Michele is like a sister to me and I love her dearly. When she got married in January, I was ecstatic -- not only was she getting married, but she was marrying Chris, an incredibly cool guy she met while both were attending Humboldt State University. Just about a month after getting married, Chris was offered a job in Scottsdale, Arizona -- an incredible opportunity for him. They moved out there not long after.

I took a trip out there for Spring Break to check on things and see how they were living. I'm happy to report that the couple is living QUITE well in an area that, before visiting, I had grossly underestimated. Scottsdale -- aside from being the Miami of the West Coast -- is a town on the grow. Mostly desert now, in a decade it will, no doubt, be a bustling suburb of Phoenix, if it isn't a metropolis in its own right.

Having only been there for a week, Michele hadn't the chance to explore the area on her own. While Chris was at work, Michele and I set out for the Superstition Mountains to be tourists. As you head up the road toward the Lost Dutchman Mine area, you come across an old mining town that has, for better or worse, become a local tourist trap. Naturally, we stopped.

We panned for gold, we bought killer spiced pistachios and I took a bunch of pictures of rocks. They were pretty rocks, though. Further down the road is another little tourist trap -- one that doesn't hide it all too well. It's a "town" called Tortilla Flat. Town is really stretching it, though, as it consists only of a restaurant, a gift shop, a general store and an old schoolhouse.

Perhaps the oddest part of Tortilla Flat is the creek. Most city planners, when building a road that intersects a waterway, decide to build a bridge. The folks in Tortilla Flat apparently decided a bridge was a waste and allowed the creek to gently flow over the road. A sign posted nearby says not to cross the road when it's flooded. As there is always water on the road, I'm wondering just how many people turn around when they reach it.

Travel Points:

• To get to Scottsdale from Southern California, take the 10 East to Phoenix. From there, take the 51 North until it ends on Shea Road. Hang a right and, boom, you're in Scottsdale. Scottsdale Rd. is the main drag and, if you take it south, you'll eventually reach Tuscon, then Tempe and Arizona State University. North of Scottsdale is the town of Carefree, which I'm told is an experience in itself (we had planned on going but the trip was called on account of rain). To Get to the Superstition Mountains, take Scottsdale Rd. South to the Superstition Highway. Take that East to a fork in the road. Veer left and you'll pass through the mining town and, eventually, Tortilla Flat. You should also come across Canyon Lake. Stop at the vista point and check out the view, you won't be sorry.
  
  
• If you've never been to Arizona, there's one thing you should know -- these people LOVE their cacti. Saguaros occur naturally all over the place and some folks grow them in their front yard like some people grow birch trees or magnolias.
  
  
• If you do decide to make the trip, do it in the winter or early spring. You'll be joining thousands of other "snowbirds", what the locals call folks escaping the inclement weather of states like Illinois, Minnesota or Colorado, but you'll also be avoiding the incredibly HOT summer weather that Arizona is famous for. But it is a dry heat.

Got a good travel idea for Rob? Want more information about one of these spots? Let Him Know!

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