I recently visited Scottsdale, Arizona, and fell in love with the city’s relaxed vibe and natural connection to the Sonoran Desert. With the variety of things to do, sights to see and places to eat, …
November 13, 2022
Arizona news, stories & travel reviews
Arizona news, stories & travel reviews
Among the Saguaros: Scottsdale, Arizona
“When the world is full of butterflies and sunshine again”
“I started performing music in public during my high school years and had a successful band in Cleveland, Ohio back in the 1970s called Buckeye Biscuit,” says light classical jazz guitarist Ron Franklin. “We’re mentioned …
Ghost hunting at the Tombstone Motel
A little while back my mother and I decided to go on a ghost-hunting expedition to Tombstone, Arizona. Being the “professionals” that we are, we packed our equipment (flashlight, electromagnetic field detector, digital audio recorder …
Into the West: Sedona & Grand Canyon road trip
For me, the Wild West was never something that piqued my interest. The desert, cowboys, the Gold Rush, saloons; it all seemed rather dusty and trite to me. That is until I got a chance …
January 27, 2019
Report: Bridgepoint and Arizona colluded for GI Bill funds
The Phoenix New Times, reporting on an investigation by the Chronicle of Higher Education, says that controversial for-profit education firm known as Bridgepoint Education colluded with officials in Arizona to get GI Bill funds that …
November 17, 2017
Antelope Canyon, #nofilter
Nestled about halfway between Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, Page, Arizona, has some knock-your-eyes-out-jaw-dropping natural phenomena of its own. A small, nondescript town in northern Arizona, Page highlights its proximity to Antelope Canyon …
In search of a party and Star Wars relics
when I glanced over the Facebook event page advertising a Star Wars cosplay convention in the dunes outside of Yuma, I automatically assumed it would be a party. I pictured spacetini-sipping Slave Leias and inebriated …
Quartzsite: Arizona's rock city
What do you get when you cross one million snowbirds and desert rats, and add blocks of swap-meet junk? You get Quartzsite, AZ, in January. Starting in the fall, tens of thousands of bargain hunters …
Can the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport sell enough tickets to San Diego?
Call it the battle of the high-flying San Diego subsidy. Back in June, the board of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport voted to approve an “incentive package” valued at more than $1.3 million to entice Portland, …
September 9, 2015
Back to nature in Tucson's Ventana Canyon
The long section of Highway 8 heading from San Diego toward Tucson, Arizona, is mostly flat and dead, with the occasional string of mountains popping up across the landscape. But as I barreled my way …
Grand Canyon in the winter – best time to visit?
The Grand Canyon is such a magnificent piece of real estate that the awesome impact of its natural beauty can't be totally absorbed in one visit. That's why a trip to the Grand Canyon in …
February 19, 2015
An Amtrak-Airbnb American (and Canadian) adventure
Weary of going through another airport security line? Enchanted by an early morning train whistle hurtling to points unknown? With airline costs continuing to rise, I set out to try a new, more economical cross-country …
The bounty of Arizona
Until this year, the only part of Arizona I had ever seen was my grandparents’ retirement abode near Camelback Mountain. I remembered that people would emerge in the cool of the night with headlamps to …
September 24, 2014
Dangerous convict, gardener, or both?
Of the more than 20,000 people apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego in the first eight months of this fiscal year, 3321 of them had a total of 6329 criminal convictions for …
June 28, 2014
You’re going down, Phoenix Lucha Libre
In this corner, hailing from San Diego, adorned in hot pink, black, and light blue, we have Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop. And in this corner, hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, also wearing hot pink, black, …
June 24, 2014
Carlsbad hash-oil processor processed in Vista
A Carlsbad man was arrested on April 22 after police found ten empty butane cans in the trash container from his home. Authorities had gotten a tip that Daniel Clark Steadman, 32, was cooking hashish …
April 25, 2014
Hipster Tucson
Tucson’s becoming a hipster destination? Get out of town! Recently, Tucson was named one of the top up-and-coming "hipster" cities in the U.S. Someone must have stumbled out too deep into the desert and started …
January 31, 2014
Peters sets up fundraising committee with Arizona Democrat
La Jolla Democratic congressman Scott Peters and fellow House Democrat Ron Barber of Arizona, under fire by ads sponsored by the billionaire GOP Koch brothers of Wichita, Kansas, have set up a joint fundraising committee, …
January 10, 2014
Kayaking Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon
I had wanted to visit Lake Powell ever since I saw Doctor Who breathe his last breath on the futuristic shores (British sci-fi, don’t worry about it), so as part of our Arizona-Utah road trip, …
At the World's End: Grand Canyon Caverns
After leaving the surreal and creepy ghost town of Chloride, AZ, we stopped for an obligatory chocolate malt at one of the many charming diners on Route 66 and considered the time. With five hours …
July 1, 2013
Tucson – what a desert should be
Just a six-hour drive (or two-hour flight) from San Diego, Tucson is perfect for a long weekend getaway, although one could easily spend a week here. For those of us who grew up with the …
May 13, 2013
At the World's End: Vulture City, AZ
There is no denying it; I am an apocalyte. A lover of all things bleak and transient, the beauty of decay is in my blood. Find me a ghost town, a derelict asylum, an abandoned …
April 18, 2013
Last Stop: Chloride, AZ
We were heading to the majestic Grand Canyon, surely America’s most famous crevasse, when we decided to stop off at the neat little ghost town of Chloride, AZ. Nestling halfway between Las Vegas and the …
January 15, 2013
Paolo's Phoenix: Cosanti, Arizona
In Paradise Valley, overlooking the 70,900-acre Agua Fria National Monument, is the Cosanti gallery, studio and home to 93-year-old anti-materialist architect and urban planner Paolo Soleri. It isn’t surprising that this author of six books, …
October 29, 2012