As you may have noticed if you follow me on Instagram, I’ve been spending as much time as possible in and around the Superstition Wilderness this year! I love that area– the history and mystery, the natural landscape.
When I’m outside, I like to know the names of the plants I’m seeing and what they can be used for. Ben would probably like it if I would stop eating things I find in the wild, but if the apocalypse comes, I’ll be one of the few who knows how to prepare mesquite pods 😉
Boyce Thompson Arboretum
I’ve been doing a lot of plant research online, but it’s just not the same as getting out and learning about plants in person. So, for my birthday excursion, we headed to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a huge garden of desert landscapes complete with hiking trail!
The arboretum is located at the foot of Picketpost Mountain (or, Piglet Wiglet Mountain, as my three-year-old has dubbed it), a formidable peak that is not possible to summit with a child and a dog. And yes, I know that from experience.
A natural stream runs through the gardens, bringing life to the desert landscape. However, you won’t just find Arizona’s flora here–there are also exhibits from desert environments all over the world!
Boojum trees are named after a word Lewis Carroll invented for The Hunting of the Snark
Why visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum?
If you’re in the East Valley region of the Phoenix Metro Area, the arboretum isn’t too far of a drive out of town. And it’s definitely worth it! Those who enjoy the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix will love a getting a different angle on local vegetation.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a great activity for people of all ages and mobility levels. While not all the trails, including the loop trail, are accessible, you can see most of the gardens from paved paths.
Little ones will love the kid appeal in the children’s garden. It provides an opportunity to talk about shapes and colors.
Where’s your favorite place to explore the natural world? Do you like arboretums or just getting out in nature? Leave a comment and let me know!
There’s so much you can eat and make from things that grow in the desert! It’s a common misconception that the desert is just a barren place full of thorns and poisonous things. But as a tour guide at the Casa Grand ruins once pointed out, it’s like living in a grocery store. I’ve done my fair share of eating desert plants, but did you know you can make a lot of things from them, too? Even if you have no experience with bushcrafting or textile arts, you can create this yucca coil basket.
I have a yucca in the front yard that I’ve hardly thought about since we moved in. Why did I decide to cut off a couple of leaves today and make a basket? It’s all a part of my writing research for the novel I’m working on. My book is a survival story set in the Arizona desert, and my main character is an ancestral crafts instructor. So I figured I’d better learn some ancestral crafts. After all, it’s a lot easier to write about something when you’ve experienced it, not just watched some YouTube videos!
Yucca stalk
This isn’t the first time I’ve done hands-on research for the writing. Obviously, my travel writing for the web is experience-based. As far as fiction goes, I’ve also had the chance to fly a plane and learned to make mud bricks!
Drop a comment if you’d like to see an instructional post on how to make mudbricks in your backyard.
Pressing mud into a mold
Bricks drying
Mixing up mud!
So, on to why you clicked on this link: how to make a yucca fiber coil basket.
Harvest Yucca Leaves
There are a lot of ways to make a basket out of yucca leaves. I picked this one because I already knew how to make coil baskets. To date, my attempts at other types of basket weaving have not gone so well.
The first thing to do is cut a couple of yucca leaves! I took two to make this basket. It was really tiny. Like an Easter basket for a Barbie doll. If you want it to be bigger than that, you’ll need a lot more leaves. I didn’t want my yucca to be bald, so I stuck with a small project.
Be careful cutting yucca. There are sharp and some varieties have teeth on the edge of the leaves.
Scrape
You’ll need a couple of rocks for this. One should be large and flat, the other should be smaller and have a sharp edge, ideally. Scrape all the wet green stuff off the yucca leaf.
You are not pounding. I found this out the hard way. Scraping is a lot more effective. I tried rinsing out some of the green mush, and it worked OK, but it will dry just fine if you scrape it best you can.
Separate the fibers. There should be a few fibers to a strand.
Cord
Now you’ll need to create a cord out of the fibers. I was daunted by this part, thinking of Pa Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie cording straw until his hands bled by the fire all winter.
It’s not like that.
Cording was surprisingly easy, although a slow process. Basically, you have two strands of fibers. You give the bottom one a clockwise twist and then bring it counter-clockwise to the top and repeat, twisting in new strands as you get to the bottom of each.
If that makes no sense to you, try watching this video on yucca cording.
Coil
To make a coil basket, you need your cord and you also need a thicker strand to act as a base. Put your cord through a tapestry needle (or get really epic, and make a needle out of the point of the yucca leaf) and begin to wrap the thick strand with the cord.
Wrap it tightly until you have enough length to overlap in a small circle, then wrap over the overlap to secure the loop. From there, continue to wrap along the length of the thicker cord a dozen or so times, then insert the needle below the row under your current row to secure it.
Continue until you run out of cord. Now secure the end, tie off, and weave in ends.
For visual instructions, try watching this video on coil baskets.
You did it!
And that’s a wrap!
Get it? A wrap?
Anyway, I hope you have as much fun as I did making your own basket! If you’re the expert on this and have any advice on how to do this better, please leave a comment! I’m looking forward to learning more bushcraft skills as I do research for my novel. Stay tuned for more desert survival ideas!
When we lived in Michigan, I was a little traumatized by winter. I thought I knew what winter was like, but I was wrong. The worst part to me was that during the bad weather season, you had to drive for literally DAYS to get out of the cold! That’s one reason why I’m happy to be in Phoenix now– we do get a “bad weather” season in the summer when it gets up to 122 degrees F outside, but at least we only have to drive an hour and a half or so to get out of it!
We have two people in in our family with August birthdays – my sister and my husband – and my parents like to take us to the cool weather in Flagstaff to celebrate and escape the heat.
One of the things we always do, and have done in the summers since I can remember, is go to Lake Mary. We used to live right off Lake Mary Road when I was a kid, and I have many memories of heading out of town and into the pines toward the lake.
Where is Lake Mary?
Lake Mary is about 20 minutes south of downtown Flagstaff. Take Lake Mary Road south and east, and you’ll find it! There are some free parking areas along the road, but they fill quickly. You’ll have a better bet parking in the fee area, which is about $10 per car for the day.
Ben making cowboy coffee during a camping trip
What do to at Lake Mary
Bicyclists love this area. You’ll see huge flocks (packs? herds?) of bicyclists riding down the highway on weekends. It’s easy to see why they love this ride. When we go in July or August, there are always sunflowers blooming all around the lake.
We often camp above Lake Mary. Since it’s National Forest land, it’s free. There are also plenty of places to just pull off and set up tents.
Obviously, boating and all its cousin activities are perfect at Lake Mary. We don’t have a boat, but we do have an inflatable kayak that had lasted us many lake days. My parents and my sister also have some inflatable paddleboards, which is my favorite thing to do.
Fishing is OK in Lake Mary, too. You can get some bait at the shop up the road and shore fish or trawl. Fishing in Arizona is generally terrible, so if you’re from out of state, don’t expect to much. Arizonans will probably be pretty happy with a catch from Lake Mary.
Activities near Lake Mary
When you’re done with your lake day, there are plenty of things to do in the area. Downtown Flagstaff isn’t too far. You can go to catch one of the public weekend concerts, watch the train pass at the Flagstaff Visitor Center, or take a hike up Mount Humphreys. Buffalo Park is another great nature area to visit. Flagstaff Extreme Adventure is a fun activity, as well.
If you love to spend your getaways in nature, then Lake Mary is a great place to visit during your Flagstaff trip! Not only can you camp for free nearby, but you can enjoy the peace and beauty of the lake and make a quick trip into town for anything you might need.
Today marks the first day of the Tokyo Olympics! And that means the first year of Olympic surfing has begun. Woot woot! Surfing is probably my favorite sport, both to watch and to do. So I’m pretty stoked at the idea of seeing this become an Olympic sport.
Lest you think I’m some super cool surfing fiend, let me add a quick disclaimer: I am not great at surfing. Yes, I got up on my first try. Yes, I walked from my apartment to the beach with my board under my arm like a boss on the regular. Yes, I managed to figure it out on my own without a surf lesson. But as you can see in the photos, my board was the size of a tiny whale. And, as you will never, ever see in the embarrassing Go Pro videos Ben took, my form was less the stellar.
Yeah, maybe I should have taken those surf lessons…
Although Sint Maarten isn’t famous for its surfing, it does have some good surf spots, and we managed to find all the good ones (and a few very dangerous places, which I will not share. We are probably lucky to be alive). Here are some of our favorites!
Mullet Bay
Mullet Bay Beach was a five-minute walk from home. Yes, I know– we were living the dream. For real. Especially since I still haven’t found a beach I like better than Mullet, with its surfing, snorkeling, cliff-jumping, sunbathing, swimming, sailing, kayaking, skim boarding, and fishing opportunities. I definitely miss it, now that we live in the desert!
Surfing Mullet Bay is only good in the winter months, when the surf is choppy. Other times of the year, it’s smooth as glass– perfect for scoping out the parrotfish, cuttlefish, and blue tangs that live in the reef.
Surfing here makes me a little bit nervous because it’s close to the beach and tons of people way better than me pack together and compete for the same waves. If it was busy, I’d usually just look on and take photos. It’s a great place to watch, since you can see surfers close-up from the beach or the rocks.
Plum Bay Beach
Our favorite beach to surf is Plum Bay Beach in the lowlands on the French side. It’s popular but not too busy, meaning I had a chance at catching some waves most of the time, even if there were a couple of other people there. You do have to swim out a bit, and getting past the smaller breaks to the surfing-sized waves was tough with my bigger board. But the rides were pretty long, and the waves are just the right size for me!
Our friend Jake lived in the neighborhood next Plum Bay. Jake’s from Hawaii, and he’s incredible to watch. He helped us improve a lot. And may have kept me from crashing into rocks and dying a few times.
Le Galion
Le Galion in French Saint-Martin is by far the most popular surf spot in Saint Martin. Even though Hurricane Irma demolished the beach in 2017, the surf shop, SXM Surf Club, is still there. Actually, when we went back in 2019, it was the only business still there. Gone were the colorful umbrellas, burger shop, and paddleboard rentals. I don’t know if anything else has been rebuilt (comment if you know!), but just the surfing is worth a visit.
SXM Surf Club rents boards, offers affordable rides out to the break, and gives lessons. We never took a lesson, but the instructors were so nice and sometimes volunteered tips for free when we were out at the same time as them. I think if we go back, I might take a lesson for the fun of it! We did pay to ride the ferry out a few times, but usually we just gritted our teeth and made the 20-minute swim out on our own.
This spot is usually pretty busy, but it’s also huge, and people tend to be nicer about taking turns and letting slow newbies have a shot at the waves. Which is a really good for me. I only ever slammed into one person on a packed afternoon (oops). If you bring your own board when SXM surf club is not taking people out and opt to take the long swim, you’ll have more waves to yourself.
Guana Bay
Ben only surfed Guana Bay once with Matt and Jake, and I just watched. The waves break right on the beach, and it didn’t seem like a good day to break my neck. If you’re really good and have a smaller board, it looks like a fun place to go. I prefer the Guana Bay Hike on the other side of the hill– takes you right to gorgeous tide pools!
Petit Cayes
I’m not sure I’d necessarily recommend Petit Cayes for surfing, but Ben and Matt did go a couple of times. The concept is cool. You have to drive all the way up to the northern part of French Saint Martin, past Pinel Island, and park at Grandes Cayes. Then you hike around the mountain, with its stunning views of Tintamarre Island and beautiful geological features; crunch over thousands of washed-up coral skeletons; and find yourself on the most stunning, pristine white-sand beach you have ever laid eyes on.
Since few people make the long trek to Petit Cayes, it’s free of trash and crowds and feels like you just discovered a desert island. On the horizon, the thin line of Anguilla peers up from the waves. It’s a wonderful place just to sit and think.
The waves here were too big for swimming every time we went, so Ben and Matt decided to try to surf there. The reason I say I don’t recommend it is that the current is pretty strong and Ben felt like it might not be a great idea to make it a regular surf spot.
Cupecoy
Cupecoy is another beach that we could walk to. A few times, we walked there and I stayed up on the cliffs while Ben went down to surf. We also paddled there from Mullet once when the beach was busy– for fun, and to avoid having to walk through the nude beachgoers.
I think Cupecoy is really scary because the wave break right into a rocky outcropping. I didn’t feel confident in my ability to steer my orca-sized surfboard well enough to stay alive, so even when I went out, I preferred to sit behind the break and watch the sunset. After all, what’s better than watching the sun dip below the Caribbean Sea?
It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since I’ve been surfing! Ben went with SXM Surf Club when we visited the island in 2019, but not me. Next time we’re in Sint Maarten, I’ll definitely go! For now, I’ll be happy getting to watch the best of the best compete for gold in Tokyo. Go USA!
And now, for your entertainment, a sneaky photo of Ben walking into American University of the Caribbean with a surfboard so he could run straight to the beach after class:
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I travel. A lot. Not always for fun, sometimes we’re just moving—and we’ve moved 12 times in our seven-year marriage! But with the pandemic, we’ve really slowed it down. In fact, I haven’t been out of the country for over a year, and barely left the state. Still, I’ve been able to do some exploring right here in Phoenix! Although I’ve spent over 20 years of my life here, there’s still a lot I’ve never seen, especially when it comes to hiking trails.
A couple years ago, Ben got me a book called 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Phoenix for Christmas. It has been our goal to hit all 60 hikes—even if some of them CHEAT and are 75 miles out of town! Not surprisingly, the 15 hikes we’ve done have been mostly close to home.
One of my favorites so far is a hike that Ben and I did during his last day off: Shaw Butte. Although we lived ten minutes away from his hike for three years, we never did it. Now that we’ve moved across town, I can say it’s still worth the drive!
Shaw Butte is apparently one of the most popular hikes in Phoenix. While I was doing Camelback and Piestewa over and over, other outdoor enthusiasts were throwing Shaw Butte into the mix. It’s actually quite a bit easier than either of the other two, but it is a bit longer, at four miles.
My favorite part of this hike is that you get a completely different view of Phoenix. It lines up just right with Piestewa Peak and Dreamy Draw so that you get to see layers on layers of mountains—something that’s not common to find in the middle of urban sprawl!
My second-favorite part of the hike are the ruins three-quarters of the way to the summit. Although ancient ruins are definitely more interesting, the shell of this 1960s building is still pretty cool. Especially considering that what used to be a restaurant patio is now the ideal lookout spot for viewing downtown Phoenix (and snapping some shots for Insta, let’s be real).
The story behind the ruins is even better. Sixty years ago, a restaurant called Cloud Nine overlooked what was then the northern part of Phoenix. Patrons were shuttled to the fancy nightclub using the owner’s vehicle, since no real road was built and there’s only way up and down.
I have to imagine that Cloud Nine wasn’t exactly to code. Maybe that’s why it burned down in a mysterious fire. And unlike the mythical bird our city is named after, it never rose from the ashes.
If you’re like me, and were clueless about Shaw Butte, or if you’re just visiting Phoenix, put this hike on your to-do list! Not only is it a good workout and an excellent photo op, but it’s also a unique view into the history of Phoenix. If you stand very still, you may be able to imagine the ghosts of night club patrons milling around the patio with voice of Bobby Darin floating from the record player.
How does one write a travel blog during a pandemic? The question of travel bloggers everywhere. I guess I could have spent time catching up on dozens of past adventures that I *intended* to write about, but instead I’ve been working on other projects– namely, finishing my novel.
HOWEVER, now that things are starting to open, I have been able to get out and do some fun things in Northern Arizona, where it isn’t a hundred bazillion degrees outside.
You think I’m exaggerating, but seriously, once it hits 115 degrees, you can’t even tell when it gets hotter anymore.
The good thing about living in Phoenix is that I can escape bad weather with a two-hour drive. My parents treated my family to trips up north in August, TWICE. A glorious reprieve.
While in Flagstaff, I finally had the chance to try the Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course. There are actually two options for adults: The Zip Line and the Adult Adventure Course. I got to try both!
Zip Line
The Zip Line was so fun! This course offers dozens of zips, and one is so long you can’t even see the end through the trees. I love the feeling of being high up, so this was a lot of fun for me. If you’re nervous, though, never fear– you’re connected by two strong clips at all times.
My foster son, R, and I doing the Zip Line Course
Fun fact– this is the largest zip line course in the Western U.S.
Also– how many gnomes can you find hiding in the trees?
Adult Adventure Course
There are five levels to this course, and one guide told me (after I fearlessly leapt to a rope that swung me into a giant net) that only 25% of people actually finish all five. Can you do it?
My husband, Ben, and I. And yes, I chose that shirt on purpose.
The beginning of this course is really easy, aside from crawling through a hanging barrel. But it does get harder. And higher. There’s even some bouldering involved!
I liked the Adult Adventure Course best. It’s focused on challenge, rather than just fun. But both were a lot of great! Definitely something I’d do again.
COVID Precautions
The Flagstaff Extreme Adventure Course’s COVID precautions were appropriate. Everyone on staff wore a mask and the facility was clean. Guests were encouraged to social distance and avoid going in the building, except to use the restroom. We were allowed to take off our masks once we got in the trees, but each party had to stay on separate platforms. You will be touching things other people touched, but I wasn’t too worried about it since it was outside in the sunlight. I just didn’t touch my face and washed my hands after.
I totally recommend this! I was born in Flagstaff and lived there for several years. I’ve been to all the touristy things within two hours. This one is one of my favorites.
