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We took a quick family vacation to Arizona last week. We left Seattle on Sunday, April 2nd, and flew back Sunday, April 9th. I know a week is more than a “quick trip” but we moved around a lot so it really felt like a quick trip. We spent Monday with my parents at their home in Sun City West, which is a 55+ community Northwest of Phoenix, and then went to Sedona Tuesday and Wednesday, over to Prescott Thursday and Friday and then back to my parents Saturday and flew out early Sunday.
I’ll try to keep it fairly short (for me) with just some links to photos and maybe a little commentary on each area.
Monday. First off, Sun City West is very much a retirement community and even though the minimum age to be a homeowner is 55 it appears most people living there are closer to their 70’s or 80’s. More about that later. My parents are well into their 80’s so they certainly fit the demographic. I believe Sun City West was developed in the early 80’s and at the time was probably one of the first of these types of communities (although I think Sun City was prior). Now planned retirement communities can be found everywhere.
Probably the main draw, outside of having no kids to yell at about being on your lawn and hopefully lower crime rates, are the clubs. There are four clubs scattered around the community and for ~$500 per person per year you can use them all and most of the amenities are included for free. They all have decent gyms and pools, some indoor and some outdoor. There’s a movie theater, bowling alley, tons of pickle ball and tennis courts, etc… They house numerous special interest groups you can join; leather working, bridge, stained glass, a couple of model train enthusiast groups, car restoration, and others. My favorite of course was the wood working shop. They have an impressive array of tools and benches for working on projects. Anyway, we toured them all and I can see the draw. Assuming you want to stay active there is something going on everyday to keep you busy and engaged.
Monday we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens which are located on the Southeast corner of Phoenix. It’s a huge place with over 50 acres of cultivated desert plants. We spent four or five hours there and didn’t see everything by a long shot. We could easily have spent a full day there but the older folks weren’t up for it. It was a beautiful day with temperature in the mid-70’s but it’s a lot to be on your feet that long. It’s been a wet and cool spring in Arizona so there were plenty of plants in bloom. There was also a butterfly exhibit which was very cool. Finally, I would strongly taking one of the walking tours hosted by the docents who work there. That took 30-45 minutes and was very interesting, although don’t ask me what I learned, I was too busy taking pictures.
Tuesday we went to Sedona. We spent a week there four or five years ago so we’re fairly familiar with the area. The red rock is truly unique and if hiking is your thing then you could spend weeks exploring all the trails. If not then you can rent ATV’s and take off or there are Jeep tours. If you want to take in the sites from the air then you can do a helicopter tour as well. Sedona is quite a bit higher in elevation than Phoenix so the vegetation is different and it’s quite a bit cooler. It froze the first night we were there and the highs were in the mid-50’s. Still, it was pleasant and was perfect weather for hiking. One thing to remember though, Sedona is a tourist trap at this point and as a small city wasn’t ever designed to accommodate all the people that come into town. Traffic getting through town can be terrible and the restaurants can have long wait times. It seems early in the tourist season but, maybe because of all the schools on spring break, was packed with families. Once you get off the beaten path the crowds thin pretty quickly though. Anyway, here’s what the area looks like.
From Sedona we moved on to Prescott. We’ve talked about Prescott as a potential place to retire so were interested to check it out. We took the most direct route to get there from Sedona which is via highway 89A. Technically speaking it’s about the same amount of time as taking the freeway because although it’s shorter, it’s also a winding mountain road. Still, it’s the most scenic route for sure. You pass through the town of Jerome, which is basically built into the side of the mountain. In the early 1900’s it was a booming copper mining town and has a ton of history. It’s only 30 minutes or so from Sedona so if you vacation in Sedona take the time to make a side trip to Jerome. From there you continue up and over the mountain and at the top I believe you’re over 7,000 feet in elevation. There was still snow along the road at the top of the pass so it just goes to prove Arizona does have a winter.
To be honest driving into Prescott we were a bit disappointed. Even this time of year all the vegetation was brown and dead looking. It’s pretty flat and there’s not much to see other than random home developments going up. We stayed in the old downtown area though and that was very nice with interesting shops and restaurants. Most people aren’t going to live in the old town though and like I said the area to the northeast wasn’t anything to write home about. There is an area with some interesting rock formations so we hiked through there and took some photos. Nothing to the northeast of town made us want to move there though.
The next morning Karen and Sam went to a museum downtown and I went for a hike to Granite Mountain, which is west of town. This area was much nicer. It very much reminded me of Central Oregon with Ponderosa Pine trees and I could see us living there so we may have to visit again and give the area more time to grow on us. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the top of the mountain. We had a reservation for e-bikes so I had to get back to town to pick up Karen and Sam. I probably would have needed at least another hour to make it to the summit. Next time!
The e-bikes were fun. The trails are old railroad lines and almost perfectly flat so there’s not much challenge but it was still a unique experience. The trail goes alongside Watson Lake, which was very full, so that provided some scenic interest. We went about 16 miles in total.
Saturday we drove back to Sun City West. Sam has a friend who lives in Scottsdale so we dropped him off there and they spent the day hanging out. They went to the Musical Instrument Museum, which honestly looks pretty interesting. I’ll have to go someday. Karen and I went back to the folks place and we went to a Saturday afternoon Easter service at their church. It’s not associated with Sun City West but it appears the whole congregation lives in the retirement community. Out of the 200 or 300 hundred people there Karen and I were almost certainly the youngest, probably by ten or fifteen years. I joked to Karen that if we were to attend church there we would probably be asked to join the newly married group since we’ve only been married for 28 years. The service was mainly the church choir singing and, again, most of the 40+ person choir was probably in their 70’s or 80’s. It felt kind of surreal to see that many “older” people in one place but the choir was fantastic and everyone in general seemed energetic and glad to be alive. There was a lady sitting in front of us who my mom said was 93 or 94 and if I’d been guessing I would have thought she was maybe 75.
So, there you have it. Was that short enough? Probably not but we crammed a lot into the week and had a great time. It was good to see my parents and see that they’re doing well and living life fully.
Beautiful photos! Do you have a drone or something? How could you shoot the video like the one of you at the stream at Granite Rock? Wow!
Thanks. The camera is a 360 degree camera. It takes 360 degree photos or videos and then later in the app you can edit them to produce flat photos or video. You can zoom in and out and make “tiny planet” effects as well as many other cool effects. Using a selfie stick you can mimic drone-like shots pretty easily (low flying drone shots… ;o). The nice thing about a 360 camera is that you don’t have to worry about the subject. You just take the shot and then decide what to frame later. The bad thing about a 360 camera is that it’s 360. It’s work to go back after the fact and find interesting shots since there are infinite possibilities. Sometimes it’s easier to just shoot with a normal camera and then it’s done. It’s either usable or not.