Come to Phoenix during the holidays and you’ll see a familiar sight: the saguaro cactus lit up with Christmas lights. The above photo of one was taken at sunset at the Four Seasons Resort in north Scottsdale.

You’ll see others like it in front yards of private homes, at shopping centers and malls. I’ve seen them before at the Desert Botanical Garden and also on other resort properties. You’ll see some with more lights, some with less, and some with a Santa hat on top or a cowboy handkerchief tied around the ribs of the cactus.

Since we don’t get enough snow to build snowmen here, it’s nice to know we have our own ways to create the holiday spirit in the desert.

What’s your unique way to celebrate the spirit of the season? Post a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of us here at The Phoenix Traveler. If you do, I’ll enter your name in a drawing to win a prize–a travel wallet from the city of Scottsdale. The drawing will be held the week of January 1, 2009.

You must post your comments before December 31, 2008, to be eligible for this contest.

(Photo used with permission by the Four Seasons, Scottsdale.)

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Don’t recognize the sign? It sort of looks like a McDonald’s, you say?

It really IS a McDonald’s franchise restaurant. But this one’s in Sedona, where zoning laws called for the restaurant to agree to construct teal arches, as opposed to its trademark yellow. The sign also sits lower to the ground, so it’s not a public eyesore.

To see this one for yourself, here are the driving directions:

From Phoenix, take I-17 to the SR 179 exit (Exit 298), turn LEFT, take another LEFT onto SR 89A. Before you turn onto 89A, you may see a billboard advertising the unique sign. I’ve missed it every single time. If you miss it, too, just watch for the restaurant. It’ll be on your right.

It’s definitely a photo opportunity waiting to happen.

(Photo used with permission by Jackie Dishner.)

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I’m not talking Bisbee or Tombstone. I’m talking about the real ghost towns, the ones where no one, or practically no one, lives anymore. There was once a brochure called “Arizona Ghost Towns” available through some state visitor centers that listed about 30 different historic ghost and mining towns throughout Arizona, but here’s a list of three in Cochise County:

_Fairbank, located in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area south of Benson, just off State Route (SR) 82, was once a mill town and still includes faint evidence from its days as a stagecoach stop and railroad hub for people traveling to Tombstone. Fairbank was the closest stop to Tombstone and once had three railroads passing through. If you go, you’ll see the newly restored schoolhouse (a Bureau of Land Management project) with a museum and gift shop, a few other building remains, and a graveyard.

_Just a few r esidents keep the post office open in Dos Cabezas, a Spanish word meaning two heads. Located on SR 186, 15 miles southeast of Willcox (home of the legendary singing cowboy Rex Allen), it was once an active supply center for the surrounding silver and gold mines and cattle ranches. Today you’ll see only the stage coach station, circa 1885, the post office, and crumbling adobe buildings.

_Indians mined turquoise here at Gleeson, about 15 miles east of Tombstone, long before the Spaniards arrived in the 1500s. The town was named after a miner named John Gleeson who came in the 1880s to prospect. Its rich ground gave us not only turquoise but also copper, lead and zinc. Via an unpaved road, you’ll find ruins of the jail, school, bank, local residences, and a cemetery. Most of the buried names you’ll see are Asian.

TIP: If you go to Gleeson, watch out for abandoned mine shafts. And plan on taking a side trip to nearby Rattlesnake Crafts in Elfrida. You’ll see what appears to be a junk yard, but inside the old trailer, the owners sell items (cowboy hat bands, for example) made out the skin of rattlesnakes they’ve caught. To get there, drive to the south end of town and turn left onto Gleeson Road. After 13 miles, look for the Rattlesnake Crafts sign and turn right onto N. Double U Ranch Road for another two miles. Call before you go: 520-642-9207

You can learn more about the towns and map your route online.

(Photos of ghost towns used with permission by Cochise County Tourism Council.)

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This past year, I’ve been working on a travel guide that’s taken me all over Arizona. I’ve shot the typical landscapes you might expect to see in Arizona: saguaros, desert mountain views, red rock cliffs, dry river beds. But I’ve also seen some pretty quirky images, things you won’t see if you don’t hop on a back road or two…most of which aren’t even paved, and are often closed during the winter. Not to worry. You can plan ahead for a springtime outing.

Here’s a few snapshots of what I’ve seen and a few tips on how you can get there yourself:

STICK ‘EM UP

I spotted this bike on a post and the rooster on a wall at Aravaipa Farms. That’s a country inn near Winkelman, Ariz., located next to the Aravaipa Wilderness Preserve. Although I thought the bike may have attached itself to the post following a serious flood from Aravaipa Creek a few years back, that wasn’t the case. The owner said it was placed there just for fun. The rooster is actually embedded in a casita wall.

IF YOU GO:  From Phoenix, take US 60 east toward Superior. Before you reach Miami-Globe, turn right at SR 177 to Winkelman. I suggest you visit the Web site before leaving home, as the owner has pretty lengthy instructions that steer you the rest of the way in. You’ll be driving an unpaved road shortly after you reach Winkelman. But for the food alone, it’ll be worth the trip. Plan to stay overnight and pack proper clothing for water hikes. 

SPROUTING BODY PARTS

This face and foot I spotted at two Page Springs wineries. But I don’t want to tell you where exactly. I’d rather you go and find them yourself. They’re both odd sites to see amongst the vineyards and elegant setting of a wine tasting, so they kind of can’t be missed.

I posted about the wine tour a few weeks ago. But you can take this route on your own as well. The drive takes you beside the lush Oak Creek, with Cottonwood trees to shade the way.

IF YOU GO: Hop on Interstate 17 and follow the road to Sedona. Before you reach Sedona from SR 89A, you’ll want to turn right onto Page Springs Road. Then drive the loop around to the wineries closest to the fish hatchery.

If you see anything odd out there, come back and post a comment.

(Photos courtesy of Jackie Dishner.)

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For instance, Now that gas prices have dropped below $2.30/gal., how about a road trip? In less than two hours, you can hop in your car, pick east or west, and wind up in small town Arizona where you’ll be able to see the Western lifestyle up close. No need to reserve a room, take the dog to the kennel, or pack the American Express. Just grab a map and go.

Not sure which way? Here are two suggestions:

Wickenburg: Located about an hour’s drive west of Phoenix, True West magazine calls Wickenburg one of the Top 10 Western towns. It’s true for many reasons: gold mining history and a gold mine tour, the old stage coach road, Yavapai Indian massacres, the Western museum, cowboy poets, ghost stories, Western clothes, shopping and quilts, dude ranches–they’re all there. You can also visit a nature preserve and do the historic walking tour downtown, and more.

The most scenic drive: Head north on I-17, then west on SR 74 (Carefree Highway, passing Lake Pleasant) to US 60 West into Wickenburg (US 60/93). Turn right on US 93 at the first light; it turns into the main drag, Tegner Street, which will take you downtown where you can pick up local maps and brochures at the Chamber’s Visitor Center (216 N. Frontier St.).

Globe: Located just less than two hours east of central Phoenix, this is the place of copper mines, silver and now uranium. Like Bisbee and Jerome, Globe was a boom town back in the late 1800s. Today, the mines are coming back. If you go, you’ll see charming boutiques, such as Simply Sarah, and antique stores. You can step inside Bacon’s Boots and Saddles and watch the owner tool custom orders. The historic county courthouse has been renovated into an arts center, and an old bordello is now a bar. You can also drive up a hill to see Indian ruins that date back 800 years.

This scenic drive involves US 60 East all the way from Phoenix. After passing Apache Junction, the road is referred to as the Old West Highway. At Milepost 214, it becomes The Gila-Pinal Scenic Road for the next 30 miles. You’ll pass the towns of Superior, Miami and Claypool along the way before entering Globe. Pick up maps and brochures at the Globe-Miami Chamber of Commerce on the right-hand side of US 60 East, just before you reach Historic Downtown Globe at the light on Broad Street.

Both of these places offer a unique experience if you want to get out of the big city. Spend as much or as little as you like because it’s really the scenery that makes the drive worth the trip. And that won’t cost you any more than a few gallons of gas.

C’mon, you can afford that.

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I should have taken pictures this past summer, because white mushrooms were growing wild here. I found them grouped together in my yard, sticking out of the cracks and crevices of my neighbor’s brick wall, and growing elsewhere. I don’t know if they were the edible kind; I don’t eat mushrooms and certainly didn’t try them. My dog didn’t even sniff at them. But I couldn’t get them to stop growing. I’d mow them down, weed whack them, and pull them out. But they grew right back, and they grew fast.

Now that the weather’s cooled down, they’ve stopped growing altogether. I can’t find them anywhere. Of course, I stopped watering my lawn regularly, and they obviously love moisture.

And it’s not like they were difficult to remove. I pulled them right out of the ground, stem and all. But they just grew right back and so fast, and they multiplied. It was a little creepy.

So when the Arizona Republic ran this article today about mushrooming and the mushroom clubs, I immediately thought of the ones growing in my backyard. They’re no longer there, so I’ll have to wait and see if they grow again next summer. This year was the first time I’d seen them, and I don’t know if that was an anomaly. But if they grow back again, I might call just out of curiosity.

If you’d like to get in on the fungi, the Arizona Mycota Project uses volunteers to help record unusual finds. I doubt mine were, but next year, I may just find out.

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It’s a pretty common day trip for folks who fly in to Phoenix and want to stay a few extra days. They often decide to go to Sedona to see the red rocks. They want to find a vortex and see what all the fuss is about. Go ahead. Just Google Sedona, and you’ll see what I mean. These photos illustrate a bit of what you’ll see when you get there.

The top two photos were taken while on a yoga hike to the top of Cathedral Rock. The photo on the left is the park at Red Rock Crossing. From the gazebo in the background, you can probably tell a lot of weddings take place there. The photo on the right was taken by my boyfriend on a guided imagery hike we took with Dennis Andres (pictured with me), also known as Mr. Sedona. He’s the author of several books, including What is a Vortex? and Sedona’s Top 10 Hikes. He’d be a great guide to hire if you want to really see what Sedona’s like from the inside out.

Visit the Sedona Chamber of Commerce for more information.

(Photos used with permission by Jackie Dishner.)

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You may have seen this book, or maybe not. But Sam Lowe, the author of Arizona Curiosities (now in it’s second edition), happens to be a funny guy with a lot of quirky stories to tell, including one about the time he interviewed a couple at a nudist colony in Tonopah. And, yes, they were unclothed. Well…he was, after all, in search of the “bare facts,” as quoted from his book.

Not only is Sam funny, but the guy’s also got guts.

Guess that’s why Marshall Trimble, the state’s official historian, recommended Lowe to the publisher, Globe Pequot, as the guy to write this book. The author, a former full-time newspaper columnist for the Arizona Republic and the now defunct Phoenix Gazette, writes regularly for Arizona Highways and Highroads, AAA Arizona’s travel magazine, among other publications. He’s also just completed his third book in the “Curiosities” series, only this one’s about New Mexico. It’ll be out in September.

I had the opportunity to meet the author for lunch this week at Café Carumba in Scottsdale. We chatted about our mutual work as Phoenix-based travel writers and then he answered a few questions for me about his book:

Q: First, tell me a little bit about what you did to find the curiosities.

A: I drove 12,000 miles across Arizona. I went to every town in the state, except for Young (He’s since been there, too.), and it took me eight months. Because of my column for the newspaper, “On the Lowe Road,” I pretty much knew what was there already. I was just following up, to make sure it was still there.

Q: During your eight months on the road for the first book, what was the most surprising thing you learned about Arizona?

A: The most surprising thing for me was at The Thing. I was really surprised at that. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t expect to see what I saw. It’s just a mummy. (I recommend that you read his book to find out more about what he calls a “billboard marketing success” story.)

Another surprising thing I discovered was near Hillside (in northwest Arizona, between Congress and Baghdad). There’s this really big rock painted to look like a skull. It’s huge, probably 25 tons, and very well done. It’s been there 100 years and was painted by railroad workers. I expected it to be kitschy.

Q: Is there one location where curiosities abound?

A: I think that would be in southeastern Arizona. There’s the monastery in Florence. There’s Tombstone. It has a rosebush–a Lady Banks Rose–that was planted in the late 1800s. It’s still growing and is (maybe?) 10,000 square feet wide. And Bisbee itself is weird. In Douglas, there’s one square block where you’ll find a church on every corner, different denominations. There’s the lady with the bookstore in her home near Benson, and then there’s Gammon’s Gulch.

Q: Where do you go to find out this information?

A: In the small towns, go to the Chamber of Commerce or the local bar. Anyone there knows where to find the curiosities, though it’s not usually curious to them. You have to ask a lot of questions.

Q: What are some of the more unusual things you’ve found in Phoenix?

A: At the Mineral & Mining Museum they have an exhibit of rocks that looks like food…steak and mashed potatoes. And if you go to McDonald Drive and 40th Street, there’s a house with an unusual rock garden. And then there’s the big plywood cut-outs at Cotton Lane off the Interstate 10 in Goodyear (One is a giant baby cut-out. She’s playing with toy tractors in a plowed field.) You can only see those when you’re traveling west on the interstate. 

Q: The entries are short, easy to read and humorous. It seems like this book would be a great book to read in the bathroom.

A: It is a definite bathroom reader, although I find that my legs always fall asleep when I read on the loo.

Tip to Sam: Don’t try to read all 300 pages in one sitting.

Before the interview ended, I couldn’t help but ask the author for his top-five pick of curious attractions statewide. In no particular order, they are:

1. The big frog rock in Congress.
2. The tiki head in Kingman on Route 66; it looks like something off of Easter Island.
3. The 30-foot-tall concrete kachina figure in the Tonto Hills subdivision northeast of Carefree.
4. The lizards on the retaining walls running up and down Highway 101 (Pima Freeway) in Scottsdale.
5. The Artichokes at Scottsdale Community College; it’s the name for the school’s mascot.

If you don’t get a chance to see any of Sam’s picks, at least consider looking for his book. Not only is it good bathroom reading, but it’s a good guide to what you’ll surely find when in Arizona–the unusual, the odd, and especially the curious.

(For the photos of the book, I wish to thank my boyfriend for loaning me his copy, and Sam’s photo above was printed with his permission. Thanks, Sam. See you on the road.)

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Crazy-sounding questions, I know, to be asking about objects located in a downtown metropolis. But they’re legitimate. That’s what I really was thinking last week when I was walking on Monroe Street to go take a look inside the city’s new Visitors Center. I’m writing a story about that for US Airways magazine and figured I might as well take a detour while I’m there.

It had been a while since I’d seen what I’d dubbed “the alien in Phoenix” when I first saw him. And I wanted to see him again. He’s part of the Percent for Art project the city has commissioned with various artists nationwide. This one is part of a video creation designed by Tony Oursler called “Million Colors”. Installed when the first phase of the city’s new Convention Center  opened in 2006, this part of the project includes a white, egg-shaped face that, when lit up, looks like a green alien. I can’t imagine who wouldn’t want to see that.

It’s strange. It’s different. And when you sit on the couch below, he speaks. You’ll find him in the West building, just as you walk inside the Monroe Street entrance. You have to look up at the wall, though, and to your right. When I did that this time, however, something was missing. I’ve been told, he’s undergoing some maintenance. So he’s not talking, and he’s not even green. If you go now, all you’ll see is the white egg shape on the wall. And that, my friends, just looks odd. So wait until the maintenance is complete. Or call ahead.

But if you’re going to go downtown, anyway, you might as well take a look at the latest public art project going up on Monroe Street: a giant crown-like object. It’s outside Convention Center North, over the entranceway to the ballrooms. Appropriately named “Halo”, artist Kim Cridler, with her husband William Bennie, designed the 32-foot-wide, wreath-like sculpture. Made to look like a bronze ring of interwoven agave leaves, its grid-like frame is supposed to symbolize good luck, transformation through regeneration (like the Phoenix itself), and continuity, life, and cyclic time.

These two art projects are just a sample of the total $3.2 million public art package commissioned by the city for convention center development. And if you get a chance to see these two, I hope you’re lucky enough to hear the green face speak. If you are, come back and tell me what he says. I’ve forgotten. It’s been two years since I saw him last.

Tip: There’s a lot of construction going on downtown, making it easy to get lost. Click here for a map.

(Photos used with permission by the Phoenix Convention Center.)

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You really can cook an egg on the sidewalks of Phoenix in the summer. Elementary schools have been known to test this out, and at least one town in Arizona hosts an egg-frying contest. But we actually do a LOT of sunny-side-up kinds of things here. This video illustrates a few:

~Watching cacti bloom.

~Enjoying outdoor recreation.

~Swimming and other poolside fun.

~Boating and rowing and gondola rides.

~Shopping and dining.

~Watching beautiful sunsets.

Wish you were here!

Post from: The Phoenix Traveler