Category Archives: Arizona 2026

Princeton, March 22, 2026 It’s been a while! Our travels have been reduced since last summer, mostly due to the loss of our dear old dog. So we’re all the more eager to get back on the road. We’re off to Arizona tomorrow: a week in the canyon country with our friends Connie and VladimirContinue reading “Back to the Scenes of my Misspent Youth”

Grand Canyon South Rim, Tuesday, March 24, 2026 Up bright and very early with the time change, we had a genuinely excellent breakfast in the cafe in the lodge. Here’s an early morning iPhone shot from the Rim. We started with a walk along the rim to the trailhead of the Bright Angel Trail, theContinue reading “Glory”

Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and Chinle, Arizona, Wednesday, March 25, 2026 The long drive through Grand Canyon National Park toward the East Entrance more than compensated for my screwup the day before: the Orange Route of the park shuttle buses actually runs along this road that is accessible by car. We made several stops, watchingContinue reading “Monumental Valley!”

Canyon de Chelly, Thursday, March 26, 2026 We started the day off right with delicious blue corn pancakes at the lodge cafeteria, and then climbed into our monster car for a ride along the scenic drive that borders the south rim of the canyon. The name Canyon de Chelly is a Spanish bastardization of theContinue reading “Tséyiʼ”

Second Mesa and Winslow, Arizona, Friday, September 27, 2026 I had hoped to bring the group on a tour of the Hopi Pueblos, but my search for a guide proved futile. This was the first sign that the Hopi reputation as an assiduously private people was well deserved. We drove down from Chinle through aContinue reading “Hapless in Hopi”

Winslow and Tucson, March 28, 2026 It’s a long drive, almost five hours, from Winslow to Tucson. We got gas in Holbrook, paying another hundred bucks to feed the beast. Next to the filling station is the kind of thing that makes Arizona special. But the scenery on the rest of the drive is superb.Continue reading “Reunion at the Hacienda”

Tucson, Sunday, March 29, 2026 Predictably, jet lag had the girls up very early—and straight into one of three pools at the hotel. We found them at breakfast and chatted until Connie and Vladimir joined the party. All eight of us piled into the behemoth and off we went for Saguaro National Park. The parkContinue reading “The Sonoran Desert”

Tucson, March 30, 2026 Everybody had an early morning swim and then we were off to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The road leads up and over Gates Pass, a low point in the Tucson Mountains west of the city; you descend through the western district of Saguaro National Park. The Desert Museum is reallyContinue reading “Across Gates Pass”

Tucson and Bisbee, Arizona, Tuesday, March 31, 2026 Sarah, Dan, and the girls headed north, following in our footsteps through northern Arizona. We, on the other hand, headed southeast toward Bisbee. When I lived in Arizona, Bisbee was a pretty sad place: home to the largest open pit copper mine in the world, it wasContinue reading “Bisbee is no longer the Pits”