Living in Arizona: Canyon Lake

It’s late March.

The 90-degree weather is making its way to us early. We’re supposed to hit 90 today!! Check it out…

A day such as this makes me think of Canyon Lake…a picturesque escape just over half-an-hour away from us, where clear and cold lake water is surrounded by glorious mountains on all sides, where watersports and camping are nearby, and fishing and swimming are just steps away from picnic grounds.

A picnic trip to Canyon Lake…that sounds so good right now.

Here are some pics from our last visit to Canyon Lake, back in August of last year.

The drive to get there takes you through dizzying zig-zaggy mountains, but quite worth the trouble once you get there.

Bring some lunch–and a camera–you wouldn’t want to miss Canyon Lake’s gorgeous views.

Not to mention some poignant moments between father and son + mother and son, too!

Year One in Arizona

It’s official. We’ve been in Arizona now for exactly one year today.

This grand state has SO MUCH to love–as we’ve discovered this past year–and it can easily take us a lifetime to explore the vastness and richness of what this state has to offer.

For starters, did you know that although Arizona is famous for its year-round sunny weather and desert climate (yup…absolutely no sticky-humid weather here!), the upper half of the state (reachable by a mere three hours drive from us) is actually comprised of pine mountains and enjoys milder versions of the four seasons? Yup. We get winter here too. And gorgeous winters at that! In mid-march of this year, my sister and hubby drove up to SnowBowl and hit the slopes on their snowboards on pure powder. And then in April, we were at the Grand Canyon and were pleasantly surprised by the snow-capped trees and mountainsides.

Summer in our parts is, well, summer in all its scorching glory. I call it the season of THE OVEN…because it really gets oven-temperature hot here in the months of June-July-August. I’ve read somewhere that living in Arizona through its summers is likened to having a child: you live through a few months of pain in exchange for a lifetime of beautiful climate. So true!

I didn’t want this post to be just about the weather, but here are some interesting links I’ve come across to describe the kinds of things we experience here either all-year round, or just in the summer:

• Revealing the Secrets of Arizona’s Seasons (www.dummies.com)
• Arizona Monsoon Facts (phoenix.about.com)
• Arizona Living Commentary: When the Temperature Rises… (www.azcentral.com)
• What’s a HABOOB? (en.wikipedia.org)

Besides the weather, there’s just an abundance of natural beauty in Arizona. We all know about Grand Canyon and Sedona (been there and will go there again!) But there’s also a whole lot of other canyons, forests, state parks and monuments to visit. Canyon Lake and Fossil Creek come to mind for summer-worthy adventures. We have not been to either, but are looking forward to taking Miggz there one of these days.

Last Fall, we’ve done two Arizona-y things I hope we get to do again every year as a tradition: go to the Arizona State Fair and take Miggz to the pumpkin patch.

All year round, I look forward to going to these museums for free, courtesy of my Mesa Library Card coupled with a Culture Pass:

• Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park
• Arizona Museum of Natural History
• Arizona Science Center
• Children’s Museum of Phoenix
• Deer Valley Rock Art Center
• Desert Botanical Garden
• Desert Caballeros Western Museum
• Phoenix Art Museum
• Phoenix Zoo
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

There’s not much amusement parks around us, nothing that will compare to Orlando or Anaheim. What we do have is an abundance of culture and nature waiting to be explored pretty much all-year round. And I cannot wait to experience these places with Miggz in the years to come =)