Take a Joy Ride
We’re still not venturing out much because we want to limit our exposure to the virus. My mom lives with us, and she has a compromised immune system, and we don’t feel we can risk bringing something home to her. Even if it isn’t THE virus, any illness would be problematic right now since we don’t want to have to go to a doctor’s office or (egad!) a hospital. The grocery store, and an occasional quick stop into the post office or another store has been the extent of it. As a warm-up to our big Route 66 road trip, and to keep from going stir crazy, we take a monthly joy ride.
A joy ride is our new-fangled version of travelling. We don’t get out of the car, other than a quick McDonald’s bathroom stop, when necessary. Since we moved here nearly a year ago, we have hardly seen any of our new State. My chorus is in California, which required me to travel back and forth for rehearsals, and the first 6 months of our time here were spent on the road to California. This last 6 months has been spent right here at home. Joy rides have become a necessity to avoid cabin fever!
Our First Joy Ride
One day, early in the quarantine, we all jumped in the car and drove East. We had only explored our immediate neighboring cities, all within 30 minutes. So, our first venture out of the area was to simply drive up to a nearby state park and check out their hiking trail area. We wanted to get some info on parking and trails so that we know where to go once the weather cools off enough for us to hike. We drove a bit into the next county, just to see if there was anything worth seeing. I ran into a neighborhood grocery store and was thrilled to find a sack of flour that had been unavailable in any of our stores. I guess we chose the right day and neighborhood.
A lot of native Arizonans hike year-round. They just get up super early to do it. In fact, my avid athlete of a daughter gets up at 3 a.m. for her triathlon training. She rode 100 miles on her bike yesterday morning before we even had breakfast! You probably won’t ever see us up at 3 a.m., unless we got a killer deal on a flight to Europe. We’ll be waiting for cool weather to hit the trails, thank you very much! Still, there two State parks and a Wildlife Preservation Area very close to us. We also joined the Botanical Gardens. We’re really looking forward to getting out of the house and back into nature!
Our next ride was to check out Tempe Town lake area. It’s a huge park area surrounding a reservoir offshoot of the Salt river. There is a lot to do both there, and nearby. You can even rent kayaks and boats, or take an Stand-Up Paddle (SUP) yoga class! If you like to fish, you can do that, as well.
Prescott, AZ
The third joy ride took us to Prescott. I have a really good friend who lives there, but since we didn’t head up there until the height of the virus, we couldn’t meet up with her. But next time we go that way, we definitely will! It’s a pretty little town with a lot of bars and restaurants in their downtown area. Prescott is at 5,300 feet elevation, and it’s quite a bit cooler than we are here in Gilbert at 1,237 elevation. We’re considered intermediate to low desert here, and Prescott is more of a mild mountain climate with pines and other trees. They even get a little snow there, where it would be a pretty rare occurrence here in Gilbert with our average of 15 occurrences of below freezing weather each year.
We enjoyed driving up through the lower mountains and seeing something other than cactus and desert plants. Prescott is definitely on our list for another visit once we can walk around and explore the area, and maybe even enjoy a meal in one of their many restaurants.
Tucson and Sunsites/Pearce
We ventured further for our fourth ride in the car. Tucson is a couple of hours south of us. It is a pretty drive. My husband inherited some property in a little town called Sunsites, a bit south of Tucson, and that was our final destination. Tucson looks pretty much like Phoenix, except some of the trees were a bit different. We were surprised to enjoy cooler weather in Sunsites. The property is basically a plot of land that has natural vegetation. It looks like they may have planned to develop the area at one time because there are street signs, but no streets. They must have abandoned the plan. The area is really pretty, and if we ever need to go “off the grid”, you’ll know where to look for us.
Wickenburg
Last month we drove over to Wickenburg, which is another really cute little western town a couple of hours from us. There are beautiful rolling hills along the way, with pretty little pockets of farmland. The town has a nice downtown area with several shops and cafés. They have artwork in public spaces here and there throughout the town, and they have a historic district. We’ll definitely be going back.
Beautiful Sedona
This week we drove up to Sedona. It has been years since mom has been, and Lee and I had never visited there. It’s up in a mountainous area, about 4300 elevation, and it’s cooler than our town. There are many gorgeous rock formations to photograph and tons of hiking trails in Red Rock State Park. The town is filled with new age shops, spas, and galleries. Hubby and I love art galleries, and we look forward to being able to browse around and maybe buy some art for our home. We definitely plan to go back when we can spend a long weekend, but it was great to check it out and get a feel for the distance. Here’s a link to their visitor’s bureau, in case you have been thinking about visiting this beautiful Arizona town.
We have several more joy rides on our list for the coming months. We’re getting excited to explore all of the surrounding areas and enjoy the beauty of the desert in all of the various seasons. Once it cools down, we’ll like to head out more often. But for now, our drives are easing our feelings of being cooped up.
We love to take long drives and enjoy the scenery that is so different from the beach where we grew up. Have you taken any joy rides recently?
