lovetripper.com: honeymoon travel

 

 

Subscribe to Our Newsletters!
email



Your email address will never be shared!
Site Features
Home
Site Map
Search Lovetripper
Search the Romantic Travel Advertising Directory
Subscribe to our newsletter & RSS feeds
Romantic travel news, packages
Where to Honeymoon
How to plan a honeymoon
USA
Caribbean
Canada
Mexico, Latin America
Europe
Africa, Middle East
South Pacific, Asia, Australia
Destination Weddings

How to elope
Marriage regulations around the world
Theme Weddings
Castle Venues
Celebrity Destination Weddings & Honeymoons
"I Do" Hotspots:
Caribbean
Mexico
Vegas
Gatlinburg

Romantic Travel
Resort & romantic destination photo galleries
Romantic travel stages: from dating to proposing to vow renewals
All-inclusive resorts
Cruises
Spas
B&Bs, Inns
Couples resorts
The honeymoon spirit at home: movies, music & more

Become a Wedding Planner


Tom & Katie did it...find out how you can marry in a castle (for a lot less)!
The Castle Wedding Planner
(ebook)

The Destination Wedding Workbook

 

 

 

Melding words with art as travel writer Norm Goldman and his
artist wife, Lily Goldman, seek out unique romantic destinations
click here for more "A Brush with Romance" articles

Phoenix, Arizona--A Romantic Getaway
by Norm Goldman
Artwork by Lily Azerad-Goldman

Driving from the airport to Phoenix, we knew we were experiencing a city that was very much unlike many of the major metropolises in the USA or Canada.

Our first clue was that everything seemed new to us, even the expressways with their unique architecture paying tribute to the city's Native American heritage.

What was most impressive was its unique towering desert mountain skyline that was not hidden by huge skyscrapers. Yes, there were a few tall buildings around, however, nothing to compare to those of New York, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto or Montreal.

And these were not obstructing the magnificent views of Squaw Peak, Camelback Mountain, the bulky South Mountains, or the McDowells.

Nicknamed the "Valley of the Sun," and blessed with over 300 days of sunshine, Phoenix is set within a flat valley at an elevation of roughly 1,100 feet. With its unusual cacti, desert colors of reds, tans and brown, pink bougainvillea vines and greens, brown grove date palms, spiky yuccas, and glorious sunsets on its mountains, it can probably boast of being one of the finest natural settings of any in the USA.

For hundreds of years, prior to its incorporation as a city in 1881, a very well civilized and resourceful community known as the Hohokam, lived in the area between 700 A.D. and 1400 A.D. They tamed the Salt River and built an irrigation system that consisted of some 135 miles of canals thus creating a fertile land where they would grow beans, corn, squash and cotton.Their name means "the people who have gone." Apparently, they had disappeared without a trace.

In the mid-1800s, one of the first white settlers to arrive on the scene was John Y. T. Smith. One day Smith invited his friend, Jack Swilling of Wickenburg, to visit him at his hay camp. I guess Swilling was impressed with what he had discovered- an area that was predominately devoid of rocks and where heavy frost or snow would not interfere with the vegetation. He probably also noticed the miles of abandoned irrigation ditches stretching across the valley. He thought to himself, why not bring water once again to the area? With a capitalization of $10, 0000 he formed the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company in 1868. No doubt, he reaped the benefits of the ancient Hohokam canals diverting once again some of the water of the Salt River onto the land of the valley.

It was not too long thereafter that an Englishman, Darrell Dupa, gave Phoenix its name. Just as the mythological Egyptian bird rose to life again from the ashes of its own funeral pyre, so did the new city rise from the ashes of the Hohokam culture, and Phoenix was off and running.

continued:

page 2 Romantic Dining in Phoenix: Wright's
page 3 The Legacy Golf Resort--A Romantic Tribute to the Past
page 4 Phoenix Area Attractions, Links, For More Information

Related pages: Romantic Arizona: articles, how to get married in Arizona, and more

This Week's Bestsellers on Lovetripper.com:
  1. Personalized Romance Novels starring you!
  2. The Destination Wedding Workbook
  3. 50 Secrets to Blissful Relationships
  4. 300 Creative Dates
  5. 500 Lovemaking Tips

 

Lovetripper.com Romantic Travel Magazine
| Webmasters: Syndicated Column | Affiliate Program | Advertising |
| Press Room | About Lovetripper, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer| Contact Us |

Visit our other travel sites
copyright 2000-2008 Lovetripper.com

 


All rights Reserved
No portion of this site may be reproduced in
any way without written permission from Lovetripper.com.