Phoenix area called Camelback.  These mountains are sort of hard to describe - they aren't like, jagged peaks in a big range, but more like oversize rocks someone accidentally dropped in the midst of the otherwise flat Arizona landscape.

By then it was nice and warm, and I was able to make this hike in shorts and a t-shirt.  In January!  What a life of luxury.

The view continued to get more spectacular as we ascended:

We reached a point in this mountain called the saddle, as it was the dip between the two camel's humps from the mountain's namesake.  There were signs all around warning us that the hike became considerably more strenuous after this point, so we decided we'd only just see what was around the next corner:

I started laughing.  Yes, I suppose a sheer cliff face with a rickety handrail is considerably more strenuous that the slowly sloping pathway we'd been on up to that point.  I dashed up just to see what was beyond that hill's crest, but my parents were definitely at their stopping point:

We then returned back down to the parking lot, enjoying that same view:

We ate an early dinner at a place recommended to us by the timeshare's guidebook called the Arizona BBQ Shack, and they had excellent brisket.  Then it was back to the timeshare to rest from the hike a bit and change for the evening.  This is what the timeshare looked like, by the way:

The plan for the evening was to walk around Old Town Scottsdale for a bit, which had a bit of an old west vibe to it:

It was very nice, and still had lights up from the holidays.  Or maybe they're always up?

We ended the evening at Goldwater Brewing Co and I had a beer that was bright pink:

We then made our way back home and to bed.

The next day was a big event that my dad was very excited about and my mom less so: driving an ATV through the desert.  

After another top-notch breakfast at a place called Fa-Me, we arrived at the ATV place some 40 minutes outside of Phoenix and got our gear:

Dad drove the warmup course and the first leg, out to our scenic overview:

And then it was time for me to try.  And I gotta tell you, it was pretty great.  25 mph has never felt so fast.

Next we returned to town and visited the State Capitol building, which doubles as a museum.  Started with the park out front: 

Then the interior:

We then returned to the timeshare before heading off to dinner at the ~*~SaLtY SeÑorITa~*~

or perhaps that's Senorita.  Remember your tildes, people!!!

There was a large mall nearby that we had passed numerous times already during the trip, so we took an after-dinner stroll through, then over the canal out back, ending up at the Two Brothers Brewery:

Sat outside to enjoy the warm Southwest weather, then headed back home for the night.

The breakfast place of choice the next morning was US Egg, before heading to the Phoenix Zoo.  I am a fan of zoos, as many of you know, so I was excited about this morning's stop.  

We saw many animals, including this bird mimicking Trump's hairstyle:

And these:

Nearby the zoo were a few points of interest that we elected to see next, including this tomb:

And this rock with a hole in it:

We then went to a place called Yard House for food, then a quick stop off at the timeshare, before the evening's activity: the art walk.

This was an event held on Thursday evenings in Old Town Scottsdale where all of the art galleries, of which there were many, stayed open late and encouraged people to visit all of them.  We were happy to oblige.  There was quite a variety of art, from more traditional paintings to sculptures to Native American art:

Many of the galleries gave out free refreshments, including wine.  That was a good idea.  After the art walk, we returned to the timeshare and had a little wine of our own before heading off to bed.

The next day was the last day, and was only a half day for me at that.  We went to one last breakfast, this time at Morning Squeeze, then to the Museum of the West, which was neat:

We then had a little time to kill before my flight, so for the first time, my parents showed me around the rest of the resort that contained our timeshare, which had an extensive walking trail around the grounds.

Then it was time for me to leave that glorious 70 degree weather, back to the airport, back to Denver - thankfully no delays or sprinting this time - and back to Louisville, where to my horror, it was beginning to snow.