Day 10: September 27, 2001
Driving Apache Trail to Phoenix

Our plan for the day was to take a relaxed drive from Show Low, Arizona along scenic 60 west across Arizona, and then drive along the Apache Trail near the Roosevelt Dam and wind up in the Phoenix area. We got our usual 8:30 start and left the hotel around 9:30 or so. Walendo chatted with a man who seemed to be one of the proprieters of the hotel (Hotel Kiva, a standard roadside motel). He asked if we liked the room, and we said it was good. He asked where we were headed and when we told him Phoenix, he made a point of telling us not to take route 60 because it was too windy and went down and then up again. He recommended the faster route 260. We didn't explain that our goal was to take the scenic route.

Odd cactus, Salt River Canyon, AZ

After cruising out of town, we began the scenic route. After a stretch of pines along fairly flat ground, we moved into a rocky stretch with some weird but interesting cactus jutting out of the rock. We stopped to take some pictures and then moved on. Soon after, the land opened up into a large canyon with layers of rock, the Salt River Canyon. Walendo commented that this canyon would probably get a lot more attention if it weren't for the Grand Canyon, which is much more grand. Still, this one was nice.

Saguaro Cactus near Globe, AZ

After the canyon the road turned to more standard desert terrain for a while. When we got to the town of Globe, we headed north on route 188, which led to the Roosevelt Dam and the Apache Trail (Rte 88). After just a few miles, we started seeing the classic saguaro cactus that seems to be the poster cactus for the west. It's interesting that saguaros are the famous cactus, since they're not that common. Arizona is the only place I've ever seen them. Pretty soon we were seeing whole hills filled with saguaros coming out of the rock. At first we drove by, but then as we started descending toward the reservoir, they thinned out a bit so we turned around so I could get some pictures that I'd missed. I took some of a cactus by itself by a big rock, and then we went back a ways so I could get a whole hill filled with them. We figured that as soon as we continued on past the point where we'd stopped, there would be plenty more hills of them, since that seems to be our pattern. It turned out that they did thin out a while, but then later we saw tons and tons of them. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

Saguaro Cactus Apache Trail, AZ

At this point, it had become very hot and dry. Still, not quite hot enough for the air conditioner, which neither of us likes. We continued driving down toward the reservoir and looked for a spot where we could let Libby romp. The entrances along this main road all led to official boat docks with fees, so we continued on. This was good because a bit later, we came to the turnoff to the Apache Trail, which is a dirt road that runs for about 40 miles along a river that is fed by the Roosevelt Dam. That road winds down along the dam and then continues down to the river. We stopped at the first pulloff and for once didn't have to scramble down to the water.

Libby romping in Roosevelt Lake, AZ

Walendo went down to the river with Libby and let her fetch the ball from the water. I stayed up high for a bit to take some shots of the cactus and the rocks jutting out of the water. Then I joined them. Libby has so much fun romping in the water to fetch the ball, it's great to see. She's smart about it. If you throw the ball at an angle from where you are, she runs along the shore until she's parallel to the ball and then she starts trotting into the water. No sense in wasting effort swimming when you can run. She would have fetched all day, but eventually we had her dry off a bit while she ran after the ball along the shore. It was really hot and dry, so we figured she'd dry off quickly. It was good that she did get wet because the rest of the drive along the trail was *very* hot, so at least she stayed cool for part of it.

Apache Trail, AZ

The road was really impressive. It winds sometimes low near the water and sometimes high above it with great views of it. Every now and then we'd pass a truck hauling a boat going the other way. This is the quickest way to get to the reservoir from the Phoenix area, and it looks to be the largest water area near the city. There are thousands of saguaro cacti all along the road up into the hills, and we stopped a few times so I could get some pictures. I'm hopeful that a few will come out well. After a while, we came to a corral in the middle of nowhere so we stopped for a stretch and to let Libby romp a bit. Man it was hot!

'Cactopus' along Apache Trail, AZ

But there were some interesting shots of the "cactopus" type of cactus (as Walendo calls them) along the fence of the corral. (They're those flat, round cacti with thorns sticking out of the "blades.") I took some shots of that, but then Walendo called for me to hurry so we wouldn't get stuck behind a slow car coming along the road. (This of course has been a theme the whole trip, but actually Walendo's been good about allowing me to stop for pictures when I want, even if it means he'll have to pass some cars again -- most of the time.) Eventually we came to the end of the dirt portion of the road. It was quite an interesting road.

Soon after we hit pavement, we went by Tortilla Flat, which the guide book said was "an entertaining tourist trap," but to us it looked like two buildings. We didn't stop. Eventually, the road winds up at the outskirts of the Phoenix area. We had a cutout map of Phoenix in our Arizona map and it looked like a quick drive to the Scottsdale area and Phoenix proper. So much for that. The streets were extremely spread out, and it took forever just to get onto the area covered by the map. The road we came in on was lined with RV stores, and we were tempted to stop just to check out what they're like inside. We didn't though, instead we hunted down a hotel. After driving and driving and driving, we finally came to the downtown Scottsdale area, but the few hotels we tried either didn't take dogs or had exhorbitant fees for them. (We had a coupon for the Ramada for just $59/night, but then they had a $25 fee for a dog. That was too much.) After trying a few more, we decided to call some places from the list Walendo had brought from the Web. We found that La Quinta Inn took dogs and was just $59. Terrific. It was three exits down the highway, which of course meant driving for a thousand blocks to get to the freeway. This place is just one huge spread out suburban sprawl, and on every other block is a huge shopping center with Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Staples, Best Buy and the rest. It's also incredibly hot here, so hot that it feels like a sauna and it's hard to breathe -- even though it's not humid at all. Even I was a bit uncomfortable. Walendo was getting his its-much-too-hot crabbies.

La Quinta Inn Scottsdale, AZ

We found the hotel easily and it's quite a nice place. The guy was very friendly, and they didn't even charge a dog fee. We dumped our stuff in the room, and then went off to have dinner. We hadn't eaten all day except for some munchies in the car, so we were both hungry. What do you know, our hotel was right near two big malls, so we decided to have a quick meal at Chili's. (I was thinking maybe we'd have a nice dinner in this area, but it seemed like we'd have to drive 100 miles to get across town to any non-mall restaurant.) For the first time, we left Libby in the hotel because it would be way too hot to leave her in the car. She's well behaved, so we figured it would be okay. Chili's was fine, though the waitress was a bit slow. I asked if there were any good ice cream places around and she said there was a Cold Stone a few exits up. Excellent! We took some leftovers with us so we could give them to Libby when we got back, which is our trick for distracting her so she doesn't howl when she sees us. It worked.

Then we got back in the car with her and went off to find Cold Stone. I was so psyched at the thought of having their ice cream. We found the mall she said it was in, but there was only one ice cream place, called Marble Slab ice cream. I went in and asked the guy if it used to be a Cold Stone, but he said no, that Cold Stone was the next mall over. (It's funny, how things are in units of malls here.) So we got back in the car to find it, but we ended up meandering our way through a huge car dealership area, and then back around to the first mall, and then further away until we did find a Cold Stone, except that it was in an inudstrial park and it said it was the headquarters. It wasn't an ice cream store. How disappointing! Oh well, I figured I'd be happy enough with the Marble Slab place, so we went back there. It was pretty good, but nothing exceptional. In that mall was an Organized Living store, a store that sells stuff to organize your house. We both love stuff like that, so we checked it out. It was great fun to walk down every aisle and admire all the clever ideas. We were tempted to buy a few things, but everything seemed way overpriced, so we resisted. But it gave us some ideas. (I like the idea of encouraging stores with this type of stuff, so I felt bad about not buying anything, but they really should set their prices to be more like what you can get at places like Home Depot.)

We stopped to get some gas for tomorrow (at just $1.49, wow that's low), and then went back to the hotel. We'd thought we'd have plenty of time to relax, but by the time we got back, it was after 8pm. Walendo read through the last chapter we had to go over. He had a lot of good comments about clumsy wording, which I hadn't noticed, so that was good. We sent that off, which felt good, since they said we won't be getting any more until next week. Four more chapters to go and we're done!

Then I wrote up events of two previous days, which got me just one day behind. It was again getting late and I ran out of energy. Plus I got into a Hubbub conversation with George again, which was nice. But Walendo made me cut it short and go to bed. Somehow, we keep staying up too late.

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