Arizona Archive:
The Scottsdale Culinary Festival
This past Saturday, my girlfriend and I went to the Scottsdale Culinary Festival by accident. We saw that there was a Robert Mondavi wine tasting event in town so we decided to go check it out. Little did we know, the event was part of a MUCH bigger event. The festival had all sorts of booze, beer, and food plus a few awesome cover bands playing.
Here’s a few of the things we managed to check out while we were there.
Robert Mondavi Wine Tasting Festival
For the past…
Great Urban Race: The Aftermath
If you missed my post last Thursday, I talked about the Great Urban Race coming to Phoenix this past weekend. I had pretty high hopes for doing good in the race (I don’t know why). Anyways, now that the race is over and I have all my pictures off my camera, it’s time to break down the race.
The Start
The race started at Sliders in downtown Phoenix. If you don’t know where that is, it is right next to Chase field (Diamondbacks stadium). From there, I had no…
Great Urban Race Is Coming To Phoenix!
Creative Commons – photo credit: jrover
Something I have always wanted to do is get on the Amazing Race. It totally fits into the digital nomad lifestyle and I think I would be pretty good at it. Plus I like to solve random riddles whenever I get a chance. Unfortunately, I haven’t landed a spot on the show just yet (come on CBS!).
Luckily there is another option. My girlfriend and I signed up to compete in…
A Few Pictures From Tucson
It’s been awhile since I posted a travel story so I thought I would write about my latest trip.
A few days ago I took a trip down to Tucson to do some hiking. After I got their I found out that the hike was sort of lame. Considering they had tram rides for people that didn’t feel like walking for 8 bucks. Nothing makes the wilderness more enjoyable than audio guided tours driving right past you. Not to mention there were bathrooms everywhere and power lines running near the…
A Day At The Wildlife World Zoo
This past weekend, my girlfriend and I were on our way hiking when we noticed some dark clouds to the West. Once we saw them, we decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to go up in the mountains. Especially since I still remember the “lightning bolt incident of 2008.”
So instead of hiking, we ended up going to the Wildlife Work Zoo and Aquarium located in Litchfield Park, Arizona. It’s located a little West of Phoenix but was less than an hour away from our apartment.
Its…
Trip To The Grand Canyon And Flagstaff
This past weekend my girlfriend and I made another road trip up north. We went up there expecting to find a bunch of snow in Flagstaff and go sledding. What we found was 55 degree weather and hardly any snow. Here is a video I put together:
Phoenix Is Not So Bicycle Friendly…
Ever since I bought my bike a week ago, I have been doing some major riding around Chandler, Tempe, and Phoenix. Yesterday I did about 15 miles and a few times before that I did a 10 mile ride. I’ve started to see more and more of the city, especially when it comes to the bike lane system. And the easiest way for me to sum it up is by saying…it sucks.
The Best Of The Cities
Of the three cities I do most of my riding in, Tempe is the best. It has even won awards as a bicycle friendly community through 2007 (according to the sign I saw). However, even this city is pretty crappy when it comes to riding bicycles. Sure, they have tons and tons of bike lanes all over the city.
The problem…is that hardly any of them connect. I’ll be riding along a bike lane and hit a stop light, only to see the bike lane disappear into thin air on the other side of the intersection. So I’m stuck riding on the side of the road, which gives me about 2 feet of space between me and the crazy drivers of phoenix. What in the hell?
Lake Powell and Page, Arizona
After hanging out in Monument Valley, it was time to head to Page, Arizona to call it a night. The entire drive to Page consisted of 50 MPH winds and tumbleweeds blowing across the road. Not exactly the best driving conditions…
A View Of Lake Powell
Once I arrived in Page, the first thing on the to do list was to find a view of Lake Powell. Luckily, there were a few spots to see the lake from. The only downside was it was cloudy and windy so taking pictures was tough. Here is the best picture I took:
View of Lake Powell
Monument Valley, Arizona
This past weekend I was lucky enough to take another road trip. This time it was to northern Arizona to see Monument Valley. This was one of the last places I had left to see in the state of Arizona.
View of Monument Valley
A Cool Place To See
As you can see, the place is awesome. It is one of the coolest places I have seen because it is so different looking. The land is flat all around and the rocks just stick up out of the ground. It sort of comes up out of no where as your driving towards the Utah state border.
The Peralta Trail
Hope everyone had a great holiday! Now, time to share another hiking experience. I recently did one of the most popular hikes in the Superstition Wilderness known as the Peralta Trail. It’s located here in Arizona east of Phoenix. I thought I would share it with everyone since it was a lot of fun.
Starting Off At The Trailhead
The reviews I read of this trail were not lying when they said this trail is used often. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot along with a lot of people. Anyways, the start of the trail was relatively flat. It reminded me a lot of South Mountain which I have hiked a few times. The trail follows along the canyon bottom for more than a mile and then starts to get a little steeper. Eventually, you start to hit some switchbacks and the scenery gets a little more interesting.
The Freemont Saddle
After hiking about 2.5 miles, you reach the Freemont Saddle. This is where most hikers turn around and make their descent back down to the parking lot. It’s a great place to have a picnic if you decide to bring along some food. I brought along some granola bars and a turkey sandwich and was thankful for it. I was starving by the time I got to the saddle.
The view from the saddle is amazing. Here is a picture looking south from the saddle:
Weaver’s Needle
That isn’t the only nice view from the saddle. Looking north, you can see Weaver’s Needle. A 1,000 ft. high rock column that is awesome looking.
