We headed up the mountain near where we were staying, to the south of Phoenix, imaginatively called South Mountain. At its base is a photo op called Scorpion Gulch:
It’s the ruins of an old trading post and house:
Then we continued up the road:
To Dobbin’s Lookout, a viewpoint at the top of the mountain, with a nice view of Phoenix:
A selfie:
For lunch after the Japanese garden we grabbed some drive-through teriyaki bowls (first time we’d seen that as a drive-through option), and went to a nearby city park in Phoenix, Encanto Park.
We found a picnic bench with a view of a stream and a party on an island:
Our teriyaki bowls and spring rolls for lunch:
A palm tree:
We noticed some pedal boats going by along the stream, and thought that looked like a fun thing to do:
So we did; we rented a pedal boat:
We got some duck food from the rental kiosk, so we had fun feeding and watching them:
Birds:
More ducks:
The park is next to a golf course, so of course there are a bunch of golf balls on the nearby island:
Birds sunning themselves:
Another selfie from the boat; yes, we’re trying to do more of them; we haven’t historically had a lot of pictures of us together:
Hey look, more ducks:
Another couple of pedal boats:
One more selfie:
We visited the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix, a small Japanese-style garden near downtown. Not as large or tranquil as the Portland Japanese Garden, but still rather nice.
We took a selfie (the red dot is proof of entrance payment):
The pond:
Ducks:
Koi:
Gate:
Stream:
Shishi-odoshi (deer scarer):
Waterfall:
Fish sculpture:
Cascade:
Bamboo fence, rain chains, etc:
Tea house:
Pond:
Tower:
Interesting rocks on the edge of the pond (and more ducks):
Bridge:
Koi:
A temporary change: we had an appointment for some work on our coach, so like when we got it serviced up in the Seattle area, we needed to stay somewhere else for a time. (Actually, we could have stayed in the coach for most of the time, but it’s problematic with a cat, and less comfortable with the slides in and other limitations.) So we rented an Airbnb.
We departed Gila Bend, Arizona, and drove to Phoenix, Arizona. Just a short 63 mile journey this time, only an hour. We had chosen the Sonoran Desert RV Park in part for its reasonable proximity to Phoenix, so we could deliver the coach by 09:00. Here’s the route map (the leg in the top-left corner was part of the route getting to that park):
The Airbnb was a nice two-bedroom apartment, just 20 minutes away from the shop. See that listing for more photos, but here are a few.
The living room:
Kitchen:
Mountain view:
Pool area (which we didn’t use; it wasn’t quite warm enough to want to do so):
And yes, Paladin stayed here too; being cat-friendly was one of the criteria. He adapted without difficulty:
The apartment felt so spacious after living in a motorhome! It was nice to have a bit more room to spread out, and a full-sized shower. Being in a big city was different, too. But it was only temporary; we’re not yet ready to give up the freedom of taking our house with us as we explore the country. And with a cat, it won’t be the last time we stay elsewhere; we already have another Airbnb booked for some more work on the coach at a different place in January.
A timelapse of driving the coach just 63 miles from Gila Bend, Arizona to Phoenix, Arizona.
In my posts about places we’ve stayed, you may have noticed some patterns in the names, e.g. Shadow Hills RV Resort and Coyote Valley RV Resort, compared to Sonoran Desert RV Park and Orange Grove RV Park.
You may have wondered, what makes some an “RV resort”, and others an “RV park”? (Or you may not.)
Well, places can call themselves whatever they want, of course, but generally an RV resort will have nicer facilities and amenities. For example, a resort would typically have large paved sites, compared to gravel for a park; a nicer pool and clubhouse; and services like garbage pickup from the site, where you just put garbage bags out front and they collect it, vs taking it to a dumpster, and propane refilling, where they collect an empty propane cylinder and refill it for you, instead of lugging it yourself.
A comparison; here’s our site at Coyote Valley RV Resort:
vs our site at Orange Grove RV Park:
Both very nice, in different ways, but some differences.
Then there are other types, for example Thousand Trails San Benito Preserve I would characterize as a campground; a mixture of RV sites, tent sites, and cabins. A little more rustic than a typical RV park:
Similarly, state parks like Valley of the Rogue State Park I would also call a campground, also with lots of trees, and sometimes not full hookups (though in this case paved sites):
There are other situations, such as services like Harvest Hosts, where companies let people stay overnight in their parking lot, and Boondockers Welcome, where people let RVs stay for a day or two on their property. (These two services have now merged.) We tried the latter a while back, at Kevin and Julie’s Boondockers Welcome site; they often don’t have any hookups, but this was a nice one, with power and water provided:
A similar concept is “moochdocking”, where one stays on the property of a friend or family member. We did that at Mom’s place, with just 15 amp power:
There is also dispersed camping, where RVs can spread out on public lands, in designated sites. And boondocking, where RVs just stop anywhere (in authorized areas) on public lands. Those situations are dry camping, with no hookups. We haven’t done those yet, but plan to soon.
I hope this was interesting! A bit different than my usual posts.
We visited the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site, about half an hour from our campground in Arizona:
Info signs:
Petroglyph rocks:
The adjacent campground has some picnic shelters, vault toilets, and dry camping sites. We couldn’t stay here, though, as there was no cell signal; we need our internet!
Brochures and shelves of books for campers:
We drove our pickup truck around a mostly unpaved dirt road within Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. Enjoy a timelapse (with music) of the loop. How many cacti varieties can you spot?
We took a daytrip to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near the border of Mexico in southern Arizona, south of Ajo, west of Tucson, and east of Yuma.
The entrance sign:
Info signs; notice the loop on the right-hand side? That’s the unpaved road we drove; see below:
Mountains:
Info signs:
Mountains:
Cacti:
Visitor center, with an example of an organ pipe cactus:
A weird social distancing barrier inside:
We enjoyed a picnic lunch:
A hopeful raven kept an eye on us:
Info signs:
The aforementioned unpaved road we toured:
Lots of pictures of cacti of various sorts:
A stone arch:
Mini arch:
Another regional food place we visited for the first time (for me, anyway) was Cracker Barrel in Buckeye, Arizona:
It’s unlike most restaurants, in that you enter and exit through a store:
A very kitschy store:
We enjoyed the decorations in the restaurant:
The food was fine, nothing too exciting; I had a sampler with chicken & dumplings (kinda bland), meatloaf (not great), ham (fine), plus sides, and Jenn had fried chicken and sides:
They’re also known for breakfasts; we’ll try that next time we visit one.