The Apache Trail - Part 1 | G & J away from home

Jane Reporting for 14th October

We had decided to drive along the old stagecoach road, the Apache Trail today (14th October). There was a ring road in the brochure we were working from and so the only decision was which way to go - did we want to do the easy drive on paved roads first, or the winding unpaved but graded road? In the end we decided to do the dusty stuff first because there were more interesting things to stop and see on that road.

There is a helpful website for those who would like to know more: http://apachetrailarizona.com/

First we had to drive across the sprawling city of Phoenix and almost as soon as we got out of town and up to the Superstition Mountains we came across the Superstition Mountain Museum, which we would certainly recommend. It's got an excellent gift shop (probably the best we've visited in the entire trip and Lyn and I are something of gift shop connoisseurs by now) and a lovely wide verandah for sheltering under out of the sun.

Little pink birds

While the others toured the buildings I sat on the verandah and took photos of the birds which were getting their morning feed at the bird feeder.

Larger birds with hook-y beaks

This may have been why I was a little reluctant to wander the extensive paths and visit the out buildings:

Warning notices

But the view from the back verandah was spectacular enough for me not to mind whiling away a bit of time in the shade, photographing the birds:

The view

Here's a photo Lyn took of Gary in the stagecoach:

Ready to travel the Apache Trail

A short drive up the road we came to the Goldfield Ghost Town which gave us another good reason to stop.

Shopping at the Goldfield Ghost Town

There were heaps of tours we could have done but we were concious that we had yet to really get going on our drive along the Apache Trail and so we just wandered around the buildings and checked out all the shops that were in them.

I shop!

It's not that I wasn't tempted to buy from this shop - especially this rattlesnake cleverly made from a bike chain but, in the end, the thought of more clutter at home made me see sense. (I can hear the house sitters now, informing me that the Palmerston North climate wouldn't suit a rattlesnake ... or an Aucklander.)