Phoenix, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Route 66, Palm Springs - Travel Review

I've been asked about the Phoenix area trip that we took and this has spurred me to post this trip.
Looking back to:
Weds., Feb. 5, 2009  We flew to Palm Springs - a short flight and a small airport!  The next morning we took off to drive across to Phoenix, AZ.  It's a nice drive of only 3.5hrs, with some interesting landscape.  

Driving to Phoenix, AZ

My sister and her husband have rented a house, barns and riding pens for themselves, their six horses and two dogs for the six months of winter.  We will be staying with them for a few days.
Their location is in Buckeye, which is on the out-skirts of Phoenix.  Nice place!  Good visit!

"Around Buckeye"

We have driven around the outer areas of Phoenix looking at real estate with my sister and her husband.  The markets have bottomed out and prices are good for the buyer.  We drove to Verrado, a new golf course community north of the free-way  and looked at a really nice condo house.

NOTE:  Todays Stock Market  on Feb. 6, 2009
S&P/TSX is at 7,859.33
TSX Ventrure is at 853.59
Dow Jones is at 7,350.94
Nasdaq is at 1,441.8
Gold is at $969.10 US/oz
Oil is at $$39.96
Bank of Canada Interest rate is .5% Record Low
Major Corp Banks Prime lending rate 2.5%

Sat. Feb. 7, 2009  We went to Scottsdale to the big "Arizona Fine Art Expo."  This is a very interesting art show and well worth seeing.  There are also a lot of interesting art galleries in Scottsdale.

Later we drove to Cave Creek and Carefree which were very interesting areas to see.

"North-east side of Phoenix"

Mon., Feb 9, 2009  Off to Sedona.  The scenery is beautiful, but it is rainy and cold out. 

We are staying at the "Premierre Vacation Club" (a time share condo) for the next two nights.  It is a very nice suite with a fireplace and little kitchen area. 

Tues., Feb 10, 2009  Snowed over night. 

So we are going out to drive around the countryside.  Lots to see.  There would be lots of good walking areas here if the weather would have been nicer.

"Snow and cactus??"

Weds., Feb. 11, 2009  We drove north thru some winding steep roads with a foot of snow on the roadside on the way to Flagstaff.  We are staying at the "Holiday Inn Express" on the South rim.

Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009  Grand Canyon  - Only 10 degrees F this morning.  It is just a short drive to reach the South rim of the canyon.   The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and the average width is 10 miles across rim to rim.  The North rim is 1,200ft higher then the South rim and the canyon bottom is 5,700ft below the North rim.  There is a path along the top of the canyon which we walked along for along ways as the views were great.

"Grand Canyon from South Rim"

Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009  We traveled Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman.  Everything is really run down  and old now.  It must have been more interesting back 30-40 years ago and perhaps it is different in the summer months if there are more people around and old car rallies going on. 

We drove on to Lake Havasu.  Both of us were surprised that the city is actually fairly large and has the "London Bridge" going from the mainland to an island.  This might be a good place to come back to with our 5th wheel trailer as there are lots of camp spots around.   Going south of Lake Havasu, there are all kinds of trailer parks along the river and out into the desert.  Lots of people camping and quading here. 

Fri., Feb 14, 2009  Drive back to Palm Springs is interesting. 

This is the whitest that I have seen the mountains by Palm Springs.  We are staying at the "Doral Princess Resort"  and then at the "Palm Canyon Resort" for the last 4 nights of our stay.  Both are nice hotels.

The next days are spent walking around Palm Springs, going to art shows, coffees, pool-side, golfing for the guys, and of course eating.  There is a real good buffet at the Casino down town Palm Springs.

All in all, it was a good trip - we seen lots and enjoyed ourselves.  The weather could have been nicer - but it was still way better than the freezing cold at home.