How I Fell in Love in Arizona
Ours was a driving tour and we took all the necessary precautions-kept plenty of water in the back seat and, essentially, stuck to main roads. Depending on the vehicle, there are plenty of places to enjoy off-road scenery, but the desert has its dangers in the form of diamondback rattlers, among other things. Luckily, various organizations offer jeep trips into the more rugged interior. We took a Pink Jeep tour while visiting Sedona, about forty miles south of Flagstaff. Jeep tours allow people to experience all the sites while in the care of an expert. Tour guides know the terrain as well as the best places to stop for a great view. Sedona has exceptional sites and should not be missed on any tour of the state. The city has many hotels and motels, but camping will allow you to experience the mystifying Arizona sky. But again, take care-this is wilderness country; we glimpsed a mountain lion while searching for a camp site up one of the mountains. Phoenix and its sister cities like Mesa and Scottsdale offer visitors numerous sites and experiences. We chose to stay near Superstition Mountain and had the great fortune to experience a desert thunderstorm complete with heat lightning. Hiking into Superstition Mountain was filled with tremendous views of the city and the desert beyond. The city itself offered the usual venues associated with large cities, but we opted for less-usual faire such as outdoor craft fairs and caught an outdoor music festival in downtown Phoenix as well. For us, and probably for many, the Grand Canyon absorbed most of our vacation time. Our experience was unsurpassed. We toured the South Rim and took a driving tour around the Canyon to the North Rim. We camped behind a hostel for travelers and were lucky enough to squeeze into a small tour that allowed us to take a rafting trip down a stretch of the Colorado River into the canyon. It was a one-of-a-kind adventure led by a memorable tour guide who paired colorful stories about various Arizona characters with lots of factual information about the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Of course, simply naming these places and the things we did hardly sums up the experience we remember. The eerie nights in our tent surrounded by a landscape that looks as ancient as it seems. Coyote calls, Native American trails, late night meals at local haunts-Arizona is an experience unlike any other. For a taste of the Southwest, it is unsurpassed. For families, it offers plenty of things to do and see. For couples, it offers a captivating ambiance that lingers long after the trip is through-perhaps not all couples will be as lucky as we to find love in Arizona, but certainly everyone will fall in love with this enchanting place.
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