Bearizona: A Drive-Through Wilderness

After soaking in the Grand Canyon’s epic scale, we swung down to Williams for the quirkiest wildlife stop ever—Bearizona. Picture a forested safari where the animals roam and you’re the one in a moving cage. The highlights:

• Long-horn mountain goats strolled past like dignified locals, horns curved and regal.
• A pack of arctic wolves—snow-white ghosts against the ponderosa pines—gave us a once-in-a-lifetime show. One trotted right up to the car ahead of us, amber eyes curious, then sauntered off as if he had bigger plans.
• Bison lounged in dusty clearings, tails flicking lazily.
• Deer played hide-and-seek—perfectly camouflaged in the bark-brown stripes of the pine trunks until a twitching ear gave them away.
• And, of course, bears. We timed it with the afternoon feeding, so rangers laid snacks along the roadway. Watching those hulking fur-balls amble over for dinner was equal parts adorable and spine-tingling.

If you ever wanted a live-action nature documentary with air-conditioning, Bearizona is it.

A Drive-By Glimpse of Flagstaff

Next up: Flagstaff. Compared with laid-back Williams, Flag feels like a mini-metropolis—university buzz, brick façades, and a skyline of pines back-dropping coffee shops and breweries. We didn’t get out this time (road-trip momentum, you know?), but the energy lining Route 66 was unmistakable. Mental note: come back for craft beer, Lowell Observatory stargazing, and maybe a hike up Humphreys Peak.

Spontaneous Sedona Detour

Heading south, a sign flashed SEDONA and—no surprise—we couldn’t resist. Even after countless visits, those rust-red buttes and juniper-scented breezes feel magnetic, almost mystical. We watched the rocks glow ember-orange in late-afternoon light, and soaked in the quiet hum of crystal shops and art galleries. Sedona is the kind of place where even a gas-station stop turns into a photo op.

Homeward Through Cottonwood

From Sedona we meandered down into Cottonwood, rolling vineyards and old-town charm sliding by the windows, before merging onto I-17 and aiming for home. Two hours later the Superstition Mountains greeted us like old friends over the Mesa horizon.

Gratitude for Close-to-Home Adventures

I keep marveling that all this diversity—high-desert canyons, alpine peaks, red-rock mesas, drive-through wolf encounters—sits just a few hours from my driveway in Mesa. Arizona never stops surprising me, and I’m determined to keep exploring every dusty highway and pine-scented backroad it offers.

Your turn! In your state, where’s your favorite place to sneak off to when wanderlust hits?

Eydie

Bearizona

Sedona