Year: 2011
Favourite spots
Visiting parents
In September my parents came over from Sweden to visit us in Arizona. The first few days we showed them around the area, looked at the views from Dobbins Lookout on South Mountain, did some shopping at the Chandler Mall, had drinks at the Hyatt in downtown Phoenix and drove the Apache Trail.
As usual the weather was sunny and a bit warmer than we had expected at this time of year. It has been around 40 degrees Celsius in Phoenix during this time. My parents had not ever experienced that kind of heat which required some getting used to.
After the sight seeing in the Phoenix area we did a 5 day tour featuring Prescott / Sedona, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam and Lake Havasu. It was a fair way to go and we had to spend quite a lot of time in the car. But it was a nice trip with a good mix of things to do. We did some hiking, shopping and sight seeing.
When we got back to Phoenix we had a rest day where we slept in and just went shopping in Scottsdale. In the evening we had a barbecue at the pool.
The last outing was a day trip down to Tombstone where we walked around the historic little down town, ate at one of the old saloons and watched the Shoot out show at OK Corral, featuring Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.
Worn out
This poor pair of shoes have been with me since 2008. I bought them before a hiking holiday in Austria in August 2008. They have been hiking the Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps, Australian Alps, Red Center, Grampians, Kangaroo Island and other places in Australia, Sörmlandsleden in Sweden, Bukhansan in South Korea, desert hikes in Arizona and Utah, a number of 14ers in Colorado and probably a few more places I can not remember. They have even climbed a grade 5 at a couple of occasions.
They have been great and I am very sad to have worn them out. But I think it is now time to go look for a new pair.
More images from Colorado and Utah
Of course we took loads of images during our latest trip. In case you would like to see more from our latest adventures in Colorado and Utah click here.
The Narrows
The last day before heading back to Phoenix and reality again we hiked The Narrows in Zion National Park. This is a narrow canyon through which the Virgin River runs. It is so narrow that you have to hike in the river most of the time. Since this was going to be our last hiking day we did not care about getting our boots wet and the heat made it feel very tempting to hike in the cool river.
To be on the safe side we rented poles at an outdoor store that would help us keep the balance in the stream. Many hiked without but I was happy to have one so I didn’t have to swim unless it was necessary. In fact we did not have to swim at all, at the deepest place the water reached up to my chest. Unfortunately this was after about 10 min so you had to get wet from the very beginning but then it was mostly knee deep.
It was a different and fun hike in the water but after a couple of hours we decided to turn back because we were getting a bit cold. Luckily at this time the sun was high enough to shine down into the canyon which helped us keep warm. I am not sure I would attempt this hike any other time of the year. In that case you have to rent a dry suite to keep warm.