I headed out west to Arizona for some work in September for the Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Training Center in Tucson and the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy in Phoenix. I decided to take a side trip to North Shore, CA to train with a friend while I was there. So since there weren't many California pics and I actually have photos from 3 states we'll just call this one the western US trip
Below are a few pics I took from the plane while flying over an area just east of El Paso, TX.
The flight wasn't too bad and I got to Tucson and got settled into the hotel. There was a restuarant within walking distance. The hotel didn't have good reviews but it was fine with me I don't know what they expected for $32 a night
Now pay attention to the mountain in the pic with the letter A on it. Later I'll be standing under that A taking pics off the city.
Some of these cactuses grow over 20 feet high and this one is supposed to be over 200 years old.
I hope you like looking at mountains because Arizona is full of them no matter where you look. Speaking of mountains remember that pic of the mountain with an A on it? Below are some pics of Tuscon I took while standing under that A.
Had 4 great days in Tucson and then headed up to Phoenix where I found a great Hotel called 3 Palms with a killer restaurant on site called Seven's Bistro. Here are some Phoenix pics
Teaching during the day and having a good time at night. When I asked what the favorite drink was of the town I was told it was called a "Moscow Mule." Pictured below it was a really good drink and wasn't to fruity though it had a hint of it there was no sweet and sour mix in this drink at all.
Great town and had a good time there. This was all actually in Scottsdale though the work was in Phoenix.
I hated to leave it but I needed to take that long drive over to North Shore, CA and the Salton Sea. I took a few pics from the car along the way.
Made it to North Shore in around 7 hours and went to bed shortly but woke up to a great view the next morning
Not too bad for a back yard huh?
While practicing machete throwing I managed to stick this one in the crotch of this dummy. Trust me the dummy had it coming. There was a group standing around and everyone saw it. I thought it was pretty cool.
After about a week came the long drive back to Tucson to catch the plane home. Passed through the desert again in Southern California and went back through Yuma, AZ taking a different route. Here are some more car pics on the way back to Tucson.
All in all a great trip with beautiful scenery and new friends as well as a few old ones. This will be a trip I will look forward to making for the next couple years and next year I'll be in northern Arizona as well which means a bunch of other great pics like the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and that corner in Winslow
