Native Desert Rat. That’s how someone would’ve described me years ago. “You were born here?” The term might still be in use, but I haven’t heard it lately. Although born in Phoenix, in southern Arizona, I never really felt “at home” in the desert. After marriage, we lived all over the place from Germany to California, and I enjoyed the greener areas. But now, back in Arizona, I’ve discovered the central desert…and I love it.
Me Hiking
Driving around this state, you can encounter barren desert like the Phoenix area, heavily foliaged areas with a wide variety of cacti and other desert plants, snow-topped mountains, awesome red rock landscape, green valleys, pine forests, and more.
Antelope
For several years, we lived on the golden plains just north of Prescott, Arizona. I set book two in my Love and Murder Series, Southwest of Love and Murder, in Chino Valley. There are grassy flatlands and rocky hills with plenty of wide blue skies. It’s where the antelope roam and ranches exist.
Phoebe, the heroine, leaves the city for a little R and R on the Meadowlark Ranch on the Chino Valley plains. Rancher Mason Meadowlark is more than happy to be the recreation part. But murder follows her.
Roosevelt Lake
Speaking of murder, it’s beautiful country, but not much water. My husband would’ve killed for a lake. Since he’s an avid fisherman, we migrated eastward a couple of years ago.
Apache Lake
Now, we live in the basin, only minutes from Roosevelt and Apache Lakes. It’s still the Sonoran Desert, the only desert where the Saguaro Cacti exist, but other native plants and trees are abundant. Springtime can be awe inspiring when everything blooms yellow, purple, orange, and hot pink.
Phoenix always seems to be the travelers’ destination when coming to Arizona for the first time. I’d advise you to head north on I17 out of the Valley of the Sun as Phoenix is called, take the Prescott exit, and explore. Then go east to Jerome, a ghost town in the Black Hills, then over to the red rocks of Sedona. After that go north to Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks. Don’t miss the Grand Canyon. As you head back south, come to Tonto Basin and the Roosevelt Dam. If you’re real brave, take the Apache Trail to Apache Lake. If you’re daring enough, you can drive the Apache Trail back to the valley and Phoenix. These suggestions will show you Arizona has much more to offer than sunbaked, barren landscape and a sprawling, big city.
Grand Canyon
Questions about where to go and what to see? Email me! brenda@brendawhiteside.com
Mystery writer Phoebe Anderson owes her success to killing her first husband on paper seventeen years earlier. Now someone has actually done it. When she decides to take a few days away on the ranch of her best friend’s brother-in-law, she doesn’t expect romance to find her...or murder to follow her.
Mason Meadowlark is happy with his wild cowboy ways, avoiding love since the death of his baby and the end of his marriage twenty years ago. When Phoebe shows up, he fights to control his emotions but soon wonders if she just might be worth the risk of opening his heart again.
With an obsessed fan close on her heels, Phoebe is thrown into her own murder mystery…and the next target on his list is Mason.
Stands Alone: Yes
Convinced she was born to be an artist, Brenda never took her love of writing seriously. And then one day, sometime after college, after marrying a man doing a stint in the army, and after the birth of her son, she found more satisfaction filling a blank page with words than an empty canvas with color. Brenda and her husband are gypsies at heart having lived in six states and two countries. Currently, they split their time between the prairie in Northern Arizona and the RV life. At home or in the RV, she spends most of her time writing stories of discovery and love entangled with suspense. Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com. Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/brendawhitesid2 She blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com She blogs about life’s latest adventure on her personal blog http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/
