Arizona, You are One Big and Beautiful But.

We spent the winter in Arizona. Since central Arizona has been home to me since 1986, I figured that there wasn’t much to blog about.  But – and this is a big but – as I was planning my leave from the state, I reflected on the beauty of Arizona. And how when I’m in Arizona in the winter, I am lucky enough to stay in some of the most beautiful parts of the state. So, Arizona, my blog has ignored you this winter, but here’s a belated homage.

NOTE TO READER: If you want to just see pictures of Arizona sunsets and desert blooms, skip through the detail of the camping park immediately below. But, as the devil is in the detail, so is the interesting part. Scroll at your own peril.

Phoenix, my home city for the last 30 years, is in Maricopa County. Maricopa County is home to 6 exceptional regional parks, 5 of which have developed campgrounds. We were in Arizona since November, and spent about 5 out of those 6 months  in the Maricopa County campgrounds. You can see below that they are sprinkled on the perimeter of the Phoenix metro area.

Because it’s handy to much of my life, I spent much of the time in Usery Mountain Regional Park.

So, first of all, yes, I come home in the winter and live in a campground. I think I’m lucky to be able to do so.

During my last two years of travel throughout the West, I’ve stayed in many beautiful areas — the facilities that Maricopa County offers in its regional parks are virtually unrivaled. The park system features hiking and biking trails, nature centers, family events, and lots more. In this blog post, I’ll focus on the camping section, since that’s where my home and life are.  And it’s my blog :-). For more info on the Maricopa County park system in general, go here.

 

Yes, I intended to yell in the above caption. A friendly nod or a hello is fine. But for most people, when they dump they want to focus on what they’re doing, then get the hell out. Two weeks ago, when I was dumping (we don’t call it taking a dump — that is something else), a lady and her husband pulled up in the station across from me. About two feet away. While he was doing the dump dance, she sat inside her RV and talked to me out of the open window!!  She found my status as a solo female traveler novel — or maybe freakish. It was weird.

From the Arizona Republic:

“According to historian Jay Mark . . . a former WWII pilot was convinced some sort of directional aid was needed to help pilots find Phoenix.  In 1949, Charles Merritt convinced Boy Scouts to clear brush in the Usery Mountains and arrange rocks in a “go this way” fashion. According to Mark’s story, the scouts needed more than five years to complete the 1,000-foot-long, 100-foot-high arrow with “Phoenix.”

“Mark wrote that scouts occasionally maintain the arrow, perhaps for their “Clean ridiculously huge arrow on a hill” badge.” (From Arizona Republic, May 30, 2015)

If you want to check out more about the vintage planes (they call ’em Warbirds), check in here. Warbirds. Screenshot below for a tease.

 

Our winter was exceptionally wet this year, which meant we were treated to lots of desert blooms. I might be biased, but the sight of the desert in bloom is one of my favorite things. it doesn’t happen every year, and when it does happen, it doesn’t last long. Its rarity adds to the magic.

And then, there are the sunsets. I’ll shut up now and let them speak for themselves.

Bye-bye, central Arizona. It’s hard to leave you, but we need to be makin’ tracks for locations north. We’ll see you again in November.

 

Thanks for following along. We will check in again soon!