Praising Arizona, Part 3

On our way back to the Phoenix area from Sedona we stopped at the outlet mall at Anthem. I mention this only because the mall had the nicest public washrooms we've ever seen. All dark wood, marble, and tile, they would not be out of place in an upscale hotel. We had lunch, my wife bought some clothes, and we headed for the Desert Botanical Gardens in the southeast corner of Phoenix.

If you think deserts are just sand, you'll be amazed at the more than 50,000 plants growing in the 145 acres of Sonoran environment. There are also wildflower, butterfly, and herb gardens, as well as special events and exhibits. The trails are easy to walk and volunteers provide guided tours. Bring water, sunscreen, and a hat.

Afterwards, we checked into our room at the Holiday Inn Express Scottsdale North. Scottsdale is an affluent suburb to the northeast of Phoenix, and features some very expensive resorts, but there are also mid-priced properties at the north end, such as the one we stayed at. We had dinner about a block away at Romano's Macaroni Grill. We enjoyed the atmosphere, food, and service so much, we returned the following evening.

The next morning, I dropped my wife off at the Musical Instrument Museum in northwest Scottsdale. Open less than a year, it features examples of musical instruments from around the world, as well as significant individual pieces such as the piano John Lennon used to compose Imagine. There are also plenty of opportunities to hear and play the instruments.

While she was there, I headed to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to take in a spring training baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers. Built on the Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the new spring training home of the D-backs and the Colorado Rockies had been open only a week. It features an 11,000 seat stadium as well as 12 practice fields. You can get a beer and a dog of course, but also a margarita and a burrito, if you wish. Or chocolate dipped strawberries on a stick. They were very popular with the kids and the ladies. Fifteen major league teams train in Arizona now, and the advantage over Florida is that they are all in the greater-Phoenix area.

Sunday, we drove east of Phoenix to the town of Apache Junction, the beginning of the Apache Trail. We stopped at Goldfield ghost town. Home to a gold mine in the 1890's, you can tour the old mine and museum, or ride the narrow gauge railway. There are shops and restaurants and even a small church. We had to wait until the service was over before the "bounty hunters" from Tucson could attempt to arrest a couple of local miscreants. Gunfire ensued and the bounty hunters were in turn shot by the local sheriff and his deputy. The scene resembled the final act of Hamlet. Hokey for sure, but lots of fun.

We continued on the winding Apache Trail, climbing to the town of Tortilla Flat, where we turned back. The road continues another 60 kilometres or so to the Roosevelt Dam, but is unpaved. We had lunch in Canyon Lake, overlooking, yep, Canyon Lake. Seemed strange to see a lake in the middle of the desert, but this one had been formed by damming a river.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at Fry's supermarket. Sure it has a pharmacy, floral shop, bank, and prepared food section; but also a Starbucks, a bookstore, a cooking school, and a beer and wine bar. The beer, wine, and liquor section was larger than most LCBO's and contained a climate controlled Vintages-like section. There was valet parking, and they would even wash your car while you shopped.

I'll conclude our adventures with the tale of me and the Smith and Wesson .38 in Part 4.

Praising Arizona, Part 1

Just got back from a week and a half in Arizona. The Southwest is a place I've long wanted to see and not only were our expectations exceeded, but a lot of our preconceptions overturned.

Because light snow in Toronto delayed our departure, we had only twenty minutes to make our connection in Minneapolis. We arrived at concourse A and had to leave from concourse G. It's a good thing Minnesota is flat, because it felt like we ran halfway across it. We made our flight to Phoenix, only to discover at 1:30 am in the deserted terminal in Phoenix that our baggage hadn't. Delta said they'd try to get it to our hotel by the next afternoon, and off we headed (in the pouring rain – in Phoenix?) to the Crowne Plaza Phoenix Airport. A shout out to Nicole, who took pity on us and upgraded us to a suite (sweet!).

The next morning we headed to the Heard Museum. The Heard is outstanding. We spent the entire day there and received a solid orientation in the history, culture, and arts of the native peoples of Arizona. You can explore it for yourself by clicking on the link above.

How we got there will be of interest to people in Toronto: by light rail. There was a stop in front of our hotel and another a block from the Heard.

Phoenix has recently constructed a light rail system about thirty-five kilometres long, running from northern Phoenix, south into the downtown, and then east past the airport to the suburbs of Tempe and Mesa. The trains run down the middle of the street and seem to have signal priority, because we never stopped at a red light. We seemed to travel at 50-60 kilometres per hour and stations were about a kilometre apart.

Each train consists of two cars, though the station platforms are long enough for three-car trains. Each car is articulated, and has four doors on each side. The entry is low to enable wheelchair access.

Tickets are $1.75 a ride or $3.50 for a one-day pass, and are purchased with a credit or debit card on the station platforms. The cars were full, but not crowded on the Sunday morning and afternoon we rode, and people were proud and eager to talk about their new rail and how it was reviving Phoenix's downtown, where projects like Chase Field, the retractable roof ballpark, have recently been built. When the airport SkyTrain is completed, it will link to the light rail and mean a trip to downtown will take 15 minutes and cost $1.75.

We wanted to buy Bob and Doug tickets to Phoenix so they could see that light rail does not mean streetcars getting in the way of cars. This system seems tailor-made for arterial roads like Sheppard and Finch. We saw a lot of other things in Arizona that would scare the Ford twins, like roundabouts and bicycle lanes. These guys really need to get out more.

When we got back to our hotel, our bags were there. We watched the Oscars right to the end (the two hour time difference meant they were over just after 10:00), and got ready to head to Sedona the next day.