USA Travel Ideas

My husband, Darold, and I recently experienced a truly unique vacation–floating for 5 days aboard a 54-foot houseboat on Lake Powell in northern Arizona. This houseboating trip was the most relaxing and scenic getaway we've ever taken. Read the rest of this entry »

For sheer amazement and beauty, few things top the awe-inspiring views from the rim of the Grand Canyon. But did you know you can actually drive to the bottom of this venerable national treasure? Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to tourist attractions, the Grand Canyon gets marquee billing–and justifiably so. But while stationed at the Grand Canyon with the National Park Service, my husband and I discovered many hidden gems nearby that deserve a share of the spotlight. Read the rest of this entry »

I think Buckskin Mountain State Park is one of the best places to camp when traveling along the Colorado River in west-central Arizona. Read the rest of this entry »

Nearly 50 miles or so southeast of Phoenix, Arizona stands Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, built by the mysterious Hohokam civilization in the early 1300s. Read the rest of this entry »

I found a unique treasure in northeastern Arizona–the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site near Ganado.

Businessman John Hubbell bought this store in 1878. The Hubbell family sold it to the federal government in 1967, but it's still in business–the Navajo Nation's oldest continuously operating trading post. Read the rest of this entry »

I'd never heard of Hackberry, Arizona until I happened to see a photograph in a magazine of what I thought was an old abandoned gas station with a red-and-white '57 Corvette parked in front of the pumps. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a 'must see' if you visit Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum and its more than 100 original and reconditioned wagons, stagecoaches and buggies, is well worth the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

During a recent trip to Arizona, my husband, Chuck, and I enjoyed an entertaining stop at the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch along I-10, between Tucson and Phoenix. Read the rest of this entry »

The next time you're in Phoenix, Arizona, consider a day trip through history along the Apache Trail, also known as State Highway 88.

The trail used to be a raiding route for the Apache Indians as well as a stagecoach and freight wagon route between Mesa and Globe. Now it's a narrow, windy road–some of it unpaved–that runs through some of Arizona's most scenic areas, including the Tonto National Forest and the legendary Superstition Mountains.

The mountains are supposedly the home of the fabled Lost Dutchman gold mine. Many a soul has roamed these mountain canyons looking for the mine, which supposedly holds a fortune in gold. Read the rest of this entry »