Desert Trip – Day 7

Here we are for our LAST Desert trip journal. If you missed my previous posts from our Desert trip check those out >>>> Desert Trip

Day 7 was a long day that leads into our flight home that was a red eye into Monday morning. I’ll talk more about that near the end of the post.

We ate breakfast at our hotel and discovered while scrolling through social media that there was a shooting back near home in Dadeville, AL just about 20 miles from Auburn. So sad. Anyway, we took a minute to pray for anyone affected by that sad act of violence and moved on with our last day of vacation.

Rob surprised me by making our first stop at a Trader Joe’s because we don’t have one of those and I love their snack foods. I tried not to get too much since we were leaving late that day. These are so yummy!

My goal for this day was see lots of Cacti! That may sound funny to some, but when you don’t live around that you get excited to see cacti that are as big as trees and other varieties.

We started driving to Lost Dutchman State Park, where I found a hike I thought would be good to see lots of great cacti. We passed a really cool looking area and I asked Rob to turn around so we could check it out. This area was at Superstition Mountain – Lost Dutchman Museum

We went inside and used the restroom and walked through the gift shop, but decided not to pay the $7 for the museum. Instead we decided to check out grounds. There was a nice nature walk (1/3 miles), where we got learn about desert plants we had been seeing. Many plants were labeled with great information about each one. This is just such a gorgeous spot for great photos too.

We came across this “Ribbon of Life” as memorial for those who have lost their lives in airplane crashes at Superstition Mountain.

Beyond the nature walk, you will find lots of interesting relics/buildings to look at including an “Elvis” Chapel which is a movie prop that was used in the 1969 Elvis Presley western “Charro!” It is now used for weddings and other private events.

You also see the Apacheland barn, which was in countless western films and TV western episodes shot at the original Gold Canyon movie ranch.

After leaving there, we continued driving and stopped at Goldfield Ghost Town. When we got there they were in the middle of a gun fight show. Pretty cute. All volunteers that love the old west. I mean this is definitely a tourist trap, but a cute little stop none the less. It’s free to enter.

We tried the Prickly Pear fudge and got some fresh kettle corn.

From there we drove through Tonto National Forest and made a stop at the Canyon Lake Vista.

Then we made a stopp at Tortilla Flats Saloon. We sat at the bar on a saddle! I had wine in a plastic mug from a can. Rob got a beer that was similar to a Blue Moon. Had an orange flavor to it. Oh it was called Four Peaks Brewing Co. The Joy Bus Wow Wheat. We got the Carne Asade fries to share. Really good!

Here I am sitting at the bar straddling the saddle seat!

I got wine and laughed when they served it to me in a plastic jug.

After that we walked next door to the country store and got some ice cream.

We then continued driving towards Mesa, AZ. We drove by the Organ Stop pizza, but really weren’t hungry so we didn’t stop to eat. We needed to burn more time, so we hung out and looked around at Bookman’s.

We hung out at the Riverview Park

And lastly, we had to check out the capital, before leaving Arizona so we drove over to downtown.

Then it was off to the airport for our midnight flight back home, which I think arrived at 6am something our time, that’s why they call it a “Red eye.” Rob got a nice shot of the sunrise from the plane. When we got home, I went to bed after getting some clothes in the wash and Rob went straight on to work.