Desert daydreams
With spring just around the corner, now is the time to think about Arizona in bloom
Now that the holidays are in the past, it’s not too early to begin to look forward to spring, and springlike weather comes earlier to central Arizona than to other places.
At Schnepf Farms (schnepffarms.com) in Queen Creek, southeast of Phoenix, plans are underway for February’s monthlong Peach Blossom Festival, named by USA Today as one of the top blossom festivals in the country.
“It’s gorgeous,” Carrie Schnepf said. “It’s every weekend in February. The thing about it is we are the largest peach grower in Arizona, and we have six different varieties.”
Each one has its own distinct and delicate color and scent, she said.
“We have pinks and lighter pinks and white,” said Schnepf, whose husband, Mark, grew up on the farm and is a fourth-generation farmer. We have walking trails, and the farm has been designated an Arizona treasure, so Mark takes people out on a guided tour and hayride.”
The visit also includes a trip to the Farmhouse Museum, she said.
Agritourism is a popular diversion in the area, and the Queen Creek Olive Mill (queencreekolivemill.com) is one of the interesting destinations.
One of the big annual events coming up is Canada Week, which starts Saturday and runs through Jan. 22.
The event includes live music and fare from the north including traditional Canadian poutine, fried cheese curds, escarole salad, Quebecois meat pie, moules mariniere, maple pecan pie, beaver tails and butter tarts.
It is Arizona’s only working olive farm and mill, with a specialty of a boutique, handcrafted, extra-virgin olive oil using nine varieties of olives. The groves are relaxing places to stroll and savor the environment.
Savoring the environment is just what Fort McDowell Adventures (fortmcdowelladventures.com) delivers, but in a completely different way, spokesperson Aimee Brewbaker said.
Guests can take an exclusive tour of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Reservation, she said: via an all-terrain vehicle with the visitor behind the wheel, on horseback or even a two-wheeled, off-road Segway.
“All of the trails for tours are private trails, and we have some of the best trails,” Brewbaker said. The ATVs “everybody gets to drive so you can get down and dirty. The horseback rides take you down by the Verde River, and it’s one of the only trail rides in the greater Phoenix area that cross the river. And the Segways are just a lot of fun up and down the hills, around the cacti. It’s a blast.”
Nestled among stands of majestic saguaro cactus, with no development, the area is also a prime spot for bald eagle nesting, with the season running from January through June.
“It’s just beautiful and serene,” she said.
The Desert Belle (desertbelle.com) offers cruises on Saguaro Lake in the Tonto National Forest.
Raptors circling for their next meal, cliff-hanging desert canyons and a variety of cacti make the trip a photographers’ smorgasbord.
Tour members have been known to see wildlife such as mountain lions, bobcats, ringtailed cats, bighorn sheep and javelinas, all searching for prey.
Soft-shelled tortoises and a live Gila monster are among the wildlife at the Arizona Museum of Natural History (arizonamuseumofnaturalhistory.org).
The museum houses a three-story indoor mountain, down which a flash flood flows. Among the displays are the Lost Dutchman Mine, a famed piece of Arizona lore in the nearby Superstition Mountains, and a territorial jail.
There’s even an area to do some real gold-panning.
Originally built by the Works Progress Administration in 1937 to house Mesa’s municipal courts, city library, police and fire departments, it has been expanded numerous times and covers 80,000 square feet with about 60,000 objects of natural history, anthropology, history and art and 10,000 historic photographs.