Month: March 2016

  1. Archives
  2. 2016
  3. March
Florida2016-7191

Everglades National Park

Thanks to Delta cancelling our flight home from Florida, we had an extra day to explore, so we drove down to the Everglades. We took a tram tour with Shark Valley, the only operating tour through the national park. The first thing our guide, Julio, did was to right our expectations. Unlike Grand Teton and Grand Canyon National Parks, the Everglades has no dramatic or awe-inspiring scenery. Instead, it is a prairie, home to a complex biodiversity of animals. Conservation is the reason for the par…

Florida2016-6902

Boating in the Gulf, Florida

During our stay on Marco Island, Walker's parents rented a boat for us to explore the mangroves and gulf. My first surprise were the pelicans swarming at the boat rental; they were enormous, dino-looking creatures with awkwardly bent wings. I don't think I've seen them so close before. My second was the bright green and blue water. I had thought of Floridian water as bit muddied compared to the Caribbean, and it is a bit, but the colors off the sky were bright. We started our cruise through th…

Florida2016-7457

Marco Island, Florida

Walker's parents were in Florida for a respite from the midwest winter this year, and they planned a long weekend trip for us to see them. It was such a different experience being in a house than a hotel. The house they'd rented was on a canal not far from the Marco Island Resident's Beach. Such a lovely, clean feeling to walk right out of my bedroom to read in the sun by the pool each morning, And so wonderfully relaxing to have the kitchen pre-stocked with our favorite yogurts and gluten-free…

Boulders-6055

Hiking the Boulders, Arizona

Good morning from the top o' the rocks! Our second day at The Boulders, we took a walk to explore a bit, and walked up behind the pool to discover a thin trail that just went straight up into the heart of totally gigantic boulders leaning up against each other, piled up to make huge hills. It felt like we'd entered a giant's lair! We had no idea the trails were there and kept climbing up and up. And the rest of our time there, we just kept coming back. At night, Walk climbed up to catch the blu…

DBG-Luminaries-5000

Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix

Serendipitously, when we were planning our trip to Arizona, we stumbled upon the coolest thing (in many senses of the word cool). I knew we'd be near my friend Naomi's place, so I searched nearby her address for attractions. I discovered the Desert Botanical Garden would be having their yearly winter luminary show while we were in Arizona. We showed up to a huge botanical garden that we could've spent hours in, lit by luminaries on the gourd, on ledges, on paths, and even on roofs. To round out …

Boulders-5708

Nature Trails, Scottsdale, Arizona

While staying at The Boulders, we hiked hither and yon over some of the 1300 acres of the property. It was the biggest surprise of the trip that we could hike right out of our casita into the piles of boulders stacked on the hills. We walked and golf-carted around miles of Sonoran desert landscape. Before this trip to Arizona, I've never seen so many varieties of cacti, and for an East Coaster, it felt like I'd entered the magical world of Dr. Seuss. Starbursts and spike balls, purples and sag…

Boulders-5130

The Boulders, Carefree, Arizona

In Scottsdale/Carefree, we stayed in the peaceful casitas of The Boulders, where our only fears were that we'd get splashed from a golf ball gone haywire, or the spa cafe would be out of gluten free blueberry muffins. This was Walker and I's first time at the resort and we were seriously astounded. From the moony cacti at the entrance, to the golf cart rides on demand, to the morning mists on the green, the entire stay felt like a deep exhale. Here's a peak into our casita (little house): We go…

Pinnacle_Peak-5546

Hiking near Scottsdale, AZ

After a few days under the rusty spires of Sedona, we headed back down to Scottsdale for significantly warmer weather, blue skies, and fields of cacti. I was completely smitten with the landscape and color palette of the Sonoran desert, so calm. In this post, I'll show you a few hikes we took, and next post, I'll share more details about our stay in Scottsdale. Here we go! Cave Creek Regional Park Our first taste of the tall saguaros was in Cave Creek. We had to pay a small entrance fee, and I t…