First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shots #1

 

Our daughter, Allison, and her relatively new husband, DeQuan, carted off to Phoenix to begin the first phase of his chosen career.  The wife and I decided to pay them a visit to get the lay of the land.  We were excited at the opportunity, as they both love the area and were eager to share its wonders with us.

On the very evening of our arrival we drove to the western edge of the metroplex in time to catch their fabled sunsets, and as can be seen from this and the following few posts we were not disappointed.

By the way, did I mention that this was in July?  Yes, in the heat of the summer we flew right into the middle of the searing Sonoran desert where the temp rose to 110+ most days of our 5-day visit.  Folks typically say, "But it's a dry heat!".  Those temperatures, though, dry or no dry, are unmercifully hot and there's nothing you can do to escape them except to remain ensconced in a nice air conditioned space.

For this first foray into the outskirts we were in such a hurry to catch the sunset in time that I left the Bigger Cahoona at their house.  Thus, these sunset pics were all captured with the iPhone, which didn't do a bad job.

Stepping to the left a few paces yielded the composition below:

First Visit to Phoenix - Giveaway Chair in Chandler

Saw this on a neighborhood walk...

And this is all for our first visit to Phoenix.  Our objectives were met during the 5-day visit there - we scoped out the lay of the land, explored some of the sites nearby, and experienced first-hand the infernal heat that everyone talks about.  Now we are a little more prepared for our next, more extended visit in September when, Lord willing, we'll be here to help out with Allison's NEW BABY!  Meanwhile, between now and then there's a 10-day New England cruise to cover in the blog.  By the grace of God we've been allowed this travel time during our early retirement years, and are looking forwarded to share those adventures with you.

First Visit to Phoenix - Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Signage Through Reeds

 

Heretofore all the pics posted from our first visit to Phoenix were captured with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which actually turned out pretty well.  I did bring the Bigger Cahoona, however, and brought it along on a few excursions.  The first of these was a trip to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.  It was hot, hot, hot that day but we managed to clock in a mile or so around its famous ponds and lakes.  Didn't get too many passable pics due to the full afternoon sun, but found a few that were interesting, including this sign captured through the reeds.

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shot #4

 

In spite of the unbearable heat (for us), we walked a ways into the desert, enabling a capture of these rock formations against a sunset sky.  This was a terrific way to become introduced to the region's beauty on our first visit to the "Valley", as they call the desert floor on which Phoenix and its suburban communities sit.  In subsequent days we explored parts of the city plus a remote fishing spot on the Salt River, which will be feature in future posts.

Sedona - First Hike, Rock Formation

Now that we had our first visit to Phoenix to get the lay of the land (published here), we were eager to return for the birth of our second grandchild, due in mid- to late September of 2025.  Since we were due to be home from our New England cruise on Sept 10th we were worried that we might miss little Kato's entrance, but by the grace of God he was born without complications on September 21st.

Since we'd planned to be there for two months, a couple of side trips were planned.  As a way of expression their appreciation for our help, Allison and DeQuan (our son-in-law) arranged for a two-night stay in Sedona.  From Allison and many others we were encouraged to visit Sedona as one of the top go-to destinations in Arizona.

So off we went, driving through marvelous terrains and elevations new to us Houstonians.  Quite the adventure in and of itself.  Our AirB&B wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so we took a slow drive through a neighborhood on the edge of town, one that was pretty close to the rock formation that you see here.  This is where we embarked on the first "hike" of our time in Sedona, though it was a very short one.

Surprisingly, in post-capture work on these pictures I discovered that there weren't that many keepers.  So this little series will be short, then we'll move on to other adventures of our time in Arizona...

First Visit to Phoenix - Salt River, Scary Cactus

Needleless to say (as opposed to needless, a pun), when hiking along any trail out in the Old West one has to go slowly in the underbrush and be very vigilant for the many different cacti growing wild everywhere.  Hard to imagine what it'd be like to tussle with one of these guys...

Glowing Edges effect applied below:

First Visit to Phoenix - Downtown Chandler Art

 

The kids actually live in Chandler, a town to the southeast of the Phoenix metroplex.  One day we went downtown where I found this affixed to a wall.  Immediately I thought of this post captured in Taiwan some years ago...

First Visit to Phoenix - Salt River Fishing Trip, Saguaro Looking East

Once down the road a bit we stopped and, looking east, saw this scene.  It would have been easy to remove the holes and blemishes on the saguaro, but most do in fact look like this so decided to keep it natural.

Well, what the heck...here's the same with a somewhat cleaned-up saguaro.  On a larger screen, click on the photo and use your arrow keys to swap back and forth for comparison:

First Visit to Phoenix - Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Bird with Blue Feet

There was lots of wildlife in this preserve, but it was all under cover or in the shade due to the tremendous heat.  What we did find was very interesting to us East Texans, including this guy with blue feet (closeup below):

First Visit to Phoenix - Salt River Fishing, Trial Etiquette Sign

One of the other activities planned for us was a fishing trip on the Salt River, about a hour's drive from Chandler.  This is still the Old West in a lot of ways, as there are herds of wild horses roaming the landscape that occasionally stop to drink at the river, to the delight of anyone fishing nearby.  We didn't see any on that day, but our son-in-law caught a little fish, which was memorialized with a quick snap of the Bigger Cahoona:

First Visit to Phoenix - Aqua Mural

A big mural...didn't know what to do with the busy background, so just blacked it over.

This area reminded me a little of Montrose in Houston, where there are pockets of art-inspired enclaves.  On our walk we went into a shop that sold old timey woodblock-printed posters.  The kind proprietors gave us a little tour and printed a custom poster to demonstrate the process.

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shots #2

 ...and I stepped over a few more paces to create a loner silhouette shot of the same tree.

Below are a couple more sunset pics taken that evening:

First Visit to Phoenix - Bird's Nest in Cactus

But guess what DOESN'T mind getting in the middle of these awful cacti.  This is a cactus wren's nest, captured next to a house in Allison's neighborhood.  Suppose there's no better protection...

First Visit to Phoenix - Salt River Fishing Trip, Silhouette Looking West

We decided to head back toward the end of dusk when, looking west, I saw the opportunity for a silhouette featuring some saguaro on the hilltop.  There were some electric lines cutting through the middle of the scene, but the newest version of Photoshop took care of that with two clicks of the mouse.

First Visit to Phoenix - Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Hanging Cross

 

There is a cross hanging in this picture, a pendant that someone left who knows when.  It's hard to see, but as a hint, it's in the middle just below one of the sunrays on the green stem, in front of the biggest branch.  Closeup below:

First Visit to Phoenix - Dressed Up Trees #1

 

First Visit to Phoenix - Dressed Up Tree #2

Another one...with grapes.

First Visit to Phoenix - Salt River Fishing Trip, Rock Formation Through Overhang

Picture taken of the same rock formation through this overhang of tree branches.

First Visit to Phoenix - Salt River Fishing Trip, Shoreline Reflection Shot

We were hanging out on the riverbank, sort of hoping that wild horses would emerge from the vegetation on the opposite shore for a drink, when I saw this opportunity for a reflection shot.  No horses, but think the pic turned out OK...

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shot #3

 

Could not resist this silhouette of a tree that, though it was summer, looked as if winter had stripped it of its leaves...