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Go West

February 2014

It's that time of the year. Time when my wife and I look each other in the eye as we receive another dreadful weather forcast of 10 inches of smow and wonder - WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING HERE? This is on top of the six inches that we received last week and we still have over a month of winter yet to come.

Today Horace Greely's proclamation "Go West young man", can be interpreted to be more about climate than fertile farmlands. To me, the Southwest is a place that shines in the winter months with festivals, gem shows, plays, and rodeos. The place I refer to is in The Valley of the Sun - Tucson, Arizona.

We have vacationed in the Grand Canyon State on three occasions. Our vistit took place in January of 1986. As we arrived at the airport, we were welcomed at the airport by a pack of wild coyotes. The only time I have ever seen a coyote has been on a Warner Brothers cartoon. Of course the pack was well off the runway and no threat to our well being.

Over our seven day stay we saw many interesting sights. Highlights included:

Anyone who thinks of the West can't help but be intrigued by the many tales of legendary figures. One of the many tribes indigenous to the Southwest were the Apaches. This bellicose tribe was known to be skillful strategist and fierce warriors. Perhaps the most well-known of this group is the Chiricahua Apache leader known as Cochise. Many believe they can see the image of the head of Cochise(click here) at the top of the Chiricahua Mountains.

We had the pleasure of visiting this national treasure on our second trip to Tucson in 1988. The ride east from Tucson provided an authentic taste of the Southwest. There were very few automobiles along the way. If your car broke down you may as well have been left for bones. One interesting spot we passed through was an old ghost town by the name of Gleeson Arizona. This is where I saw my first tumbleweed. I also remember a town called Rattlesnake Sally's. There was a sign giving the population but the numbers were impossible to decipher due to the amount of bullet holes encumbering the sign. This goes double for the many other traffic signs we passed along the way.

If you take the time to explore the Chiricahua National Park you would be remise if you neglected to take the hop, skip and jump along a few dirt roads to the town of Tombstone. As a fan of country westerns I can't begin to describe the feeling I had while standing on Freemont Street six doors west of the O.K. Corral. For a brief moment it was 1881 and the Clanton brothers would soon meet their demise at the hands of Doc Holiday and U. S. Marshalls Virgil and Morgan Earp and their brother Wyatt.

The highlight of our trip was our visit to what most Arizona natives consider el ultimo, the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The drive to the Canyon took almost eight hours but time past quickly as we enjoyed the changing Arizona landscape. Two hours north of Tucson on route I-10 we approached the Phoenix skyline. This may be the only spot in the state that has any amount of measurable pollution. Unfortunately the smog masks some of the beauty of the Arizona capital. Just east of Phoenix is the city of Tempe, home of the Arizona State Sun Devils. Route I-10 goes past Tempe and we were treated to a roadside view of Sun Devil stadium.

North of Phoenix, in the Verde Valley, set in an array of red sandstone formations is "Arizona's Little Hollywood" the city of Sedona. This spot features many picturesque locations including my favorite, the 250 foot Chapel of the Holy Cross which appears to rise out of a redrock cliff. Over 50 classical western movies have been filmed here including Broken Arrow, Stay Away Joe, and Apache. These films featured such legendary stars as Jimmy Stewart, Elvis Presley, and Burt Lancaster respectively. Any amateur photographer can be made to look like a pro in this spectacular setting. The walls of my upstairs hallway bear this out. On our third trip to Tucson we took an overnight trip to Sedona which allowed plenty of time to hike in the Oak Creek Canyon.

Oak Creek Canyon is filled with an abundance of scenery including huge monoliths, bright colors, and cool mountain waters. It offers an excellent spot for hiking. We had an interesting experience while enjoying a quiet dinner at a local Italian restaurant when we were joined by an uninvited guest - an eerie thunderstorm. It was riveting to hear the thunder echoing through the canyon after being lit up for a split second by a crackling bolt of lightning.

We were quickly reminded that it was still winter as we left Sedona and traveled north on I-17 to Flagstaff and the snowcapped mountains of the San Francisco Peaks. These are the highest mountains in the state, the tallest is Humphreys Peak.

Winter is an ideal time to see the Grand Canyon. Lodging rates are at their seasonable low and most of the 2.5 million annual visitors tour the Canyon during the warmer months. I will not waste space describing the view from atop the Canyon. Suffice to say that each person will have a different reaction. For me it was a hushed tone of wonderment.

Night time at the Grand Canyon is also a unique experience. You literally can't see objects that are right in front of you. I had an interesting time trying to find the ignition to start the rental car that I was vaguely familiar with. It was quite comical when I attempted to turn on the headlights only to activate both the windshield wipers as well as the wiper jets. What you can see is every star in the galaxy. It was reassuring to see that the Big Dipper, Orion and Scorpius exist outside of an astronomy book.

Reliving these past experiences peaked my curiosity to check the weather in Tucson. Today the low was 46 degrees. That's a little chilly but the afternoon high was a brisk 70 degrees. You see In Tucson winter ends at high noon.

Ray Pascali