What Makes Phoenix One of America’s Most Unique Desert Cities?

Downtown Phoenix at the Westin, part of the Marriott Bomboy. I actually used my points to book this one and here we are. We got some construction going on. This is the side that faces West Phoenix. Downtown Phoenix and we're going to explore across here and Tempe. Here we are in front of the Hotel San Carlos. There goes the light rail right there. I think you could take that all the way to Tempe. We are in Central and Monroe. That's where the Hotel San Carlos is. The old, famous, original hotels here. There's the Westward Ho, way down there. And if we keep going over here, you can see the Hyatt Regency. The tower there is the Hyatt Regency. All right, so we'll keep cruising around here in Downtown Phoenix. You could say late May, middle of May actually. It's probably around 95 degrees, pushing 100. Down here it can get up to 110, 115 in June and July, even August. So I would say this is actually nice weather for downtown. Now bear in mind, even though it is hot like that, there is low humidity. So don't get too upset hearing it's 95 because it's actually fairly nice. Even a mild breeze in these tall buildings do help block out some of the sun. It's about 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Lots of construction going on down here though, as you can see. Now we are on, I believe, Jefferson. Is this not Jefferson? Is this Washington? Let's keep cruising. So what is it they're building? They're building something right here on Washington and Central. So they're redoing Central. Well, I see they're adding on the light rail tracks. Over here is where the Phoenix Suns play. So we'll go walk around Jefferson here. So Washington goes west. So you drive Washington west and then you drive Jefferson towards the east. It's an east mountain lane. Lots of one-lane roads over here. But you've got the Footprint Center, formerly known as Talking Stick Arena, and then formerly known as, before that, America West Arena. Downrange there you got Chase Field, which is where the D-backs play. All right, nice prize market. Yeah, on like a game day when the D-backs or the Suns are playing, this whole area is filled with people. Especially during the playoffs. So what do you guys say we go check out the light rail and ride it somewhere around town, maybe all the way to Tempe? Let's do it. Looks like we've got a tram stop here that will take us somewhere. Tempe is a nice area. So if we can end up over there, that'll be interesting. I wonder how long it'll take. Let me back it up then. Okay, so it's hard to see this. They're usually not like this. And so it's your local Full Fair. They have reduced over here, but that's for older people and people with disabilities. So local Full Fair. This one, All Day Pass is right here. If you just want a one ride, you push the first one. All right. And then a one pass, and you want to activate it right now, right? Yep. Okay, and you want debit or credit or cash? I'll use a debit. Okay, and then debit is the one on the right here. And then, now let me help you with this process because... There's the prices, right? Yeah. Four dollars is what I'm... Okay, that's not a bad price for all day. All right, so this will go all the way to 3rd Avenue and Mill, which is the main area in Tempe. And the tram goes every 20 minutes, basically. So we're just kind of chilling out, waiting here. So let's see what happens. Next ride, 1244. There goes the light rail. Airport here. And that took about 30 minutes to get to Mill Avenue and 3rd Street. All the stations here. Oh, sorry about that. Go ahead. So this is where the college is. University, or Arizona State University. All right, so here we have 4th Street. The tram station is on 3rd Street. There's also the Tempe Town Lake, which we can go over to. We got a Westin over here, also. Let's explore Tempe. Yeah, and just across the street from the Mill, here on Mill Avenue, they have the Tempe Tourism Office. You can go in here and get lots of information. They even give away a water. And they have lots of information and friendly people. How's the air conditioner in here? Yeah, and look at this. They've got the Arizona Bucket List Adventures right here. And the Arizona Visitor Information. Tempetourism.com, right there. So check it out online before you come. All right, from Tempe Tourism, now we are headed out. Thanks to the very, very friendly people inside there. They gave me two waters, and just very friendly. So, yeah, lots of information. You can do tours to Sedona. You can do tours to the Grand Canyon from here. You just find the tour company. They have these shuttles or buses that do those. So you don't even have to worry about driving or anything. So there's the old mill. Hence why they call it Mill Avenue. I think it was Wheat. But right behind it is a mountain. It's got the Arizona State A. That's why they call it A Mountain. Also Hayden Butte. And this area right here, Rio Salado, Mill Avenue. Big bridge right here. This area is very popular with college students. And we are at Tempe Beach Park. So I wanted to give a little bit more review on the tram. Yes, you can ride it. But do I recommend you ride it? I don't know. It's probably better to just take the Uber. So just because I rode it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to sit here and say that it's the best way to get from downtown Phoenix to downtown Tempe. It does cost $4 for the all-day pass. But it's probably better to just ride the Uber. It took about 25 minutes. So it doesn't take that long. Tempe Town Lake. It's about 100 degrees now. And here's a look at that Tempe Skyline Bridge here. This is the Mill Avenue Bridge. That you saw those dots going over the Rio Salado Lake, which is actually water from the Salt River. This is Boat Rentals of America, Tempe. In the wintertime or in the spring, people come down here and rent one of those paddle boats or any boat and just kind of cruise around the waterfront here. You can actually walk across to the other side. I believe on the other bridge there. Don't think you can walk across the bridge there. Okay, I also got these interesting bike contraptions. It's a four-seater. That is cool. And yes, very close to Sky Harbor Airport. People do fish in here. I did just see a little school of fish, little minnows. I don't know exactly what kind of fish in there. I'd imagine at least sunfish because I have found a lot of sunfish in the Salt River before. This little area we're walking around here is Hayden Ferry Lakeside. It's a lot of corporate infrastructure here and a couple restaurants, but mostly just corporate commercial area. Got a little gym it looks like right here. All right, we are back on Mill. And 4th Street at the clock tower. So we'll keep walking down here and see what's open. At least they finished the light rail tracks through Mill. So no more construction like that. This is definitely one of the more lush parts of Phoenix. You can actually see green trees down here. It's evergreens. I don't know what kind of tree they are. Are they a Chinese elm maybe? We stopped in to get a beer here. The restaurant's name is Fuzzy's. This is actually where the zoo is on Galvin Parkway, which is that area right over there. But we're not going to go over towards the zoo. I'm going to show you this area around Papago. They also have a cool hike, a short one. It will take you to the hole in the rock. And you can see there's like a pyramid up there. That's actually a tomb for the first governor of Arizona. If you wanted to go over there, they have a lake also. But the reason I'm showing you this side, there's actually a golf course over here. And there's some mountains. I'm not really going to do too much hiking in terms of going all the way up to the mountain. But I did want to show you this because a lot of people come to Arizona and ask about hiking. So I'm going to just show you this area here. There's the pricing and the zoo hours. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Really nice zoo. And here's a great look at the actual pond here at Papago. It's right next to the zoo. There's the tomb. And you can see the hole in the rock. And this here is just a popular place for people to come, exercise, hang out, do some thinking. That old structure made of stone. So another thing to do in Phoenix is actually go to the casinos. Let's go inside one of these casinos right here. Frank Luke Jr. Isn't that who the Luke Air Force Base is named after? There's the Arizona State Senate, the Capitol Building, and the House of Representatives. And here's just a quick view from the Point Hilton at Tapatio Cliffs. And out here at Westgate in Glendale, this is actually where they're going to play the Super Bowl, where the Cardinals Stadium is. Hockey, Cardinals, football, also the Fiesta Bowl. And you have nice outdoor seating, bars, lounges right here in Westgate. And casinos. This here is a look at Desert Diamond Casino right here in Glendale. Sunset. And this is just walking around the Arizona Center right here in downtown. And this restaurant here is called Carcara Restaurant. Well, that's actually the name of this drink here. It's a short rib. All right, and it's the next day. We're out here at the Phoenix Botanical Garden. So there's a great example of a... You know, what I really love about this botanical garden is you get a feel for the beauty of the nature out here in the Sonoran Desert. All right, guys. That's going to conclude this episode of Island Hopper TV from Phoenix, Arizona. This here is a look at the Phoenix Open, a big golf event. Lots of golf in Phoenix.