{arizona}
My time in Arizona started with a night at the local Walmart in Douglas (which I kept calling George). Coming in from the west along the county roads, 'George' didn't look overly promising, but thankfully the Walmart offered a well-lit and security-patrolled refuge. I think I should be thankful for that, anyway; looking back it's probably not a great sign that they need patrols, but I assume it's because it's right on the Mexican border. Either way it was an uneventful night.
The next morning I headed off to Bisbee for a look around the much-reccommended artsy town. Thanks to all the time changes I was wide awake at 6am and had an abundance of time to kill before the rest of the town woke up around 10am. I spent my morning climbing stairs; Bisbee has a 1000-step race once a year and I found most of the 1000 to climb. I also found a cafe to spend some time at, and had the most delicious vegan/gluten-free/dairy-free pumpkin spice cookie. Don't ask me what was left to go in it, I just know it was good.
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| Historial Bisbee |
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| A town of stairs; some homes are only accessible by staircase! |
Bisbee lived up to it's reputation and was a very artsy town, so once the shops started opening it was a neat spot to browse. In one of the antique shops there was a tiny little vintage singer sewing machine that actually worked! It was the most adorable sewing machine - probably ever - but I left it there.
From Bisbee it was a short drive up to Tombstone, which is another unique little town but in a completely different way. Tombstone is very much a wild-west, historical cowboy town. The main street is still dirt, and all the storefronts are the classic western wooden facades. I browsed through some of the western shops, then went to the OK Corral for the Doc Holliday shoot-out dramatization. It was actually really well done & good entertainment. They have a little outdoor museum there as well, which shows lots of different elements of what life in Tombstone would have been like - including an exceptionally detailed description of the towns many 'working girls'.
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| Main St., Tombstone, AZ |
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| OK Corral shootout reenactment |
From Tombstone it was another short drive up to Tucson, where I spent my evening in a bookstore relaxing & drinking tea while I figured out what I wanted to do and see. I decided that a relaxing pool day was at the top of my priority list, so I scoped out a few options and then called it a night.
In reality, an oil change was on the top of my priority list, but thats far less exciting. Once that was done, it was officially pool time so I headed off to a local resort and enjoyed their lovely facilities. I was a gorgeous day with a good book and exactly the accomplish-nothing day I needed. That evening I did a bit more planning and catching up at the bookstore - it was so nice to have a spot to relax out of the van!
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| Poolside views |
The next day I headed north to Coolidge where I spent some of my morning at the local laundromat, and the rest of it at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. They really don't know why the 'great house' was built or what it's purpose was, but it was built about 650 years ago. It's a small site, but neat history and great picnic area.
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| Casa Grande National Monument |
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| Beautiful flowering cactus |
After my picnic lunch, I headed down the road to Casa Grande where I spent the next 4 days at a church convention. It was a very encouraging and reassuring four days and I am so thankful to have left with fresh courage and new friendships!
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| Sunset at Casa Grande |
Sunday evening after the convention was over and we had helped clean up a little, I headed into Phoenix to meet with some of the young adults there for a BBQ and swim. It was a really fun evening together and really encouraging to hear everyone's favourite convention thought.
All the good vibes from the weekend were unfortunately not enough to overcome the awful-pain-vibes that had kept me up most of Saturday and Sunday night. At first I thought I was just dehydrated but by Monday morning I decided I had better find a dentist. A few recommendations and phone calls later, I got myself a morning appointment and headed off. The dentist didn't have any answers, just acknowledgment that there was definitely a problem, and referred me on to a specialist. While waiting to get ahold of the specialist, my sleep-deprived and in-pain self may have had a bit of a meltdown.. okay.. full-fledged meltdown. Thankfully I was able to get ahold of the specialist not long after, and (probably hearing the desperation in my voice) they fit me in right away. After a bit of a look, the specialist could see that I'd actually needed a root canal (not the crown I'd gotten a couple months ago) and could do it that afternoon for me. Andddd that was Monday...
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| Monday + dentist; not a fan. |
With the help of some painkillers, I actually had a wonderful sleep and then a lazy morning while I waited for the painkillers to wear off. My mouth was still pretty sore & I knew I shouldn't drive on the meds, so I relaxed until mid-day and then headed off. I probably should have just taken another day to recuperate, but - places to go, things to see... Dental issues aside, I actually thoroughly enjoyed my time in Phoenix; it's definitely been added to my list of place to revisit!
From Phoenix it was about 3 hours of winding roads through scenic desert landscape to Petrified Forest National Park. I started at the south end of the park and drove north, looping through and back onto the interstate. There were plenty of stops along the way, with short hikes or scenic viewpoints. I started with a little hike around the visitors centre where some of the largest petrified logs are. Further up the road there was another loop hike past more petrified logs, some of them with crystals in them giving it the name Crystal Forest. A little further into the park was a scenic drive then hike to Blue Mesa, a canyon with very blue-colored layers in the rock!
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| Petrified Forest National Park |
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| Crystal Forest |
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| Blue Mesa |
At the north end of the park, which is actually the Painted Desert, there's an old car marking the path of the historic Route 66, a couple more scenic viewpoints, and a historic adobe hotel-turned-visitors centre.
From the national park, it was an uneventful hour or so across to the New Mexico state line!
J.
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