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| Arizona December 2003, Fall 2004 |
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Look at the slideshows:
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Phoenix is the largest city in Arizona (as well as its capital) and is one big urban sprawl with 8-lane highways that move at a crawl. And it's a desert -- the water is diverted in open ditches from the Colorado River hundreds of miles away! Tucson is in southern Arizona, only an hour north of the Mexican border, in the Sonoran desert and home of the Saguaro National Park. Apache Lake is a beautiful lake on the Salt River just east of Phoenix, right on the historical Apache Trail. Think the desert is sand or scrubs and green cacti? Think again. In the springtime, especially after good rains, the blossoms and fruits come out and create a splash of colour. Especially at the Desert Botanical Garden. On a related note, Desert Valley in California looked like an Alpen meadow bursting with wildflowers this spring after the unusually strong rains there. There is also a small but interesting Arizona Mining & Mineral Museum. in Phoenix, which has, amongst other things, examples of what happens when lightning strikes the ground -- it fuses the rock in a root-like pattern (unfortunately it didn't make for a good photo). Talk about information overload; each item is well described and there are interesting overview plaques too. The Pueble Grande Hohokam Museum is very near to the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix. These Native Americans ("Indians") were masters at building canals, principally from the Salt River which used to run year-round, but now is a dry river bed most of the year. I went to the Grand Canyon (North Rim) by car from Las Vegas before continuing on to 4 National Parks in southern Utah. |
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