Weekend Escape

Do you ever feel the need to ‘escape’ for the weekend?

I do.  Especially when summer arrives.  

The hot summer temperatures do not really bother me much because it seldom gets humid where I live – however, I’m a wimp when it comes to humidity.

But, there is just something about hopping into the car and a couple of hours later, arriving at a completely different terrain and climate.

Phoenix metro area

Thankfully, there are many places to visit that are within a 2 hour drive of the Phoenix metro area, where I live.

When my husband and I were much younger and didn’t have a lot of money (not that we have tons of money now ;-)….

we would take day trips up to exciting destinations in Northern Arizona.

Places like Sedona, Jerome, Prescott and Flagstaff were our favorites.  And, the temperatures were usually quite a bit cooler.

We would pack up our two daughters (our youngest three, weren’t here yet), and leave early on a Saturday morning for a day of fun, returning late at night.

A couple of weekends ago, we spent the weekend up in Prescott for Father’s Day.  You see, this Father’s Day was bittersweet, because it is the first one without my father-in-law, who passed away from ALS last September.

My dad passed away 5 years ago, so we decided to go out of town and do something really fun with the family.

We had a great time and I thought you might want to view our photo album 🙂

The entire Johnson clan.

So where are we?

We visited Montezuma’s Castle on our way up to Prescott.

It is not so much a castle, but a Indian cliff dwelling that was built 900 years ago.

We had fun walking the 1/3 mile trail around the area.

Of course, it is always nice to get a piggy-back ride from dad 😉

(My son Kai has a disability called arthrogryposis, which can make it difficult to walk long distances.)

We had fun and were soon on our way to Prescott.

Our favorite destination in Prescott is the Sharlot Hall Museum, which includes the first Arizona’s Governor’s Mansion (Prescott was the first state capitol).

Yes…the first Governor’s mansion was a log cabin.

The interior is complete with period furnishings and interactive displays for the kids.

The rest of the grounds have beautiful gardens, a ranch house, school house and a building that houses period transportation…

Kai is not quite ready for school to start yet….

But, he did try to teach us something new 😉

The ranch house had a ‘kitchen garden’ complete with heirloom variety vegetables that they used back in the 1800’s.

Another great attraction of Prescott’s is that they have great shopping – particularly if you like antiques.  So, of course we had some fun looking and buying some pieces.  I will be using some in the garden.

After shopping, we spent time hanging out at the quaint courthouse and its park.  The front walkway was lined with Arizona state flags in celebration of the centennial.

We had a great day and ended it by treating ourselves to ice-cream…

Soon our entire family (grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins) will escape for our annual trip to Williams, AZ.

**I hope your summer is going well and that you are able to ‘escape’ for at least a day of fun 🙂

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."