The Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and magnificent mineral deposits make this part of Arizona a rare treat. We found free RV dry camping on the south side of the park at the Crystal Forest Museum that gave us easy access to the park and didn’t cost a penny.
Walking among ancient trees from the dinosaur times is a unique experience. To imagine the ancient swamps, rivers, and colossal dinosaurs shared space with these trees is so fun. Now days it’s all desert, dry and hot desert, but the sweeping vistas and flowing colors is well worth the drive.
We’re RV’ing in southern Arizona visiting Patagonia in search of hummingbirds at the Paton House and taking a day trip to Tombstone searching for epic gunfights and sarsaparilla!
Patagonia is known for having over 14 different variety of hummingbirds migrate through each year, and we love hummingbirds! So, I knew this had to be a stop along our South West travels. We explored the quaint town of Patagonia, and really enjoyed the different climate. After traveling through the desert for weeks we were really excited to see trees! Sadly, it wasn’t quite hummingbird season yet so we only saw a few hummingbirds, but the hike and other birds were enjoyable.
After Patagonia we took a day trip to the old west town of Tombstone to try to catch a gun fight. It’s a neat old town, and 100% tourist trap, so expect to pay for just about everything. They were supposed to have a special gunfight on the street, but sadly, we missed that by an hour and showed up for the fashion show instead! And to top things off all the ice cream shops close by 4pm. We did manage to get some sarsaparilla to enjoy though.
Our favorite RV friendly campground so far is in Mesa, Arizona! Plus we discover dinosaurs and the worlds largest pipe organ at a pizza shop!
We took a slight detour into Mesa to visit some friends, because friends are always worth a detour, and while there we went exploring.
First off, the Usery Mountain Recreation Area is our favorite campground so far. Lots of big sites to fit all size RV’s, lots of space between the sites, nature trails galore, and don’t get me going about the bathrooms and showers. Oh, those showers! Luxurious hot water!
We took an afternoon to explore the Arizona Natural History museum and weren’t disappointed. We expected it to be a lot smaller than it was, but it kept going and going. This is a great museum and we could have spend all day exploring and learning.
After the museum we were hungry and happened to co e across the Organ Stop Pizza restaurant. Oh my goodness! They have the worlds largest Wurlitzer pipe organ and they play show tunes throughout your meal. This was a really fun place to eat, it’s loud, it’s casual, and oh so entertaining. We had a blast!
