One of the highlights of Arizona are the scenic drives and the most recommended one in the Phoenix area is the Apache Trail. It should have been a simple task of heading east out of Phoenix from Apache Junction ... but it seemed to take us nearly two hours to navigate Scottsdale/Phoenix and get to the start of the trail ... and it was supposed to take that long to take the trail in one direction from Apache Junction to its finish at Roosevelt Dam. It was getting on lunch time and we hadn't even started the trail for good!

Once on the trail we twisted and climbed with hot barren scenery all around us. We were quickly at a very high elevation and looking down on a man made reservoir used for boating and tourism. We followed the road down to the edge of the reservoir and then over a couple of single lane bridges before stopped at Tortilla Flat (a couple of gift shops and a final restroom) where I delivered the news to Ailsa - the final stretch of the Apache Trail (significantly uphill from here to the dam) is covered on unsurfaced 'roads'. It was not her favourite surprise of the trip. However, having come this far, she was eager to give it a bash and see where it took us. After all, it's not our car to worry about.

No sooner had we started and we knew it probably wasn't the best idea. From what I'd read on the internet it was fairly well compacted dust/dirt. What I hadn't bargained for was how gruellingly bone-shaking it was. There were fancy soft top sports cars with expensive shiny rims giving up within the first mile or so ... and there was another 22 miles to the dam, before having to turn and come back. We did make it to the first summit though. We stopped there for lunch and decided it was best to call it a success to get this far and head back, especially when we overheard a conversation describing the rest of the trail and switchbacks as being 'treacherous'.

We headed straight for the Old Town on our return to Scottsdale in mid-afternoon. Ailsa was drawn in by many shop windows with shiny-shiny things, and I thought I'd distracted her by showing her to an authentic cowboy boot maker ... only for her to buy a pair of her own cowboy boots, strutting around the store like she was back in the old wild west itself.

For dinner we stayed in the Old Town and tried out the Pink Pony - a baseball themed steakhouse. And yes, we both chose it, not just me!

Ailsa can testify that the steak mignon was amazing, and I never knew ribs were supposed to taste like that! It was like tender lamb ... but ribs?!? I shouldn't leave out that the mashed potatoes were also fantastic (see Mum, I'm eating my veg too!).

We walked back to the car via some of the street misting again as it was still in the 90's. Shame we have to leave the heat behind tomorrow. Just as I could get used to Californian living, I'm sure I could get used to this heat in no time (it's only a dry heat!).