Hole-in-the-Rock, Papago Park
I’ll never forget hiking Hole-in-the-Rock at Papago Park. Mainly because I had a horrible heat rash all over my face and body and probably heat stroke. (Or is it sun stroke? I always get those two mixed up!)
It’s a short trail that goes up to a giant rock that’s hollow and you can climb into it. I didn’t climb in it though. Mainly because I believe I would have gotten stuck halfway through. I kept imagining those strong firefighters having to get the jaws of life to rescue me from the hole in the rock.
So I didn’t go in. But I did get a heat rash all over my face and body. So the shade when you get to the top was really nice.
Double Butte Loop Trail, Papago Park
At this point in the day in was 10am which is extremely early for me, not so much for the sun. In Arizona, you’re supposed to get up early for a hike and leave by 10am. But my husband and I, we’re stupid Seattlites. So it got to be past 10am and it was getting hotter and brighter, so we decided what you should not do, which is go for an even longer hike.
Then we got lost and roamed around the parking lot for a long time before finding the trail. But we didn’t finish it because I was getting pretty nauseous and sunburned by that point. Even though I had about an inch of sunscreen on my skin.
So sorry about that, I don’t have much to say about the trail. It was the desert. There was shrubbery. And the parking lot was great. What we saw of the parking lot was great.
Musical Instrument Museum
The next day, we headed to the air conditioned Musical Instrument Museum. My favorite part of the museum was the room where you can play all the instruments. I’ve been there before and I went back because I just wanted to be in that room again.
They had all kinds of instruments you could play from all around the world. But really, I just wanted to smash the gong over and over again until security said, “Hey! We remember you from 2018! Get out of here!” So we had to leave quick. Before they brought out the wolves.
Casa Grande Neon Sign Park
This was a short road stop on the way to Tucson. It’s a business park with a collection of signs significant to Casa Grande. One of them was a vintage Dairy Queen drive thru ice cream cone made of thick plastic. I remembered it from my childhood.
“They don’t make plastic ice cream cones like they used to…” I said aloud.
But there was no one there except the wind…
I wanted to take one of the signs with us, but my husband said we weren’t allowed.
Desert Botanical Garden Loop
Because I’m not capable of leaving anywhere before 10am, we arrived to the Desert Botanical Garden around 11am. It was shoulder season, and yet, so hot I could hear my skin making a crisping bacon sound. Because the sun was eating it. Eating my skin.
My favorite part of the garden was the giant cacti. A lot of them had holes in them because birds make their homes there. Isn’t that nuts?
Listen, I gotta say something. Earlier I said my favorite part of the garden was the giant cacti. Actually, that was a lie. My favorite part of the garden was the frozen sangria I had at the bar. I never had one of those before.
Conclusion
Overall, I give Arizona a 5 out of 5 stars. I almost gave it .25 less of a star because I got heat stroke. (Or is it sun stroke??) But the reason I decided it needed to be 5 stars, is because 1. I love the desert. It’s my favorite biome on planet earth. I think a kaleidoscope of rock and sand, carved out of volcanic rock or tectonic plates or whatever, or maybe even a giant flood after the last ice age, I don’t care, I think it looks beautiful and has a lot of interesting history. Go look at the desert. It’s ancient and all of the deserts used to be underwater. Go look at the desert.
I don’t know if any of that is true, but I’ve been to a lot of museums and visitor centers, and it feels true.
<3,
Shannon O’Brien