Arizona
Arizona doesn't ease you in. The heat hits first — dry and total, the kind that makes the air shimmer and every shadow feel like a gift. Then the landscape: red rock, saguaro cactus, horizons so wide they make you feel pleasantly insignificant.
We came for the desert and stayed for everything else. The ancient civilizations that built cities here before Europe had universities. The Native tribes who are still here, still weaving, still telling the same stories. The museums that hold twelve thousand years of human ingenuity in air-conditioned rooms while the sun tries its best outside.
Arizona rewards curiosity. The more questions you ask, the more the desert gives back.
This is our collection of Arizona — the places, the detours, and everything in between.
Arizona
Too Hot to Do Anything. Perfect Time for a Museum
It was 7 a.m. and already 95°F. The creosote bushes weren't moving. Neither was Alex. We went to a museum — and ended up twelve thousand years in the past. Inside the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Apache were waiting.
Nevada, Arizona
Martian Vacation: A Road Trip Told by Jack the Dog
The ground was red. Not orange-at-sunset red. Not dusty-road red. Deep, ancient red — the color of something that has been burning for a million years. I was fairly certain we had driven to Mars.
Utah, Arizona
Fire, Goblins, and a Dog Who Owns Canyons
We rented an RV, pointed it toward Utah and Arizona, and let our schipperke decide which rocks were worth climbing. Spoiler: all of them. A New Year's road trip through the Valley of Fire, Zion, Goblin Valley, Arches, and beyond.