Arizona Travel

Here are some highlights of my travels to Arizona:

Road Trips (PDFs)

To Iowa and Back (including Yellowstone) Road Trip 2024

I made my annual trip to the Midwest to see family, with stops at Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and in St. Louis as I headed east. Heading back west, I visited the Badlands and Black Hills in South Dakota, and I finally had a nice visit to Yellowstone National Park after other attempts in recent years were thwarted by early winter storms.

Fort Worth a.k.a. Museums Road Trip 2024

I headed to Fort Worth, Texas to visit family. Although I didn't do any sightseeing in Fort Worth itself, I visited a number of sites on the drive out there and the drive back home, with special emphasis on museums. One of these museums was arguably the most unique museum I have come across so far in my travels.

Palm Springs Area Road Trip 2024

I headed to Palm Springs, California by way of Phoenix, Arizona in order to visit some sites between the two cities and to finish off my list of sites in the Palm Springs area that I've wanted to see.

Arizona Archaeology and Museums Getaway Road Trip 2024

I spent a few days in the Phoenix and Prescott areas of Arizona to check out some archaeological sites and a couple of museums.

Hiking Utah Road Trip 2023

I made my annual spring trip to Utah, this one focused on hiking, something I haven't done much of since being diagnosed with Charcot Foot. I wanted to put myself to a bit of a test. I also hit some sites in western Colorado that I had planned to visit last fall when returning from seeing my Midwest relatives only to have a winter storm hit the region.

Tucson/Las Cruces Road Trip 2023

I headed for Tucson, Arizona to visit some museums in town and some sites in the region. I then headed for Las Cruces, New Mexico to visit sites there that I had originally planned to see in 2019 when car trouble cut short that trip.

Wyoming and Southeast Montana Road Trip 2022

Plans to visit Yellowstone National Park once again went awry due to weather - flooding, this time - but I still headed for Wyoming and southeastern Montana to see a number of other sites on my list, most related to archaeology, dinosaurs and the western emigrant trails that passed through Wyoming.

Northwest New Mexico Road Trip 2022

For my 350th overnight trip since I graduated college, I headed for northwest New Mexico, in particular focusing on sites near Grants and Zuni Pueblo, Aztec and Espanola. Destinations on Native American pueblos, the Manhattan Project sites at Los Alamos, and colorful Ghost Ranch were among this trip's highlights.

Eastern United States Road Trip 2022

After the COVID pandemic kept my road trips mostly in the desert Southwest for the past two years, I set off on a 3 1/2 week road trip across the Southeast and then up the East Coast before heading west back to Las Vegas. Among my destinations were several newer National Park System units that I hadn't been to before, a number of Native American moundbuilder archaeological sites, American history sites from the settlement of Jamestown to the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era and a number of other sites.

Return to Southeast Utah Road Trip 2022

After more than 30 years, I finally explored Shafer Canyon at Canyonlands National Park. And for the first time since the COVID pandemic began, I returned to Blanding, Utah and Page, Arizona to explore more sites in those areas.

Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico Road Trip 2022

After driving out to the Dallas area for a family event, I took a sightseeing trip on my way back home, with stops in downtown Dallas, along Route 66, and in the dinosaur country of northwest Oklahoma and northeast New Mexico, with a number of other stops thrown in, too.

Utah's San Rafael Swell and Cathedral Valley Road Trip 2021

I took my usual annual April road trip to Utah, although once again the length and agenda were somewhat abbreviated due to pandemic concerns. But I did hit a long-time goal of visiting the remote Cathedral Valley area of Capitol Reef National Park, and I continued to explore the San Rafael Swell, arguably the most deserving area in Utah that ought to be a national park or national monument but isn't. As always, I found a few other places worth visiting, too, and I added a few more items to my "someday" list, including a major one just across the border in Arizona.

Arizona's Gila Bend Road Trip 2021

With the COVID-19 pandemic still underway, and especially because of a devastating winter surge, I stayed home for five months. But the surge had eased, so I hit the road for another socially distant road trip, this one targeting Gila Bend, Arizona. There were some sites near the town that I wanted to see, and I also made a return day trip to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument with clear, sunny skies, to make up for my overcast and rainy visit there a few years ago. Limited sightseeing on the drives to Gila Bend and back added some interest to those drives.

Along Arizona's Route 66 Road Trip 2020

With the pandemic-caused cancellation of plans for a different fall road trip, I decided to spend a few days in Winslow, Arizona so that I could check out some archaeological and geological sites in the region. But getting there meant that I was following a segment of Route 66, the Mother Road, so I checked out some Route 66 sites along the way, too.

Utah Social Distancing Road Trip 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic upended most of my 2020 travel plans. But when travel restrictions eased somewhat, I decided to head up to Utah for a road trip where masks and social distancing were vital. I stayed in two counties that had few cases (all recovered), and visited a number of remote areas well off pavement and away from popular destinations. I was rewarded with a number of great places - Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, a remote corner of the Grand Canyon, cool places in the San Rafael Swell and nearby San Rafael Desert, some dinosaur sites, and even the Red Planet. Mars? Really? Read and find out.

Phoenix and Southeast Arizona Road Trip 2020

This first trip of 2020 was a continuation of last year's Southeast Arizona Road Trip, which I had to cut short due to car trouble. I mostly focused on sites in and near Phoenix, but included a swing to pick up sites to the southeast of Tucson, too.

Cross Country Relatives Road Trip 2019

On a cross-country road trip to see family, I checked out a mix of places that featured geology sites, archaeology sites, dinosaur sites, Republicans, nuclear missile sites, corny sites and the Jolly Green Giant.

4-Day Southwest Utah Road Trip 2019

I had a week at home without any appointments, so I decided to head up to southwest Utah to check out some ghost towns, Cedar Breaks, lava sites, and out of the way scenic views. Throw in some hiking and it was a great getaway.

Southern Utah and Western Colorado Road Trip 2019

It was time for my annual Four Corners spring trip. I came up with a number of mostly new-to-me hikes and destinations around Page, Arizona, Blanding, Utah, Grand Junction, Colorado and Green River, Utah.

Southeast Arizona Road Trip 2019

For my first trip of 2019 I planned a road trip that would hit several sites from southeast of Tucson, Arizona east to Las Cruces, New Mexicon. But things didn't go according to plan.

Four Corners Rock Art, Ruins and Hiking 2018

In April 2018 I took a 17-day road trip around the Four Corners region to see a number of ruins, petroglyph, pictograph and geological sites - most of which I hadn't been to before even though I've been in the region a number of times. This included 34 hikes on the first 16 days of the trip. It was a great trip - and it was pretty obvious that when hiking through Four Corners canyon country it pays to keep your eyes open.

California's Mojave Desert 2018

In March 2018 I stayed close to home for a six-day road trip on which I explored the southern Mojave Desert, in particular Mojave Trails National Monument and Mojave National Preserve. I also checked out some destinations in the southern part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area and followed historic Route 66 from Kingman, Arizona to Barstow, California.

Southern Arizona and Southwest New Mexico 2018

For my first road trip of 2018 I headed for destinations in southern Arizona. Although I got some sightseeing and hikes in, the weather didn't cooperate, with rain everyday until the day I headed home. Good thing Arizona is close.

New Mexico Ruins and Rock Art 2017

In July 2017 I spent two weeks exploring northwest New Mexico and northeast Arizona; during this trip I visited or saw about three dozen Ancestral Puebloan ruins sites, many associated with Chaco or Mesa Verde cultures; I also took in a number of geological sites and some museums, and I took about two dozen shorter to mid-length hikes.

Northern Arizona and Southeast Utah 2017

In April 2017 I took a two-week trip to Utah, taking familiar roads but visiting a lot of new sites and sites that I haven't been to in years - even decades in some instances. I especially focused on places in the San Rafael Swell, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and locations around Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but visited other areas.

Desert Superbloom of California and Arizona 2017

In March 2017 I returned to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California to check out a wildflower superbloom (result of the state's good winter rainfall), and then continued on to southwest Arizona to visit some sites there that I dropped from last fall's trip.

Palm Springs and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park 2016

Here is a photo set from a November 2016 trip I took to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and some national monuments and other public lands sites in southern California.

Cross Country Relatives Road Trip 2016

Here is a summary/photo set from the October 2016 cross-country road trip I took to visit relatives in Texas and the Midwest.

Destination Overviews (PDFs)

Slide Shows (YouTube)

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