Moon rise: I love this photo because it depicts the simple beauty of the southern Arizona desert.
Today we left the Phoenix area and headed for southern Arizona, but first we had two important stops: the Fox TV station and Best Western headquarters.
Here's a rundown of our day...
Budget
- Breakfast: Free at the hotel
- Lunch at Oregano's in Phoenix: $27.43
- Kartchner Caverns tours, 1 adult, 2 kids: $48.85
- Dinner at Mi Casa in Benson: $33.45
- Best Western : $101
Day's total: $210.73
Trip total: $738.18 (Yay! We're back on budget. On a budget of $250 a day, we should be at $750.)
1) Fox 10
Our morning started with a family travel segment on Fox 10-TV, Phoeniz. I offered up ideas for summer destinations, from a beach vacation in Santa Barbara, Calif., to a Montana road trip.
Watch the segment here.
2) Best Western Hotels HQ
For the past three years, I’ve helped spread the word about family travel for Best Western Hotels. My family has stayed at BeWes, as we like to call them, all over the country. And so today as we drove through the gates into the headquarters we were excited.
The offices are housed in a building that’s inspired by the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village in Sedona, a cluster of white-washed Spanish-style buildings surrounded by courtyards with bubbling fountains. And it's probably no coincidence that Tlaquepaque means "the best of everything." The lobby looks like a hotel and we learned that camera crews have set up here to shoot Best Western advertisements.
Best Western has it’s own interior design department and hotel owners can work with a decorator to decide on colors and fabrics for their properties. We stepped inside their fabric swatch room and my daughter decided that she wants to be an interior designer for hotels.
3) Oregano’s Pizza Bistro
I was desperately craving a green salad for lunch and not just a measly side salad—but a big pile of lettuce. My pregnant mind wasn't going to stand for anything else. Thankfully, Oreganos, a small Phoenix-area chain offering casual affordable dining and an Italian-inspired menu, had exactly what I wanted. I ordered the Pablo Picasso salad, and being pregnant and craving all things green, I was happy to be served a huge bowl of lettuce lightly dressed in a spicy chipolte ranch and mixed with warm grilled chicken and poblano peppers.
The kids meal includes cheese pizza for $2.99 and drink of your choice.
4) I-10 South, from Phoenix to Benson
As we drove out of Phoenix the strip malls and big-box stores quickly dwindled and the lush green lawns turned to a dusty, brown landscape dotted with sagebrush and saguaro cactus, their prickly arms reaching for the sky. In the distance jagged mountain ranges climbed abruptly from the parched dessert floor into a perfectly blue sky. Any of the views I took in through the car window could serve as a backdrop in a Western.
We flew by several places that would have been worth a stop: an Ostrich Farm, Picacho State Park, Pima Air & Space Museum. My son was intrigued by a massive parking lot filled with airplanes—a National Air Guard Training Facility. But there was no time to stop. We were on a mission to get to Kartcher Caves by 4 p.m. for a tour. Instead I just took a few photos of the scenery from the car.
We’ll stop at these places at the end of the trip when we’re driving back to Phoenix.
5) Kartchner Caverns State Park
We often feel like everything in the world has been discovered. There’s no creature that hasn’t been seen, no flower that hasn’t been smelled, no plot of land that hasn’t been stepped on by a human foot. A visit to Kartchner Caverns, one of the world’s most spectacular living caves 45 minutes south of Tucson, will convince you otherwise.
The cave was first discovered in 1974 by two college-age avid spelunckers. Randy and Gary had grown up in the Arizona dessert and been looking for caves since they were children. Together they made it a life-long goal to turn Kartchner into a state park and preserve it forever for the public to enjoy.
The cave was kept secret for many years as Randy, Garry, the Kartchner family who owned the land, Arizona State Parks and politicians fought hard to protect the caverns.
The cave tells a story of discovery and adventure and it also teaches an important story of stewardship. Gary and Randy were steadfast in their effort to preserve this gift from Mother Nature. And the State Parks does an impressive job of making sure that visitors respect the space. If you touch a rock by accident you’re to tell your guide so she can mark it and alert cave patrol who will immediately clean the marred area. If the rock isn’t clean, a block mold will develop over night and cleaning that up requires a solution that does irreparable damage.
The inside of the cave is about 70 degrees as caves take on the average temperature of the outside environment, but the air is thick with humidity.
Stepping inside the cave is like entering an otherworldly landscape that's hard to describe—it's a world of drip wax candles, a planet in a sci-fi movie, something out of a Dr. Seuss novel. The colors are pale yet rich: butterscotch, chalky milk, creamy asparagus soup.
In many of the formations you see things like bacon, a crumbling Italian village, a schmear of cream cheese. My son points out a monster and indeed there’s Sulley from Pixar’s Monsters Inc. We could spend hours using our imaginations but we must go on to the Throne room where Kubla Kahn stands 58 feet tall. We sit in an amphitheater and watch a light show synchronized with music.
I love what our guide Natalie says when we leave the cave.
“Gary always says, ‘It took a day to discover the cave. Years to develop it. And it'll take forever to preserve it."
6) Mi Casa Restaurant, Benson
A ranger at Kratchner Caverns recommended Mi Casa for dinner. "It's tiny," she said. "About nine tables."
And she was right. This Mexican eatery is so small that we drove by it five times before we could find it. From the outside, it's just a yellow shack with a dirt lot, hurricane fence, and a random tether ball out front. A chihuahua was sniffing around in the dirt outside.
We approached the door with trepidation.
"We could just eat at Subway," I said, although our family has a hard-and-fast rule to avoid major fast-food chains.
But when we opened the door, our nervousness eased and we walked into a warmly lit room filled with the chatter of the people packed into this cozy abode. All of the walls were each painted a different color and this place exuded warmth and cheer. We were greeted by Andy, who happened to be the owner, and the only guy waiting on tables that night. Every table was full except one.
Andy's wife is from La Paz and she does all the cooking. She has created one of those menus where everything sounds delicious. Should I order the Pinata salad with spinach and pine nuts? Grilled shrimp tacos? Enchiladas with a chile verde sauce?
My husband and I decided on the tacos and enchiladas. The food was beautifully presented, colorful delicious and fresh.
I later checked TripAdvisor to see if the restaurant is included in its listing. Of course, Mi Casa is the number-rated restaurant in Benson. If you're anywhere near Benson, it's worth a stop for lunch or dinner.
7) Best Western Quail Hollow Inn, Benson
What did we love most about this hotel? The views of the moon rise from the parking lot. We're all falling in love with the southern Arizona landscape.
With complimentary breakfast, a pretty swimming pool and clean, comfortable rooms, the Quail Inn is a great place for travelers visiting Kartchner Caverns to bed down.
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