Speak of Phoenix or Arizona and one immediately envisions vast desert plains dotted with cacti. Well, that’s what I see anyway. Arizona didn’t disappoint though to my surprise Phoenix the city itself is actually a fairly built up. The desert plains, mountain landscapes and cacti didn’t hit us until we were just a bit out of the city. Photos are here.

The Experience

With only two and a bit days in Phoenix, and knowing we were going to spend at least one day at the Grand Canyon, a few things, like museums and such unfortunately had to be sacrificed despite how may good things we’d heard of such attractions like the Heard Museum (unique for both the exhibits displayed and their manner of display), the Phoenix Zoo and Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot.

What we did see was absolutely gorgeous and awe-inspiring. Headlining the act was definitely our visit to the Grand Canyon. We could have driven to the Canyon ourselves but decided to book a tour instead. Except for our fellow tour travellers (five seemingly only semi-interested-in-being-on-the-tour adults and one kid probably too young to appreciate what was going on) the tour was fab. Our tour guide was absolutely brilliant and knew the areas we visited like the back of her hand.

Before the Canyon we had a short pitstop in Sedona. Sedona is well-known not only known for its red rock formations (including one that looks like Snoopy on his back if you look carefully) but also for its arts and most interestingly the amazing energy generated by the spiritual vortexes. It is these vortexes which bring artists/musicians/celebrities etc. to Sedona because its said that if you come to Sedona you won’t leave an empty canvas. Our tour guide said that she’d been on a tour once with a woman who found the energy so vibrant and powerful that she actually had to leave Sedona. Sedona is definitely one very cool town and if I come this way again more time to explore and maybe indulge in those new age spas would definitely be on the agenda.

Another couple of hours on from Sedona, and to our surprise through snow covered roads/fields, we finally reached the edge of the Canyon. At this point my brother and I decided to go with the expensive (but definitely worth it) helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon whilst the others headed to a rest stop at the rim of the Canyon. Our pilot was only 19! but he was pretty good at both flying the helicopter and narrating our 50 minute ride. We took so many photos, and to you out there they will all start to blur together, but it was so beautiful and grand we just couldn’t help it. I even shot some video footage. However all the photos and video definitely do not do the Canyon any justice. Definitely something that needs to be experienced:

After the helicopter ride we made several stops including the Grand Canyon Vista on the South Rim at Mather Point and Desert View which had a Watch Tower built to give the widest possible view of the Canyon but still harmonizing with the setting. Its told that the architect/builder, Mary Colter , picked and placed every stone to perfection. These stops showed another side to the Canyon as whilst the helicopter ride gave you a chance to see most of the Canyon standing on the Canyon allowed us to appreciate the peace and beauty of the natural beauty without the chop chop chop sound of the helicopter. Plus we got to play with snow!

At the end of the day we had the obligatory stop at a Native American Trading Post. Nothing too exciting to be honest but the stories our tour guide had about Native Americans in general was pretty interesting.

It was going to be hard beat the Grand Canyon as an attraction but the rest of what we saw in Phoenix didn’t let us down.

A visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens should be on everyone’s list. I think I read there were 50 acres of desert plants! That’s a lot of plant! I’d recommend heading there towards the end of the day so you can see the Gardens in the daylight, experience the gorgeous setting sun and then see how the Garden glows at night. Its pretty cool – though tough on cameras!

Those into architecture must definitely visit Taliesin West – a working and living memorial to the Frank Lloyd Wright. He built the place and it was actually a kind of living experiment for his little architects/designers/builders. A tour of the place is recommended. Frank Lloyd Wright was definitely a man with a theory when he was building houses. For example, he built all the door ways small so when you passed through to the other side you always felt you were emerging into something. Everything was very geometrical. He was also apparently very stubborn. Case in point: when the buildings first went up there wasn’t such thing as glass so when the glass did have to be installed he refused to move anything so in one case they had to cut a hole in the glass to allow for a clay pot that was sticking out!

Finally they say that no visit to Phoenix is complete without driving the Apache Trail. Not quite willing to trust our budget car on the no doubt rocky terrain we took a jeep tour that started at Goldfield Ghost Town at the Apache Junction. The trail is fairly long and very scenic. You’ll definitely see a lot of cacti, especially the Saguaro, on your drive. I was very glad someone else was driving because I swear at one stage one of our tires was actually hanging out over the edge! The Saguaro is known as the Hotel of the Sonoran Desert and is the most amazing plant. However it is extremely slow growing, taking between 60-80 years just to develop an arm, and slow to propagate! I’m not sure if its true but our tour guide said that literally millions of seeds would probably produce just one Saguaro. This is probably why they are therefore protected so if one gets in the way of you building a house you have to apply for permission for it to be moved and then I think it has to be returned to the same spot.

Phoenix was definitely a delight for all its natural beauty. I could see myself living there in a heartbeat if not for the searing heat in the summer and the awful traffic.