I have often visited Arizona and have flown into Phoenix Sky Harbor several times too. Mostly I come to the state to visit my good friend Diana. She is the only person I have ever met that, right after meeting, we both, separately, told a mutual friend (and co-worker) that we felt like we had known the other our entire lives (despite that she is 11 years younger than me). That forged an immediate strong friendship. We have visited back and forth almost every year since she moved in 2004 to Arizona.

We planned to meet at the Cracker Barrell in Chandler. Unfortunately, a couple days before I was due to arrive, Diana said they needed to return to their Pinetop AZ condo. So no visit.

Phoenix has three universities that I wanted to photograph their campus signs. Some small national park sites nearby but I chose to skip them due to time constaints.

Interstate 17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff reminded me of Interstate 5 through Oregon in that rarely could I get into the right lane. Because there are mountains being traversed along this I17 stretch, trucks and other large vehicles are only going about 40 MPH whereas the speed limit was mostly 75 but sometimes 65. That really bunched up the other vehicles.

Flagstaff is a town that I am considering living in after retirement (and after I have spent a few years living in New England to do further family history research). Flagstaff is known for its "dark sky", thus, the Milky Way center is visible. Also, several national parks are around Flagstaff. However, after this visit, nevermind This place, at least on a Saturday, has very crowded roads. Very difficult to make a left turn in many places because cars just keep coming.

The other thing about Flagstaff I noticed reminded me too much of Santa Fe, one of my least favorite cities. Why? Because, like happened years ago in Santa Fe, I left my hotel to make what I thought would be a simple short (i.e. under half a mile) quick trip to one place that turned out to be a seven mile trip that took me way away from where I wanted to be. And last, the highways all around Flagstaff, including the interstates, are in very bad shape with lots of holes.

I visited three national parks around the Flagstaff area. They are:
-- Walnut Canyon -- some cliff dwellings in the canyon, interesting how people in the southwest chose 1,000 years ago to build homes that way. Surely that took countless hours to build their homes.
-- Sunset Crater -- I assumed this meant the place was known for its sunsets, and planned to photograph one. Turns out the place is about a volcano from 1,000 years ago that left rock of a certain color. The entire area around the park is rocky. This area is also known for being Dark Skies which astronomers love.
-- Wupatki -- this park is the ruins of a culture that built stone homes similar to what I saw in 2004 in northwestern New Mexico's Chaco Canyon

In the southwestern part of the state is Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. That was worth a visit, just once, since it pretty much all looks the same.