Five for Friday: Getting artsy

One of the things I appreciate about Arizona is the enthusiasm and support for art, architecture and design. The Southwest is a hotbed for a variety of artists and mediums. And this weekend, the fiance, his coworker, his coworker's wife and I are experiencing that artistry first hand at Hidden In The Hills. 

The studio tour and sale in Cave Creek, Carefree and north Scottsdale is one of the four major events produced by the Sonoran Arts League and provides an inside look at the artists and the spaces where they create via a self-guided tour. 

Check out the five artists at the top of my tour. See a pattern? Yeah, I'm pretty much in love with abstract art.

1. Patricia Cain

2. Kay Cummins

 3. Carole Matthews

 4. Betsy Glatz

5. Judy Paxton Bruce

[via]

[via]

Exploring Arizona: Taking the long way

The extended weekend gave us a chance to explore our new-ish homeland. The first stop on our adventure was Fossil Creek. As you may remember, this amazing water wonderland has been on the to-see list for a few weeks now. Proving my theory that most dirt roads lead to good things, Fossil Creek didn't disappoint. Awaiting those brave enough to make the 21-mile trek down the primitive path is a swimming hole straight out of a movie. Except this is a beautiful, real-life oasis in the wild.

From top left: Roosevelt Lake in the morning; Comfort and Cougar pride on the bank of Fossil Creek; The beginning of the dirt road to Fossil Creek; Me cooling off in Fossil Creek; Pretty rocks on the way up to Fossil Creek; desert blooms on the way to Fossil Creek; A cluster of cactus on the drive up to Fossil Creek; The fiance hanging out by the tent at our Roosevelt Lake campsite.

We spent Saturday night at Homestead, one of the campsites strewn along the creek, with the throngs of other people drawn to the natural playground. Surprisingly, the area was super busy. They're not scared off by dirt roads here in Arizona, apparently.

There were three levels to the campground, and we paid the price for arriving Saturday afternoon. The first and second levels, which were basically next to the creek, were full. So we set up our tent in the third level. Still it was only a short walk to the water. The fiance and I hung out under the stars, which looked like sparkly confetti in the sky, and then went for a dip in the creek in the dark. Being surrounded by the lush trees, grass and warm water was the perfect start to the holiday.

We packed up camp at about 9 in the a.m. on the Fourth of July and continued down the dirt road, not really knowing what to expect next. There were a couple areas along the creek where people were already swimming. We spotted a "Day-Use Only" sign and decided to check it out. And what we saw next took my breath away.

 

We had the entire spot to ourselves, too. But that didn't last for long. And within a few hours, it was packed. We spent the day enjoying the amazing area with lunch, a few brews, the floaty and some new friends.

Even though we didn't want to leave, we went in search of more campgrounds on the other side of the trailhead down to the waterfall part of the creek. An assent 4,500 feet up on a windy, sometimes one-lane gravel road is not for the faint of heart. And after all that, we found out there were no campgrounds on the other side. Not really wanting to go back down the sketchy road, we decided to postpone the four-mile hike to the waterfall until next time.

With no destination in mind, we broke out the map and looked for another campground to call our temporary home. We investigated a few spots deemed recreation areas, but they weren't what we had in mind. 

Forging on, this adventure-seeking duo headed down the highway an hour southeast to Roosevelt Lake, which appeared to have an abundance of campsites and opportunities for swimming. And it did, to a certain extent. But it's the type of place that is better suited for boating. The fiance said if we do bring our boat down from Washington, this would be the place to house it.

Unbeknown to us, we needed a "Tonto Pass" to stay at the campsites along the lake. Luckily, local businesses sell them for $6. After acquiring our pass from Boston's Lake House Grill, we settled in and enjoyed the sunset over the lake. Fireworks not included.

The 95-degree temp at bedtime made it difficult to sleep, and after two hours of tossing and turning, the fiance had a plan to combat the oven-like conditions in the tent. He took his last pair of clean socks and dunked them in the cooler. Instant wet rags for our foreheads.

The next morning we packed up and headed to a swimming area on the lake. We spent about an hour cooling off and made our way to the Tonto National Monument. There's an option to hike to Tonto's cliff dwellings, but we'll, hopefully, do that at a later date. The last stop on our tour of Roosevelt was Boston's Lake House Grill for lunch. I highly recommend the Green Monster Burger. You won't be sorry.

The conclusion of our road trip included getting pulled over by an Arizona State Patrolman. Apparently, we missed the speed-limit reduction sign and were going 13 miles over. The dude was pretty understanding after we explained we thought the speed limit was 55, not 45, thus somewhat justifying our 58 miles per hour speed. He issued us a warning and needless to say, we vigilantly watched our speed back through the East Valley into Phoenix.

What was supposed to be a trip to Fossil Creek and back turned into a 350-mile expedition. Despite not seeing much after Roosevelt Lake, we can now check a portion of Central Arizona off the travel to-see list. Taking the long way sometimes does have its perks.

Five for Friday: Independence Day edition

Break out those flags, friends. Welcome to the Fourth of July edition of Five for Friday. As expected, my five revolve around getting outdoors and enjoying one of my favorite holidays. I'm thankful for the freedom to spend it how I want, considering I've had to work the past few 07.04's.

1. Explore: We planned to spend the weekend on the boat in the Tri-Cities, but, unfortunately, it didn't work out. Staying local means the opportunity to visit new places in Arizona, though.

2. Camp: Destination to be determined. But this is the leading candidate.

3. Celebrate: Hopefully, that will include seeing some fireworks, but with the scorching temps and oh, the fact that even sparklers are illegal here, I'm not holding my breath.

4. Soak up the sun: Since it'll be in the low-to-mid 100s, my exposure time definitely will be in moderation.

5. Relax: I'm picturing water, a floaty and a brew with the fiance in my near future.

However you're celebrating independence, may it be fun, safe and with the ones you cherish.

[source]

Five for Friday ... And beyond

After some difficulty generating five things for just one weekend, I've decided to expand my Five for Friday series to include future goals, events, wants, hopes, etc. As much as living in the now is important, it's always good to want ish for down the road.

 [via]

1. Explore Arizona. Since we had to postpone our Sedona trip because of illness, it's top priority. Other places of interest include the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff and Fossil Creek (pictured above) in the Fossil Springs Wilderness.

Hiking among lush greenery to a natural water wonderland is right up my alley. The name stems from the high levels of calcium carbonate in the water, which causes large, fossil-like rock growth. The area was well-known for cliff jumping, but I've read they are tearing down the dam used as a launching pad per the area's designation as a Wild and Scenic River in 2009.

2. Soak up the sun. It's going to be 107 on Saturday and 106 on Sunday. Even though I'm still not feeling 100 percent, I'm tired of being cooped up in the townhouse.

3. Hang out with everyone's favorite L.A. boys. Entourage Season 6 came out Tuesday, and it hopefully will make its way into our DVD collection this weekend.

4. Decorate. The never-ending process of making the townhouse pretty continues with the hanging up of more pictures in the master bedroom, office and upstairs hallway.

5. Blog love. I'm going to work on a new header and have a variety of topics to cover for future posts. On my mind right now is the college football expansion, what I most recently added to my music library and a review of one of my most favorite Washington stores, which I had a chance to visit during a layover on the Alaska/DC trip.

What are your Five for Friday?

 [Source]

DMV = Closest thing to Hell on Earth

I was reminded why I elected to forgo getting a California driver license while in Fresno. The DMV office I went to here in Phoenix on Friday would make any Department of Health cringe. 

I didn't have much of a choice in the matter since my car registration expired yesterday. And my Washington state license goes to heaven on my birthday this year.

Once I stepped through the doors of the DMV, my fears were realized. Not only were the facilities crowded and noisy, which was expected, but they were filthy ... dirty floors, stained chairs ... you get the picture. And you can thank me for not taking pictures, later.

To make matters worse, the rude "customer service" women informed me "the camera was down" when I told them I needed a license. It wouldn't be working until Monday ... they hoped. 

The sole reason I went to this dreaded place was to acquire a driver license. You see, Arizona contracts with third-party offices that are operated by the DMV, but owned by private companies. They charge "convenience fees," but the shorter wait time and clean, pleasant offices are worth it.

There is a third-party office that does registrations right behind our townhouse, but they don't offer driver license services. So, even though the third-party office was convenient for registrations, I decided to brave the DMV to knock out both the license and registration items. But now I was informed the only reason for my enduring this torture was non-operational. Thank you, highway gods.

Begrudgingly, I took my ticket and dirty seat at the place I consider to be the closest thing to Hell on Earth.

And this particular DMV lived up to expectations. After about a 20-minute wait, which was less than I anticipated, my number was called. I took a seat at the agent's booth and began the process of getting the Mazda 3S registered to legally roll through Arizona.

And then the smell hit me. Was that urine? Where was it coming from? I didn't have to look but only to the seat at my left and there it was ... a puddle of pee.

And the Parent-of-the-Year award goes to ...

I didn't know whether to throw up, laugh or curse. Instead, I politely informed the agent someone had urinated in the seat next to mine ... To which she replied, "Oh, I thought I smelled something." Yeah, lady, it's piss. She called someone to come clean it up, but after about 10 more minutes and no person to take care of this unsanitary mess in sight, I questioned whether she really contacted anyone.

To make matters worse, the woman two booths down was letting her child run through the building screaming his head off. Thank goodness that agent asked her "to control her child, now." Too bad my agent didn't command that type of authority when asking for a clean-up on booth 19.

With that disaster behind me, I decided to go to a third-party location to get my diver license and be done with this headache. Long story short, I didn't have an enhanced Washington state license, so my birth certificate was required to prove my identity, which I didn't have on me. Exhausted and still grossed out by the previous events, I decided to call it a day.

I went back to the pee-free, third-party location Saturday, birth certificate in hand, and 30 minutes later, was legally licensed to drive in Arizona.

My new license expires when I'm 65 and you only have to update the picture every 12 years, so, hopefully, I won't have to step inside that filthy DMV again. 

The folks who determine license lengths must have endured puddled urine at their local Arizona DMV, too.