Arizona is part of this westerns of our childhood, that of the large spaces, breathtaking landscapes, old traditions of pioneers and Indian culture, especially the Navajos. It's an authentic America, to nature almost intact.
Phoenix and giant cactus
Gateway to the wild west, Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, is a sprawling city. It expanded to surface rather than height to wrap the communities of Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Glendale and Sun City. The center is small enough with a dozen skyscrapers that form a very little living area. The city does not have a great interest, but the Assured Museum deserves a visit. It is best to stay on the Scottsdale side, much more lively with its restaurants, hotels and shops. Phoenix is located on the north edge of the Sonora desert, the home of giant cactus called saguaro. Their height may exceed ten meters and they have a centuries-old life span. The campaign varies from arid and rocky terrain to huge cactus fields blooming in April and May. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, located about twenty kilometers from Phoenix, is a superb place to observe the flora and fauna of the desert.
For a very different experience, the Pima Air Museum, just south of the city, brings together 275 private aircraft, including the aircraft of President John Kennedy. Of over 5,000 military aircraft stored here, hundreds of huge B -52 bombers are stationed in the wilderness. The Titan Missile Museum allows to descend into a «Titan» launch silo to discover underground installations. It's really spectacular!
Like in a western…
There will be no Tucson and especially Old Tucson, a city created by the Columbia in 1939 to turn cowboy movies. We're walking diligently in ground streets in the middle of buildings that are beautiful copies of old houses. We cross actors dressed in time costumes, belt pistol, ready to draw. In the saloon, some pretty girls are waiting for the gentlemen… A real amusement park!
Arizona, like the entire western United States, experienced the gold rush of 1848. Mining towns came out of nothing and abandoned as soon as the filth ran out. They became ghost towns, ghost towns. Others, closer to the Mexican border, have managed to survive like Bisbee where we visit the copper mine on a wagon, or Tombstone. This name may not tell you anything, yet here in 1881 the most famous shooting in the American West: All right, Corral. The scene is replayed every day for tourists… It was also deserted, but it retained some of the time buildings such as Crystal Palace, Tombstone's most popular saloon, or Le Bird Cage Theater: an exceptional place, all in wood, where poker players crossed, crazed and prostituted… The places haven't changed. There are still traces of bullets on the walls and on objects of the time. The Rose Tree Inn Museum, built in 1880, is the oldest house in Tombstone. It houses a small museum on western history and… the largest rotor in the world. We don't leave Tombstone without the Boothill cemetery.
North of Phoenix, Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum is a fake ghost town with reconstituted buildings. Everything is almost more true than nature: Sheriff's Office, Prison, School, Miners' Huts, Victorian Mansion, Church, Bank, even Prescott Opera… We walk there on foot, we even spend the day… From the real Far West to tourists! We continue to Sedona, famous for its canyon with carmine cliffs and for the butts surrounding it in red sandstone whose colors vary depending on the brightness. Hikers are enchanted by this landscape, especially in the spring when cactus bloom. Is this what attracted the hippies and other mystical mystics of Kathmandu back in the 1960 s? In any case they took root and turned Sedona into the city of New Age.
A masterpiece named Grand Canyon
The progeny of nature in the north-west of Arizona, the Grand Canyon is certainly one of the most striking shows that the United States can offer. Majestic landscapes to give verge, colors to pale the most beautiful palette of painter, a geology telling the history of the North American continent, an exceptional flora and fauna. Long 445 km wide, 29 km deep and deep of 1,600 m, it was a masterpiece of natural sculpture that broke the geological continuity of two regions called North Rim and South Rim (north slope and southern slope). Visiting the Grand Canyon is a real journey. You can spend five minutes to apprehend the gigantism or stay several days. The bravest will follow the hiking paths and go down to the bed of Colorado. The other way of locomotion is the mule. She relieves the 9 miles of the two paths from one and the other plateau to reach the river. If you miss time, just take one side or the other, but you need to take advantage of the sunsets and sunsets. Skywalk, the famous glass floor of eight centimeters thick and about twenty meters in horseshoe form, is suspended at 1,200 meters above the vacuum. It is stowed at the cliff on the southwest part of the Grand Canyon. Finally, if there is a park to fly to the USA, it is this. The helicopter descent into the canyon early in the morning or in the evening is breathtaking.
Antelope Canyon, other treasure
At the northern edge of Arizona, a few kilometers from Powell Lake, there is a small treasure: The Antilope Canyon. Wide from 3 ¾ to 4 ¾ meters deep and deep 30 meters, it is hardly seen from the surface of the plateau. The Navajos ensure the visit and transport by shuttle on a sand trail to the entrance. We enter this red sandstone boycott whose very high walls, swept away for millennia by winds and waters, form hollows and waves where soft or sharp sculptures appear through which, filter the sun. The best time is at noon, when the sun is just above the canyon. Traveling in Arizona is definitely a dream space, between wonders of nature and symbols of the Far West.
Smart News
When is it? The best time to visit high plateaus in particular the Grand Canyon are April, May and September. Desert areas are visited between October and April.
Go there. No direct flight to Paris-Phoenix, compulsory stop. Then you have to rent a car.
AMERICAN AIRLINES - More information on the site
US AIRWAYS - More information on the site
ALAMO RENT-A-CAR - More information on the site
Useful. To best prepare his trip.
GREATER PHOENIX CONVENTION & VISITORS OFFICE - More information on the site
