Your front yard, if you lived at Wupatki.

More pics from places we aren’t writing about.

By Lisa | Mar 23, 2012
Posted in: Arizona |

1 Comment

Sometimes all you need is a caption.

Jerome perched on the side of a mountain.

Bisbee vs. Jerome: Arizona Ex-Mining Town Smackdown

By Paul | Mar 22, 2012
Posted in: Arizona, Bars, Booze, Beer, Etc., Wine |

5 Comments

We loved Bisbee, Arizona. We loved Bisbee so much we can’t wait to return. We loved Bisbee so much we were really looking forward to exploring another of Arizona’s ex-mining towns, Jerome. But did we love Bisbee too much to enjoy Jerome? Were our love-struck eyes too cloudy to appreciate another tiny town in Arizona? Maybe. That’s why I’m going to make this very scientific. There are categories. There are […]

The Devil’s Bridge Trail in Sedona

By Lisa | Mar 21, 2012
Posted in: Arizona, Hikes |

1 Comment

Back when we were still dreaming of and saving for our trip (and when we had a TV), we loved watching Motion on the Live Well Network. Motion is hosted by Greg, a tour guide from CA, and we always enjoyed the show thanks to his energy and contagious enthusiasm for hiking and the outdoors. When Motion visited Sedona, one of the featured hikes was the Devil’s Bridge trail in the […]

Driving From Flagstaff to Sedona

By Paul | Mar 20, 2012
Posted in: Arizona, Drives |

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The first thing you need to realize is that Flagstaff is high. It’s higher than Denver, the “mile-high” city. Flagstaff’s elevation is 6,910 feet. To get to Sedona, you need to go down. Down a lot. Down to 4,300 feet. And the ~2,600 vertical drop happens all at the same time. Take highway 89A south out of Sedona. You’ll parallel I-17 a bit, then peel off. For a few miles, […]

Seeing the Grand Canyon Like a Tourist

By Lisa | Mar 20, 2012
Posted in: Arizona |

2 Comments

Our original goal was to hike into the Grand Canyon, all the way to the bottom, in early March. But we didn’t plan well, and we didn’t end up having enough time to do it on our way back east. Still, we were practically driving right by it, so why not just pop up and take a look? I mean, it’s only the biggest goddamn hole in the world, Ellen. […]

A group of RVs in what I call the Wagon Circle formation.

Boondocking: An Outsider’s Perspective on Dispersed RV Living

By Lisa | Feb 24, 2012
Posted in: Arizona, California, New Mexico, Travel, Travel Itch |

2 Comments

In just about every campground, we find them. They’re the snowbirds, the kind and retired folks who’ve set up shop in this place for as long as they’re allowed before moving on to the next site (each campground has different limits on length of stay; two weeks seems typical). We’ve thought that many places we’ve come across on our journeys have been ideal snowbird locales, but it turns out that there […]

Coming Up Dry In Yuma

By Paul | Feb 1, 2012
Posted in: Arizona, California |

1 Comment

After camping two nights next to the Salton Sea and enduring the horrific smell and the 24-hour freight train traffic past the park, we were ready for a new spot. As always, there were options. Circle the Salton Sea looking for a new campground. Stop at Slab City and try out life without laws (or toilets). Check out the Imperial Sand Dunes and camp on the sand (next to the […]

Katherine Landing: A Hawaiian Port Town In The Middle Of The Desert

By Paul and Lisa | Dec 26, 2011
Posted in: Arizona |

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After the burro-filled main street of Oatman, AZ and a 10-mile stint on a dirt road through the mountains, the last thing we expected to find was a harbor town, but that’s exactly what was waiting for us at Katherine Landing, located near the south end of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. There’s a Hawaiian-looking motel, enough gas pumps to fill a dozen boats at once, countless seagulls, speedboats […]

Lake Havasu’s Trail of Tears

By Paul | Dec 22, 2011
Posted in: Arizona |

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Lake Havasu City is beautiful. They’ve got the London Bridge, a man-made island, mountains in the distance, really cool trails, and all the activities you could ever desire. And like a lot of cities, they’ve gotten creative with ways to raise money for things like parks instead of raising taxes. Enter the Commemorative Tree/Bench Program: The Lake Havasu City Commemorative Tree/Bench Program is a community-wide program initiated by the Keep […]

Mary’s Holiday Gift Granola

By Lisa | Dec 21, 2011
Posted in: Arizona, Food |

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Like all great recipes, the granola we enjoyed at Mary’s in Lake Havasu City has evolved over the years. I loved it so much I persuaded Mary to give me the recipe to share (and to make when we finally have a real kitchen). The original recipe is below in plain text, with Mary’s tweaks and adjustments in bold. Granola is as much a personal preference as anything, so […]