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Cacti & Succulents

Arizona Road Trip

15 years ago

My daughter and I are leaving DFW and going on a road trip to Arizona on Apr 2 for a week. Stops include a night in El Paso and Tucson with friends. The only sure thing I have planned is to stop and see Miles2Go. The Grand Canyon is being saved for another trip. Any suggestions would be appreciated such as Desert gardens, stores, pottery, etc. Coming back we will visit New Mexico reservations.

Thanks,

Mike

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Comments (6)

johnh_or
15 years ago
If you happen to head out towards Mt Lemmon in Tucson, there is a place on Tanque Verde road.....Tanque Verde Greenhouses. Small place but they have a great selection of small plants in the public sales greenhouse. And some beautiful specimen plants. They will box your stuff up for you too for traveling. Address is 10810 E. Tanque Verde Rd. Tucson, 85749 if you want to Mapquest it.
joscience
15 years ago
Living Stones Nursery is my favorite Tucson nursery. Maybe not as expansive as some of the other nurseries, but a really nice selection. If you are into Mesembs, then this place is an absolute must! Personally, it was the Welwistchia seedling that got me in the door...

The Desert Museum West of Tucson is really nice. Good collection of plants and animals native to the Sonoran desert. If you have time, they have a very large swath of desert with nicely maintained trails to explore. Just getting to the Desert Museum is a beautiful drive, as you go through the outskirts of Saguaro National Park and across a really dramatic mountain pass.
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8/2--During the day found some Slevin's Bunchgrass Lizards, Yarrow's Spiny Lizards and a Desert-Grassland Whiptail. Like Keith I had a good night on the roads. I found a gorgeous and very large green Mojave Rattlesnake (3 feet plus with 10 buttons on the rattle) at 7:45PM. I was thrilled as it was my first live Mojave in the wild. Twenty minutes later I found a 15-16 inch subadult Mojave rattlesnake. Toads were also in force and I saw many great plains toads and a couple of spadefoot toads. 8/3--no interesting herps today. Saw an Arizona Woodpecker and a Sulfur-Bellied Flycatcher for a couple of lifelist birds. 8/4--hiked to the top of a mountain with my wife and dad in the Portal area and nearly slid off a steep point where the trail was partially eroded. My mom had turned back because of the hazardous trail quality in some places. Saw lots of lizards and had fun seeing the species change as we gained in elevation. Start of the trail was dominated by whiptails, then Striped Plateau Lizards and a Clark's Spiny Lizard and finally Mountain (Yarrow's) Spiny Lizards. Saw an enormous 55 inch snake skin at lower elevation on the way back. I imagine it belonged to a Western Diamondback by size alone. If it is a Blacktail Rattlesnake it is a remarkable specimen. My mom saw a Green Rat Snake down at lower elevation. Wish I'd been there for that instead of going on the mountain ledge balancing tour. The night road cruise that night was disappointing and only produced two DOR snakes. A Western Diamondback and a juvenile Mojave.
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Thanks Gary. Hey Wayne can you post my Gila Monster pic when you get a chance? It isn't a great picture, because it got blurred a little with motion and its head isn't very visible but it is still a great "see how close I am and see that distinctive gila monster pattern and coloration" shot.
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Cross-country road trip advise needed
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Comments (26)
I don't have any specific advice for any of the areas you are visiting but do want to recommend www.restaurant.com. I've used it traveling and in my own city. You can view the menus online before you go and then buy a savings certificate and print it right out. I never had a problem with using this service. You will probably be eating out a lot when traveling and the savings really add up. It is great to view the menus beforehand and get a map to the location. You can even make reservations online too. The offering include small independant ethnic restaurant to upscale supper clubs - no chains. ------------- I see you may be travelling through The Badlands. Check out Jewel cave in the area. It is awesome. http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/home/thingstodo/parksmonuments/nationalparks/jewelcavenationalmonument Here is a link that might be useful: Restaurant
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road trip
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Comments (4)
Figure around 100.00 per day for motels. Food and gas is high also. How long will you be on the road? Figure washing clothes, take stuff for sickness or diarrhea. Watch the drinking water as this could cause problems, especially for the children. Bottle water--again $$ unless you buy it at Walmart etc. From MI to Az should be ok, but So AZ is very hot, so plan to stay in the Northern area. There is alot to see between home and AZ. Get maps, plot a general course and go on the internet. Jerome is nice, but very difficult to park =it is a mining town, not much for kids. When you get to a city, ask about the local stuff. Many towns have free or very low cost places. Stop and let the kids run in a park. We use to plan to eat lunch/dinner at the local parks so the kids could get exercise. But, do watch them and keep your car locked all the time. We found that after 3 days of driving, we needed to stop for about 2-3 days to rest. Do you belong to AAA? They have lots of information. You will find the smaller towns friendlier, safer and cheaper. Since my son lives in MI and we used to have relatives in AZ, we did alot of traveling, but then we had an RV. You can rent a motor home, but figure cost against motels etc.
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johnh_or
15 years ago
And another must see is Saguaro National Monument-East. Not far from the TVG greenhouse.
reiver
Original Author
15 years ago
Great ideas! Please keep them coming!
Thanks, Mike
murmanator
15 years ago
You cant miss out on Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix
cactus_dude
15 years ago
I recommend Bach's Cactus Nursery on the northwest side of town (8602 North Thornydale Road) and B&B Cactus Farm on the east side (11550 E Speedway Blvd). Both are huge nurseries with an incredible selection of cacti/succulents.

Also, Tohono Chul Park (7366 N. Paseo del Norte) is a nice botanical garden with a small nursery, gift shop and restaurant. It's near the intersection of Ina and Oracle Rd.

Enjoy your trip-

cd

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