For those who think the desert is brown and dead (Phoenix: rent, houseboat)

[Lee151]

I agree that driving through or flying in and out gives one the impression that the desert is brown and dead and ugly. It isn't true.

To fully appreciate the desert, you've got to get out of the car and walk in it. Preferably not in summer but if in summer, go out early. The sun rises early and morning in the desert is beautiful. Really. Lots of wildlife is out and about.
Learn about the place you have moved to or want to move to.

Wear sensible shoes, take water, wear sunscreen or a hat. Don't pet the cactus even if they look fuzzy. Those tiny hair like thorns on the fuzzy ones are a pain to get out of your skin. Snakes are more afraid of you and will leave when they hear you coming. Don't go poking around under bushes or rocks and you'll probably never see one.

Go to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, they have lovely trails through heavily planted desert gardens. In spring, they have a wonderful wildflower display and a butterfly garden inside a shade house. There are lots of wild birds and bunnies and lizards running around too. The desert actually has a ton of bird species.

Go to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. It is an award winning zoo and botanical garden of native plants and animals in very natural
enclosures.

There is a new visitor's center at North Mountain Park in Phoenix. Lovely hiking trails and picnic facilities too. Piestawa Peak also has great hiking and picnic areas. Rent a horse and ride in South Mountain Park it is another great way to see the desert.

The Deer Valley Rock Art Center is a hidden gem at the north end of 35th ave that has a nice visitor center and hundreds of petroglyphs.

Go to Grand Canyon, it is amazing. You can do it in a day but better to make it two or three. Stop at Montezuma's Castle on the way up. Stop in Sedona, a whole day excursion in itself, take the highway through Oak Creek Canyon before getting back on the freeway in Flagstaff. While you are there if you haven't seen the Imax movie, do it. It tells the history and has views of the Canyon that you'll never see.

If you like history the state abounds with Native American, mining and Western historical sites. Tuzigoot, Jerome, Bisbee, Tombstone to name a few.

Feeling hot in July? Drive up to Prescott or Payson or Show Low or Flagstaff and spend some time in the trees. Rent a houseboat on Lake Havasu or Powell. Buy a boat and you can be in a lake within an hour from all areas of the Valley of the Sun.

Arizona has some of the most gorgeous scenery in the USA. Far too many people miss it. Loads of people go to Yuma and hang out with their friends and never see any of the good stuff. It is hideous down there.

[PG77]

Sold! I am on my way

[Lee151]

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

I forgot the Boyce Thompson Arboretum another worthy site

Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Home

About the Imax movie at Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park : Travel and Visitors Center

Desert Botanical Garden

Desert Botanical Garden – Papago Park – Desert Plants

Sedona

Sedona, Arizona, official tourism site of the Chamber of Commerce

Parks of the Desert Southwest:

Arizona National Parks and Tourist Guide, The American Southwest

[Lee151]

Deer Valley Rock Art Center

Deer Valley Rock Art Center

Stables in South Mountain Park

Arizona Horses, trail rides in South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona

Lake Pleasant

Parks & Recreation - Maricopa County

North Mountain

PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT NORTH MOUNTAIN VISITOR CENTER

[Captain Bill]

Great post Lee151,

Last year our 13 year old grandson visited us for two weeks here during the summer. We took him to many places including Sedona for 1 1/2 days where we took two jeep tours and visited some Indian ruins; and the Grand Canyon where we spent two days touring and seeing everything we could take in.

He loved it and still talks about some of the highlights.

Bill

[joninaz]

I actually think it looks brown and dead much of the time - but it's an ugly duck that turns into swan every morning and night. That's part of the magic. Camelback mountian looks like a boring brown hump at noon, but in the morning sun or on a late afternoon, it becomes Martian. Same with Papago Park, which is intereresting but not jaw dropping until you cruise through when the sun hits it right and the formerly brown rocks glow like hot embers and you forget that you are in the middle of a city. Driving through the desert during the day can be ho hum, but do so when the sun is closer to the horizon and it becomes technicolor. The earth radiates, the flora pop. See Organ Pipe National forest or any stretch or Saguaros splashed by angled light - it's magnificent. I've lived in some beautiful areas of the world that are nice looking 24/7. You get used to it. What I'm still not used to is the 180 degree change that can happen in just a few moments in Arizona. As mentioned, it might be a sunset. Or it might be a summer storm rolling through and repainting the sky with explosions of contrasts. I've never seen a photographer or painter capable of capturing the vastness of the Monument valley, let alone that area when the sun is setting on one side and a nasty storm is throwing thunderbolts and rainbows from the other.

If I wasn't concerned about driving more holes into my roof, I'd love to put up a little deck to climb above the burbs and get a better view of each evening's show. It's something we forget to appreciate.

[Lee151]

You usually miss flowers like these from the car. You need to be walking to see them.

[Lee151]

[PG77]

Wow! Awesome pics

[Jammie]

Lee, those pics are so nice. I'm glad you're a photographer and you share. It's also good to let others know that the desert isn't ugly. You know we've never been there, but I had always figured that the actual country area (desert) wouldn't be too appealing. Those flowers are really nice though and I've seen a few pics of Sedona and it looks beautiful there.