13 weeks in Phoenix...

Took a travel nurse position at the first place offering a contract. It's been 2 months since I last worked, thanks COVID.

So what is there to do with 3-4 days off per week besides sweat my nads off?

Already planning a few Cali trips just to say I did it.

PS- I know it's hot. 

If you want to escape the crippling AZ heat, come party in Utah. It's still oppressively hot, but less than Phoenix. I'll take you out on the dirt machines, show you the racecar, and there's a few great places to buy questionable burritos. I'll buy!

*edit to add enticing pictures

and no need to tow them anywhere since this is my front porch view:

It's hot, but if you are the outdoors type there is no better place to visit. 

Scottsdale for the women 

Tempe for the hotties with no morals 

canyon lake 

would recommend rocky point / but border closed 

As barefoot said above - his advice is good. I am heading to Utah and Montana for 2 weeks Monday 

To escape the heat, head to Payson or Flagstaff.  Payson has the Mogollon Rim (pronounced Muggy Own, go figure), which is awesome views, drive up camping, exploring.

You will be about 3 1/4 hours from the Grand Canyon, if you have never seen it.

North rim of the Grand Canyon.  A bit of a drive but well worth it.

Higher altitude, very few tourists, great scenery (less desert, more forest)

Even the drive in on Alt 89 along the Vermilion Cliffs is pretty spectacular.

Everyone should go to Page once and walk through Antelope Canyon and get the chills looking over the brink of Horseshoe Bend.

Be advised that the Flagstaff on summer weekends can be a nuthouse. All the cool water sources? Packed. The forest get trashed. Razors and ATVs everywhere. 

Also, pretty much the entire state has banned open fires, so no campfires. Anywhere. Your backyard. The forest. A campground. Nope. 

With 3-4 days off, you could make the trip up to the North Rim. That'll get you solitude and cooler temps. 

White Mountains are better than Flagstaff, but still heavily trafficed in summer. 

My buddy works for the airlines at Sky Harbor. He works Friday-Tuesday and has Wed/Thurs off. Loves it. Says he can go to even the most visited watering holes and trails in the state and never sees a soul because its the middle of the week for 4.6 million Phoenicians. 

That might be something to consider, see if you can shift your days off to be in the middle of the week, not weekends. 

On a work conference there I rented a MTB and hit the trails at South Mountain Park, right in town. It was awesome. As an east coast guy that had never been out west it was amazing. 

If you are gonna go to antelope canyon as was suggested, make sure to do lower canyon tour - it's all run by native Americans 

upper is ok 

tho during Covid those tours are bad ideas I suppose 

painted desert is a great drive - away from humans 

sedona is fantastic - but packed 

You can get to Durango, co too with 3-4 days. Just don't do 64 east out of the south rim if you don't want dirt roads. 

Monument Valley and Canyon deChelly. Not many know about that canyon and it is... well it's jawdropping. 

The Navajo let you walk into the canyon, or they did when we were there last, and the whole thing is a must-experience..

Jay_W said:

Monument Valley and Canyon deChelly. Not many know about that canyon and it is... well it's jawdropping. 

The Navajo let you walk into the canyon, or they did when we were there last, and the whole thing is a must-experience..

 

Pic from our Jeep tour of Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "day shay")

We stayed in Prescott a few times, nice old town.  100 miles north of Phoenix, but 2500ft. higher in elevation, cooler, outside the bowl of the valley.  You actually get 3 seasons there.  Try a day trip or weekend.

Look up the Crown King Saloon, then rent a side-by-side and drive yourself to it!

Cleator Bar and Yacht Club is another cool spot nearby

2 hours south is Tucson and Mt Lemon. I like Tucson better than Phoenix (usually 5-10* cooler as well). Make the drive to Showlow. Apache Lake. Globe. Flagstaff. Yes, its all 2-3 hours away but worth it. I can honestly say that area is probably one of my favorite places in the world. I love the scenery, the dryness, the ruggedness the roads. I DON'T like the socal influence in politics but if I could get far enough out I'd no longer care. 

mmmmm, Tempe.  ASU babes, if you're into that sort of thing.  

Shout out to the Haunted Hamburger in Jerome!

In reply to Jay_W :

Call ahead on anything with the Navajo nation. I was just through there and they had just about everything closed because of COVID. Heck they even had the 4 corners monument closed. 

Was going to suggest shopping for the best Truck, Miata, British Classic or whatever and drive it home to flip. But I see you are in KY, so not much to be gained.

Edit:

Took me a few minutes to remember that you are in the middle of Armagedon central. That makes all of the above suggestions to travel and socialize seem odd.

There is COVID to consider, and combined with your profession. I would find a nice flat rock and  in my spare time, crawl under it for the foreseeable future. Forget meeting new people buying stuff. Stay safe.

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

Thanks, I need to update my locale. That was my plan is to find something "broken", fix it, and drive around out there in it. Sure beats driving around in my soon to be 175k Avalanche.

Thanks for the recommendations y'all.

barefootskater said:

If you want to escape the crippling AZ heat, come party in Utah. It's still oppressively hot, but less than Phoenix. I'll take you out on the dirt machines, show you the racecar, and there's a few great places to buy questionable burritos. I'll buy!

*edit to add enticing pictures

 

Holy crap...you have a J-body!!!

In reply to slefain :

No. FIL has one. CNG. Auto. Otherwise I'd buy it from him. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

mmmmm, Tempe.  ASU babes, if you're into that sort of thing.  

Aren't most red blooded straight men? 

The Salt River is closed for a couple more weeks, but worth a day. The river was cold when I went there on a 100 degree day.

https://www.saltrivertubing.com/

914Driver said:

We stayed in Prescott a few times, nice old town.  100 miles north of Phoenix, but 2500ft. higher in elevation, cooler, outside the bowl of the valley.  You actually get 3 seasons there.  Try a day trip or weekend.

A day trip to Prescott is fun.  Take Grand Ave NW out of town, it's the only diagonal road in Phoenix.  Go through Wickenburg and up to Yarnell.  The movie "Only the Brave" is about the Granite Mountain Hotshots and their memorial is in Yarnell.  Then on to Prescott.  Have lunch at the Palace Restaurant.

It is mentioned elsewhere here to go to Jerome.  It is an old mining town town stuck on the side of a mountain and has gone artsy and restaurants and is one of my favorite places.  Go by the Gold King Mine Museum and see Big Bertha, a three cylinder engine that was used in an old mine and is 10,154 cubic inches.  It is easy to get to Sedona from Jerome or Cottonwood.  

Trish and I stay at a hotel on Main St, all of which was burned down in July 1900.  Two of the town's three water pumps were removed for service, bad timing.  Cowboys, seeing pending doom, knocked down a wall, disassembled the bar and moved it to the Courthouse lawn across the street.  It was returned and called the Palace.

We actually looked at a house in the area.  On a mountainside, 3BR, 2BA, 3 car detached, all open concept; $430k.  BUT, all taxes combined = $1300/year!  (welcome to not NY) 

The Palace and "the upstairs".