Travel magazines

Every time I travel I buy travel magazines. Often I fall for the glossy ones with luxurious spa resorts on the front page. It looks so wonderful I can not help but buying one or two and dream away for a little while. But because they only write about resorts where it would cost a small fortune to spend only a weekend I end up rather depressed instead of anxious to go on my next holiday. Every time. I know that the length of my holidays does not go together with these hotels and when I think about it normally not what I like to do on my holidays either.

Recently, during a long lay over at LAX, it was time for a new purchase. This time I think I found something better. A not so glossy front page with a rick shaw bike driver from Cuba caught my eye. This magazine, Afar, focused more on activities like surfing and rock climbing rather than spa and picture perfect beach resorts. I felt much better. All of a sudden I had an urge to find that little island in the Caribbean that was so hard to get to or go climbing in Cuba. It was refreshing that they focused more on what to do and experience than where to sleep, shop or drink exclusive drinks. These things usually fall into place anyway once you know where you want to go and what to do. I am more looking for inspiration and not a list of hotels and shops when I read about travel and this suited me just perfectly.

The vision that became reality

This winter the Phoenix Art Museum has an exhibition about Frank Lloyd Wright, the well known architect who lived and worked partly in Phoenix. He was active in the beginning of the century and made some very famous buildings and homes, the most famous probably Falling Water and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The most fascinating thing about this exhibition was that I understood more about Phoenix and where the inspiration for the city structure had come from. A lot of Frank Lloyd Wright's work has an art deco style which I am very fond of. It is somehow both old and futuristic. I can not help thinking about Fritz Lang's Metropolis when I see art deco architecture. But the interesting thing I learned at this exhibition was that Lloyd Wright also created a plan for the perfect city, Broadacre City. It was the beginning of the century, cars were not very common but there was a dream of wealth and technically advanced future. Naturally his plan evolved around cars and the idea that everyone should have an acre of land. To make this work the city became very spread out and in order to get around quickly a network of roads were a central part of the planning. Looking at his sketches makes you realize that this is exactly what Phoenix looks like today. This futuristic city that has become reality is as functional and lifeless as the drawings show.

East Phoenix Metro Area from Superstition Ridge

The thought of giving everyone a fair piece of property close to everything they need is of course very nice. But therefore it also lacks the atmosphere that so many other cities do have and make them worth visiting. There is no city center where people spontaneously meet and where you can go shopping, catch a movie, a theater, visit markets, have coffee or dinner with friends and stroll around and do some people watching, all in the same place. Honestly, I have a very hard time to say why anyone should visit Phoenix as a tourist. It is a comfortable city to live in but does not offer a lot to the visitor. Unless the city structure itself makes you want to come and see it with your own eyes. The thing many people visit Phoenix for is the weather, to play golf or other sports when it is too cold in other places. Many baseball teams for example has their spring training in Phoenix which attracts a lot of tourists. Fair enough, the winters here are very comfortable and also my favorite thing about Phoenix.

Coming from a place where public transport is the best way of getting around and having a car is actually more of a hassle than useful, it is difficult to get used to Phoenix. People who grew up here seem to love it though. Many would just get nervous in a city where I feel very comfortable. I guess this is a good thing though, everyone is not the same and there is a place for everybody. 

Phoenix downtown escape

A couple of months ago now we decided to give Phoenix Downtown another chance and treat ourselves to a stay at a nice hotel. I could already see it in front of me; after strolling around town we would come back to the hotel in the afternoon with tired feet and legs. The champagne would be already chilled and Andy would run a hot bath were we would enjoy the bubbles. I spent some time looking for a hotel and finally chose the Westin on Van Buren and 1^st Street. 

View from the Westin pool area.

The location was perfect since it is just a couple of blocks from our favourite restaurant, Sens. It is a quite small Japanese tapas style restaurant and definately worth a visit. The reason I picked the Westin was that they have a small suite with a bathroom in the corner of the building with floor to ceiling windows where you can look out over the city while having a bath. The fact that they had a bar where we felt just at home was a bonus. It was quite empty but still boosted some interesting people watching.

Just what I needed. :-)

Downtown Phoenix is really not too bad except for the fact that there are no people there. To be a multi million city it feels deserted. If you look closely there are some nice cafés, bars and restaurants but the atmosphere is missing. Sadly.

Nice café behind the Phoenix Art Museum. But where are the guests?

But we did have a good time and got what we expected.

Visiting parents

In September my parents came over from Sweden to visit us in Arizona. The first few days we showed them around the area, looked at the views from Dobbins Lookout on South Mountain, did some shopping at the Chandler Mall, had drinks at the Hyatt in downtown Phoenix and drove the Apache Trail.

Apache Trail

Goldfield Ghost town along the Apache Trail 

As usual the weather was sunny and a bit warmer than we had expected at this time of year. It has been around 40 degrees Celsius in Phoenix during this time. My parents had not ever experienced that kind of heat which required some getting used to.

After the sight seeing in the Phoenix area we did a 5 day tour featuring Prescott / Sedona, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam and Lake Havasu. It was a fair way to go and we had to spend quite a lot of time in the car. But it was a nice trip with a good mix of things to do. We did some hiking, shopping and sight seeing.

Grand Canyon

At the Narrows in Zion National park

My parents at Luxor 

The Elvis fan

When we got back to Phoenix we had a rest day where we slept in and just went shopping in Scottsdale. In the evening we had a barbecue at the pool.

Tombstone down town

The last outing was a day trip down to Tombstone where we walked around the historic little down town, ate at one of the old saloons and watched the Shoot out show at OK Corral, featuring Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.

At Crystal Palace where we had lunch

Thanks for visiting. We had a great time!

Our first roadtrip in the States - Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park was exactly the change of scenery that we needed. From fancy bars, restaurants and huge yachts to desert, rock and mountains. In two days we did three hikes. All of them were easy, the mountains here are not very high and the trails are easy to walk.

We drove into the park through the southern entrance at Cottonwood Visitor Center. From here we hiked to Lost Palms Oasis which was a very nice hike that featured some cool parts through small canyons, dry river beds and at the end an oasis with palm trees. To reach the oasis you had to walk down a fairly steep canyon. The view was of course much better from the top of the ridge where we stopped for some snacks.

Walking along a ridge to Lost Palms Oasis.

The palm trees at Lost Palms Oasis.

On the way back to the parking lot we climbed Mastodon Peak which was a quite airy peak with lots of boulders you could climb around on. In the background you can see the Salton Sea.

The second day we picked up some breakfast at the local supermarket and drove up to Keys View. The plan was to sit and watch the view while eating. We ended up eating in the car and then went out for 5 min to take some photos. The reason being that it was extremly windy and cold outside. From Keys View you could look towards the south and Palm Springs which is outside the National Park.

At Keys View.

Close to Keys View we hiked the Lost Horse Mine Trail. This is an easy hike which takes you past an old gold mine which is fairly intact. The mine was build in the late 18-hundreds and was in use for almost 4 decades. In total it produced about 280 kg of gold and 450 kg of silver. After visiting the mine we climbed a couple of peaks along the trail which were not really on the map. Just for the fun of it. It was very windy and cold also here so we did not stay for long. At the end the trail seemed to be never ending going through the valleys back to the parking lot. When we came back we had been away for 2-3 hours so it was actually shorter than it seemed.

Joshua Trees.

After a sandwich lunch at Cap Rock (were we found some bolted climbing routes which made us miss our climbing gear) we hiked Ryan Mountain. It was a quite easy hike which did not take more than 30-40 min. This peak is in the center of the western part of the park and from here you have a great view of the whole Joshua Tree National Park.

The view towards north west from Ryan Mountain. On many of the small rocks you can see in the valley there are climbing routes. So next time we will be bringing climbing gear.

On a mini hike in Hidden Valley just before the sun went down. The light was fantastic this time of day. It is at these moments I seriously consider buying an SLR camera.

Joshua Tree is a great place if you like hiking, desert and large boulders. The rock formations you find here are amazing and there are many places to play around among the boulders.

Having fun at White Tank campground.

We found it magical and will be going back. We highly recommend a visit if you have not been here.

Our first roadtrip in the States - Los Angeles to San Diego

Leaving the dream world of Las Vegas, we drove towards the coast and the next city of dreams, Los Angeles. We arrived at night in Pasadena which we knew nothing about accept that it was close to Hollywood and Santa Monica that we planned to visit the day after.

Pasadena turned out to be a very nice place. Here you find Caltech and this is also where they host the Rose Bowl. We walked around the little city center at night and it was filled with small restaurant, cafes and shops.

The famous Hollywood sign from Griffith Observatory.

The day after we drove into Griffith Park to look at the view of the city. We stopped at the Observatory, took a few pictures and noticed how yellow the air around this city is. Somehow it was not very tempting to go on anymore...

The view from Griffith Observatory towards the sea and Santa Monica.

After driving through Hollywood we ended up in Santa Monica where we walked along the beach, had some food, some beers and took it easy for a while.

Santa Monica beach.

The next day we met an old friend of mine, Sonia, in Longbeach, where we had brunch together. Afterwards we walked around the Marina and out to the Queen Mary, one of the first great ocean liners, which is now a hotel and museum. Longbeach is also a very nice place for a walk and a few beers.

We then drove along the coast to the northern part of San Diego. Almost the entire coast line is filled with upscale residential areas with small cosy city centers with nice restaurants and expensive stores. We did not see more Ferrari car dealers anywhere else... Here it is very obvious that a lot of people have a little too much money. And it makes you realize that even if you thought that you have a pretty decent home it is nothing compared to this. For comfort I think that they are probably not as happy as I am...

Now the time had come to check out San Diego. We started with breakfast in fancy La Jolla, went for a walk on Mission Beach and then strolled around the marina in the city center and the Gaslamp Quarter with all its restaurants and bars.

At Mission Beach.

Gaslamp Quarter.

At the Marina.

This is where the bananas come from.

After three days of going from one nice, more or less fancy place to another, drinking beer and strolling around we were fed up and both felt that we had to do something. Said and done, we left the fluffy world of the south west and headed towards the mountains and some hiking.

Our first roadtrip in the States - Las Vegas

The day after we arrived in Phoenix we left on our first roadtrip. First stop was Las Vegas. We had not really planned this trip, we more or less just drove off to see where we would end up. The last few days in Sweden we watch the Ocean's movies so the first stop felt natural. I had never been to Las Vegas before and it was about as sick as I had imagined. A kind of Disneyland for grown-ups.

On the road.

We drove in from the east just after sunset and you could see the lights from the city behind the mountains the last few miles before you actually drive into the valley. As you turn a corner the city appears and you can clearly see the Strip and all the casinos. It is a weird feeling after driving hours through the desert on roads that seem to go on forever. Out there everything seem quiet and vast and suddenly you are facing this city on steroids. It is no coincidence that the museum of neon signs can be found in downtown Las Vegas.

The Strip by night.

When you look at the map you don't think the Strip is very long but what you don't realize is how large the casinos really are. Just to walk straight through a casino is not a matter of minutes but more 15-20 min. We did not, in two days, see all of it.

Having a lunch time beer in front of the Bellagio. It is after all holidays!

I was a bit disappointed that not more people were gambling, it all looked kind of empty. Many tables were closed and most of the slot machines was unused. However considering the size of the place I guess the number of players was still impressive.

I am still working, so no, we did not win the Megabucks...

Some of the casinos were very nice, my personal favourite is the Venetian. The shopping mall with a canal through the middle is really impressive. Otherwise I think we both liked the newly opened Cosmopolitan, they have this quite cool bar in the middle of the casino.

The Venetian shopping mall (it is indoors...).

At the bar in Cosmopolitan.

After two nights though I was ready to leave. It felt like we were stuck in a dream world and had to escape to reality again. Back on the road again we headed towards Los Angeles. Coming soon...