Exploring the Valley of the Sun

We woke the next morning colder than we had hoped to be, but refreshed all the same. We set out straight away to visit Montezuma Castle National Monument and Tuzigoot N. M. These

monuments are both within 30 miles of each other and about 5 miles from where we had spent the night. So, in short, we had a busy morning. Both of these National Monuments feature old ruins and cliff dwellings survived from ancient times when the first Native American's inhabited the area. Both sites were unique and exciting to see but all in all Katie and I feel that we jumped the gun on our ancient ruins exploration. The

first ancient ruins site that we visited was at Mesa Verde, and more specifically, the Grand Palace. We got to take a tour into one of the largest cliff dwellings in the US and since then our other ruin experiences have somehow not added up. Still, we do enjoy seeing these places and learning their history. I like to think that nothing is lost on us and we both understand the magnitude of all these ancient dwellings that we encounter, but a little voice inside my head keeps me reminded that Mesa Verde was an experience which was leaps and bounds above the rest. After visiting both of these National Monuments, we decided to take the back roads to Phoenix through the mountains. This lead us through the mountain side mining town of Jerome, over the mountains, braving many narrow roads and tight switchbacks, and finally emptying us into the town of Prescott. Here our hunger finally caught up with us and almost serendipitously we spotted The Prescott Brewing Co. We snagged a quick lunch and some drinks then rolled into Phoenix about 3 p.m. where we were greeted, open armed, by my Aunt Bernie and Uncle Ted. They would be our hosts for the next 6 nights and days. They were both very gracious, opening up their house and lives to us, offering to include us in almost every aspect of their daily routines. Unfortunately, Katie and I were not interested in such luxuries. We took advantage of our time in Phoenix to explore the

surrounding areas and visit with our many friends and relative which both of us had in the area. Saturday night, not long after our arrival, Aunt Bernie and Uncle Ted treated us to an excellent Mexican dinner at one of their favorite spots followed by us spending the rest of the night talking and socializing with one another until almost midnight. On Monday we had a relaxing morning just lounging around and enjoying Uncle Ted's world famous breakfast. During the afternoon we drove over to the nearby White Tanks Regional Park and did a short 2 mile hike.

The trail is famous for being lined with numerous petroglyphs as well as featuring a waterfall at the very end of the trail that only flows after it rains. That night we met up with a friend of Katie's from college, Ish, for coffee, then headed back to the house to spend the night relaxing,

beginning to again acclimate ourselves to life not on the road. Though we had a place to call home that wasn't Calamity Jane, we still spent a large portion of our time in the Phoenix area within her confines driving around. In our many encounters with family and friends over the following week we heard time and again that we had explored

more of the area in a week than they had done in years. Tuesday morning we woke early and headed south to explore Organ Pipe National Monument. The crazy thing about the Arizona monuments that we visited was seeing the abrupt change in landscape once within the bounds of the park. As

soon as we crossed the boundaries, cacti of all shapes and sizes began to spring up all around us. This monument was no exception. It featured the organ pipe cactus, a cactus species that is found throughout Mexico but is found nowhere else in the US besides this small park. Though it is named for the organ pipe, there are just as many saguaro and cholla cacti

throughout the park as well adding to the brilliance of the surrounding scenery. At the visitor center, which is located just 4 short miles from the US-Mexico border, we learned a great deal about cactus plants in general from the bored, knowledgeable rangers. We learned how the saguaro cacti have a wooden skeleton that supports their massive structures and instantly began to notice the fallen among the fields of cacti; something Katie and I were oblivious to them before this. We did the standard nature trail hike and watched the

informational video then hopped back in the car to drive the 22 mile scenic loop, a must when visiting the park. We would have

liked to spend more time in this park and do a few hikes, but we had dinner plans that evening back in Scottsdale with my friends from college, Gabe and Heather. After the scenic loop we began the 3 hour trek back up to Phoenix while passing through 2 different border patrol checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints were very laid back compared to our previous encounter and only asked if we were US citizens and if we had been to Mexico, then let us on our way. We learned at the visitor center that the National Monument, which borders Mexico for some 50 miles, is a notorious drug trafficking route because of the undeveloped nature of the park, thus all the security. We spent the night with Gabe and Heather, reminiscing our glory days back in college and catching each other up on our lives since then.