Phoenix Road Trip [Archive] - Debate Policy

Yurt

02-18-2008, 07:31 PM

Lit out friday night around 10pm, drove until palm desert, could barely maintain, wife took over and brought us safely into phoenix around 8am mnt time. had a great time. stayed in a nice house, our "suite" had its own bath, tv, very nice bed and french doors that opened to the courtyard. pulled another all nighter and got in this morning around 6am. i drove from phoenix to santa barbara, was pretty tired, but she looked so peaceful and content sleeping, i just kept the music (low) flowing and my crazy thoughts coming and made it past LA to the four season in santa barbara. (Note: if you ever have the chance, stop at this hotel, words cannot describe the beauty.....and the very, very clean restrooms :))

sat. - it had just stopped raining, so the sky/air was very clear and the desert there was .... magical. my first time there and my canadian wife razzed me because i said the desert is ugly (compared to palm springs, vegas). very beautiful, very peaceful. then again, the people we stayed with have a fairly big house nestled against the hills. 14 foot ceilings, desert design (though manu would know for sure), beat grandma at rummicube (sp?) and then she challenged me to connect 4, said -- bring it on. i put her down quick on game 1, then she got all slow on me and kicked my ass 2/3.

The pics:

Yurt

02-18-2008, 07:57 PM

Kathianne

02-18-2008, 08:02 PM

sunrise, about an hour+ from phoenix:

http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/41575/2307669540100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2307669540100084141PYcVTA)

http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/40844/2514452030100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2514452030100084141gjyaBQ)

http://image63.webshots.com/663/4/78/47/2467478470100084141BgNNME_ph.jpg

http://image58.webshots.com/558/7/56/84/2242756840100084141VkwhEt_ph.jpg

Very weird. On the thread I could not see the pics, so I went into the 'reply' and there they were. Went back, gone. Went to reply, there. So I dropped the quotes.

Beautiful and for the record, the pics are Yurt's! :cool:

Yurt

02-18-2008, 08:29 PM

The scenery

http://image62.webshots.com/562/0/27/63/2230027630100084141axpigB_ph.jpg

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2031925200100084141RzGVZk

http://image52.webshots.com/652/4/97/29/2661497290100084141eFKrrm_ph.jpg

http://inlinethumb05.webshots.com/28676/2031925200100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2031925200100084141RzGVZk)

http://inlinethumb63.webshots.com/38078/2923151840100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2923151840100084141JzpcWn)

Yurt

02-18-2008, 08:33 PM

http://inlinethumb22.webshots.com/5333/2330342460100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2330342460100084141SfwFlL)

http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/33223/2100107590100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2100107590100084141UbaeRI)

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/27651/2804293450100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2804293450100084141PbmDEp)

http://inlinethumb24.webshots.com/35223/2797801200100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2797801200100084141EKsqis)

http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/63/663/4/39/65/2203439650100084141KIsQYV_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2203439650100084141KIsQYV)

Kathianne

02-18-2008, 08:34 PM

Yurt, just gorgeous! Each is like a painting.

Yurt

02-18-2008, 08:35 PM

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/21254/2960607200100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2960607200100084141lYuJti)

http://inlinethumb16.webshots.com/27727/2495294720100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2495294720100084141CuGVIs)

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2740552080100084141WHnlDd?vhost=good-times

Yurt

02-18-2008, 08:50 PM

http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/33223/2100107590100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2100107590100084141UbaeRI)

Yurt

02-18-2008, 08:53 PM

Yurt, just gorgeous! Each is like a painting.

it was amazing. sunday was normal, very hazy/dusty, we just happened there when it was perfect. and it was my first time! my wife's parents are snowbirders from canada and everyone thought i would hate the desert given my strong inclination towards water/coastlines, but i loved it.

truly opened my eyes. we live in a beautiful country. we should not look so hard at other countries (cept canada, which is dear to my heart and soul) and ignore our great land.

Kathianne

02-18-2008, 09:02 PM

it was amazing. sunday was normal, very hazy/dusty, we just happened there when it was perfect. and it was my first time! my wife's parents are snowbirders from canada and everyone thought i would hate the desert given my strong inclination towards water/coastlines, but i loved it.

truly opened my eyes. we live in a beautiful country. we should not look so hard at other countries (cept canada, which is dear to my heart and soul) and ignore our great land.

I've felt the same wherever I've traveled, all have their own beauty. Here in Illinois, it's not the spectacular views, though Lake Michigan is pretty good, but it's the buildings and wild weather.

Down South, well for a midwesterner, it's exotic. The accents, the bugs-ick! The flora. On the coast it's the birds, ocean, sea turtles, palm trees. It's the nut and fruit trees.

Out east, the rocks, hills, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes...

Out west, well it's rugged. The mountains, the ocean-the Pacific is more rugged than the Atlantic, though New England gives a good showing. ;) Its the deserts and the coast and the Puget Sound. From desert to our own London type areas! There is no way to be bored if one spent 3 or more weeks a year for life, between the geography and the people.

emmett

02-20-2008, 10:56 PM

I've felt the same wherever I've traveled, all have their own beauty. Here in Illinois, it's not the spectacular views, though Lake Michigan is pretty good, but it's the buildings and wild weather.

Down South, well for a midwesterner, it's exotic. The accents, the bugs-ick! The flora. On the coast it's the birds, ocean, sea turtles, palm trees. It's the nut and fruit trees.

Out east, the rocks, hills, plains, valleys, rivers, lakes...

Out west, well it's rugged. The mountains, the ocean-the Pacific is more rugged than the Atlantic, though New England gives a good showing. ;) Its the deserts and the coast and the Puget Sound. From desert to our own London type areas! There is no way to be bored if one spent 3 or more weeks a year for life, between the geography and the people.

Well, let's see then. I guess I got my lifetimes worth in three years huh? Those are some awesome pictures. I recognize the poisonous snake sign from the rest area. I used to stop there all the time.

Kathianne

02-20-2008, 10:58 PM

Well, let's see then. I guess I got my lifetimes worth in three years huh? Those are some awesome pictures. I recognize the poisonous snake sign from the rest area. I used to stop there all the time.

Correct me if wrong, but I think I spent a fair amount of time saying how I was jealous of your travels, while acknowledging the hardships upon you?

Pale Rider

03-16-2008, 06:04 PM

The scenery
http://inlinethumb63.webshots.com/38078/2923151840100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2923151840100084141JzpcWn)

Well how 'bout that... the ole Superstition Mountains. I used to live there, right at the bottom of those mountains in Apache Junction, at the intersection of Tomahawk and Cody.

gabosaurus

03-17-2008, 11:02 PM

theHawk

03-17-2008, 11:19 PM

I was born there and go back there several times a year to visit family. I miss it alot. The scenery is great compared to the nothingness of south Texas.

theHawk

03-17-2008, 11:21 PM

Pale Rider

03-22-2008, 04:54 AM

I've always loved Arizona. I've made the Los Angeles-to-Dallas drive a few times.
It's New Mexico and West Texas that bore the crap out of me. There is next to nothing between Dallas (or Austin) and Tucson.

Used to drive OTR semi out of Tucson for a company called DSW. Drove a lot of the southern corridor, and I know exactly what you're talking about Gab. You have to try real hard to stay awake out there on that stretch, and then my co-driver didn't, and this is what happened.... yeah, that's blood all over the door and side of the truck from his head... he wasn't real pretty after grinding his face in the gravel along the side of the highway when he tipped us over...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/2351923440_6a76453cdb_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2351093615_c0166d994c_o.jpg

diuretic

03-22-2008, 05:21 AM

That's spectacular scenery. Superstition Mountains Pale - I had a flashback then, Gabby Hayes, a song or a film or something.

I need to goggle Google.

Sorry, thread drift.

Gadget (fmr Marine)

03-22-2008, 10:11 AM

Good stuff, man!!!!

I love the Southwestern US....

Pale Rider

03-23-2008, 05:06 AM

That's spectacular scenery. Superstition Mountains Pale - I had a flashback then, Gabby Hayes, a song or a film or something.

I need to goggle Google.

Sorry, thread drift.

I would have liked Arizona more if for two big reasons, one, it's too damn hot, and two, there's just too many people down there in Phoenix, and they're still coming. One of the cool things about Apache Junction though is, the city is backed up right against the Superstition Mountains. It really can't expand much any more in any direction. So, the greedy bastards next door in Mesa started trying to anex part of Apache Junction so they could expand, and AJ politely told them to go screw themselves.

I really got tired of all the dirt, rock and cacti in southern Arizona though, although northern Arizona has some of the largest stands of pine and fur trees in the country... when they're not burning down.

diuretic

03-23-2008, 05:32 AM

It's a remarkable state. I remember driving through some parts of it and expecting my childhood heroes - Cisco and Pancho - to come barrelling around the bend on their horses (that beautiful pinto and the majestic palomino). And as you say, I drove north up to Flagstaff and I was stunned at the change in the country.

But my favourite was Tucson, got caught in a flash rainstorm in the afternoon, completely amazing, it rained so hard I had to stop the car and get on the shoulder and then a half hour later it was gone. And roadrunners skittering around in the Pima (County back then) Air Museum (which was remarkable) and my drive down that road that bisects the graveyard at Davis-Monthan, I saw planes I'd only read about, parked there. I so wanted to climb that big wire fence.

And the biggest Saguaro cactus.

Just amazing.

Pale Rider

05-29-2008, 03:29 AM

The scenery
http://inlinethumb63.webshots.com/38078/2923151840100084141S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2923151840100084141JzpcWn)

I should have posted this a long time ago, but had forgotten all about it. This was the scene one winter morning, of the same Superstition Mountains in your picture above, only from standing in the front yard of where I used to live in Apache Junction at the corner of Cody and Tomahawk Road. I had to search for this damn picture. I barely found it. I saw it go past in my screen saver set to display my pictures in a carousel. I had no idea I had this picture uploaded to my computer...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3214/2532784597_180d67be24_b.jpg

Yurt

05-31-2008, 11:28 PM

that looks cool. looks more mysterious. thanks pale.

ranger

06-01-2008, 01:03 AM

It is a beautiful state. I'm glad I live here. I've been around the world and have to move back to be satisfied.

Pale Rider

06-01-2008, 06:05 PM

that looks cool. looks more mysterious. thanks pale.
One of the few times you see clouds in Arizona, let alone drapped over the Superstition Mountains.

It is a beautiful state. I'm glad I live here. I've been around the world and have to move back to be satisfied.
I think northern Arizona is real pretty, up around Flagstaff. I really liked Payson myself. The south I have little use for. It's all dirt and rock, and live living in an oven.

ranger

06-01-2008, 10:43 PM

I like the north country as well but I'm used to being a desert dweller. Kind of hard to change up to something new.

gabosaurus

06-03-2008, 03:20 PM

One think I liked about Phoenix is it is a large city with the charm of an small city. There is next to no traffic. Phoenix and Tucson are both beautiful.

Pale Rider

06-03-2008, 03:23 PM

One think I liked about Phoenix is it is a large city with the charm of an small city. There is next to no traffic. Phoenix and Tucson are both beautiful.

Gab...... you've got to be kidding...... :eek:

I've never seen so many cars and grid lock as I saw in Phoenix during rush hours. Try the 101 loop around 5:00 o'clock. Bumper to bumper, stop and go, for MILES!

hjmick

06-03-2008, 03:31 PM

One think I liked about Phoenix is it is a large city with the charm of an small city. There is next to no traffic. Phoenix and Tucson are both beautiful.

How long ago were you in Phoenix? I was there two weeks ago and I can tell you that the traffic was nearly as bad as Los Angeles. As for charm, I guess I missed that. I found it sprawling and somewhat depressing. Much like L.A., it was a conglomeration of several communtities that had grown and merged in to one large metropolis.

Though I did find a great micro-brewery in Tempe. Reason enough for me to return.

Yurt

06-07-2008, 11:53 PM

How long ago were you in Phoenix? I was there two weeks ago and I can tell you that the traffic was nearly as bad as Los Angeles. As for charm, I guess I missed that. I found it sprawling and somewhat depressing. Much like L.A., it was a conglomeration of several communtities that had grown and merged in to one large metropolis.

Though I did find a great micro-brewery in Tempe. Reason enough for me to return.

that is exactly how it is now. i seriously thought i was in LA going through downtown to get to the outskirts, cept everything is desert chic...