The Travelers: Phoenix

Editor's note: The spring of 2007 was the beginning of a massive project to see the country. Our first big trip was in April, when Trevor and I went to Phoenix, Arizona. What follows is an account I wrote a few days after we returned.

We left RDU Thursday, April 26, and headed west through the clouds to Phoenix, Arizona. It's the sixth-largest city in the nation -- 1.4 million people in the city and about 4 million in the entire region. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport... is the 8th busiest airport in the country.

We arrived around 5:30 in the evening. Our dear friend Lynn French served as our extremely accomodating hostess for the entire weekend. She's a TV news photographer in Phoenix, so she knows everything.

Lynn took us first to South Mountain. It's a big city park just south of Phoenix -- the biggest municipal park in the world. We rode these tightly wound roads up the mountain... to a lookout point about 1,000 feet above the desert floor. We looked out over the Valley of the Sun and central Phoenix.

The air pollution perfectly diffused the setting sun and gave everything a mature, orange glow. Lynn told stories and we laughed and watched the sun go down -- and it goes down fast. Just like the movies. Within a couple of minutes, you watch it disappear behind the mountains.
I thought that was a movie trick, but it's real.

We went into the city and ate dinner at Los Dos Molinos on South Central Avenue. It's not in the greatest neighborhood, but said to have some of the best southwestern food. The menu says the restaurant doesn't have mild sauce, because the chef and owner doesn't know how to make mild sauce.

It was the hottest food I've ever had.

Trevor and I struggled to eat half of our enchilada. It was so very hot. You certainly could tell that the food was absolutely delicious, but the fiery thing was too much for us to overcome.

Lynn scarfed hers down. It was nothing. She's a pro.

We were still living on Raleigh time -- three hours later than Phoenix, so we were plenty tired after the meal. We stayed at the well-appointed Extended Stay Deluxe on West Osborn Road in central Phoenix. Very nice.

We got up bright and early the next day, and waited for our ride. The three of us enjoyed a nice breakfast at The Good Egg in Phoenix. We had outstanding coconut pancakes. We drove north on I-17 through the Coconino National Forest and looked at all that cactus. The cactus you think of when I say "Arizona" are Giant Saguaros. The biggest ones can be a hundred or more years old.

We stopped at Sunset Point Rest Area off I-17. A splendid view, looking to the west. We stopped at Montezuma's Castle near Camp Verde. It's a 12th century apartment complex, and a national park. A fine thing to see, with lots of trees. I was surpisedat how much vegetation there is out there. Cactus dots the land, of course, but also trees lots of wonderful wildflowers and weeds. It's very fragrant in a fresh, peppery way.

Then, we headed up Highway 179 to Sedona -- breathtaking Red Rock country. Sedona is a big tourist town. Lots of high-end stuff there, and lots of New Age types. Crystals and vortexes and psychic readers are everywhere.

You'll find lots of little touristy shops in town -- restaurants, wine shops, clothes shops.

We continued up Highway 89 to Slide Rock State Park, which was closed. We checked out a buddhist stupa near Sedona. It was a fun little trek to this big thing. I didn't take any pictures. I didn't want to disturb anyone who was contemplating.

The three of us made our way back down into Sedona and to a big resort. I don't know how to pronounce it. Tlapaque, or something. I forget how to spell it. It's like a fake, generic Southwestern village. The place was very dead for a Friday evening, but had lots of interesting art galleries.

I saw a $600 belt and a big silver pin that looked like a dung beetle. I sat in a $3,000 stone chair in one of the gallery yards. Cottonwood seeds floated through the spring air like snow flurries. It was wonderful and surreal.

In one of the art galleries, we overheard a woman saying that she'd set some beads on a computer, but they turned amber because of everyone's "passive negativity." Yep.

We saw real beauty as the sun set over Sedona. We headed back to Phoenix for a late dinner at My Florist restaurant. Sleep came quickly.

Saturday was hot. 101 degrees in the afternoon. As we awaited Lynn around 9 a.m., it felt nice and warm. It was like a summer morning in Raleigh without the humidity. The dry-heat thing is real. It doesn't feel that bad.

Lynn showed us around downtown Phoenix. It's big and kind of empty on a Saturday morning.
The skyline is not iconic. It stretches for miles. It seems to have a few skylines. Phoenix is full of palm-lined streets. I'd never seen palm trees before.

The city has grown too quickly for the infrastructure, and we waited through some thick traffic problems at off-hours. Phoenix is building a light-rail network, opening in 2009, I think.

We had breakfast at Matt's Big Breakfast, which was very good. There are only a handful of tables. You write your name on a pad and wait outside.

We went over to Lynn's employer, KPNX-TV, for a tour of the studios. I'm in TV news, so I like that stuff.

Lynn took us down to Guadalupe, between Phoenix and Tempe. It's known as the Little Mexico of the Valley. It felt very different from the rest of the area, almost like a closed society. Lots of Mexican music bounced down the street on a hot Saturday afternoon. Everything in the town seemingly is based around the church, which looks like it fell right out of a western. It was beautiful and interesting.

Then, we headed north out of Phoenix to Cave Creek. It was another little community with lots of tourist-attracting shops. We had lunch at Harold's and headed out to the Spur Cross Ranch for a little mini-hike through the desert.

Time: 3 p.m. Temperature: 100 degrees.

Trevor was sure to bring his cup of hot coffee.

We could hear the animals. We picked out the high, lonesome howl of a coyote ("the baleful moan of a coy-ott," Trevor said, briefly channeling my fractional Native American ancestors). We saw a couple of coyotes, a lizard, a roadrunner, a cardinal, some other desert birds.

The desert flowers say, "PICK ME!" Then, they attack. Trevor got a jab from a near-microscopic cactus spine.

Out in the desert, so far away from the city, we took in stunning sights and fresh air. Then, a gusty haboob. Outflow from a distant thunderstorm kicked up a little dust storm that blew through us. The Phoenix area had 50 mph winds in the storm and some damage. We only saw dusty haze in the valleys and blinked our eyes around the grit on our faces.

We went back to the Cave Creek Coffee Company to wash off. Trevor and Lynn tried the wine.
Then, we headed back to Lynn's house and a walk through her pleasant neighborhood near downtown. It's the F.Q. Story Historic Neighborhood. He started Sunkist, and he built the homes in the 1920s for his executives, Lynn says. The homes are different here. The architecture throughout the state is striking. Everything looks so different from just about anything in Raleigh.

Lynn went to Athens, Greece, in 2004 to cover the Summer Olympics. (Ask her about Northwest Airlines some time.) She left the air conditioning off in her home while she was gone. Look at the picture here to see what the Arizona heat did to some candles in the house. Wonderful!

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