Arizona

Arizona has many stories to tell from past inhabitants. The National and State parks are awesome and we have found many great boondocking spots. Our first time in Arizona was November of 2016, since then, we have been back in the winter of 2019 exploring much of the state!

After juggling around our travel schedule, and bypassing Lake Havasu, we ended up in Yuma AZ the day before Thanksgiving 2016. That is what you do when your full timing, you adapt and improvise. We didn’t really do anything while we were there. We had plans of going to the historical territorial prison, and doing some paddle boarding, but that didn’t happen. We spent the better part of our time there getting settled into the new house.

In our search for places to stay while in the area, we ran into the problem of most of the parks being age restricted. Unfortunately for us, this time of year, in this area, really caters to the snowbirds. We found a place that fits our budget, in Benson AZ. Its about 30 min east of Tucson. We pulled in about 30 min before a potluck was starting so we threw some food in the instant pot and made it just in the nick of time. We were the only people in this park with kids, but were welcomed right in. We even ran into a couple that we had seen in a couple other parks along the way starting back at Klamath River in Northern California a couple months before.

Tombstone was branded the town too tough to die. We visited the old west town, and saw the places where history was written. Unfortunately, it’s one big tourist trap. We did enjoy ourselves though, the people that worked there were in era clothing, and really tried to fit the part. We got to see where the Earps lived (and got shot) and where Doc Holidays office was. Overall it was pretty cool. We went to a gun fight re-enactment and walked around the old western town.

Saguaro National Park is home to some pretty cool big Cacti. The district we visited, is on the eastern edge of Tucson. We visited the Cactus Forest, and did a ranger lead hike to an old copper mine. The high desert is full of cool vegetation and rock formations.