When I heard we were taking a trip along the Apache Trail and riding the Dolly Steamboat, I got excited.
I thought we would be cruising along inside a steamboat, and there would be air conditioning.
It was early morning, but it was still over 80 degrees when we got into the van at 6:30 AM. We traveled along the Apache Trail Scenic Drive Venture and headed east of the valley. We were spoon deep into the Sonoran Desert. It was fun to stop at Tortilla Flat where we got to eat lunch. Tortilla Flat is a small town of six people and was a stagecoach stop in Arizona. Once we boarded the Dolly Steamboat, we took a cruise around Canyon Lake. They told us to watch for eagles and long horn sheep, but I didn’t see any. I figured it was too hot for the animals to be out. I guessed they were smarter than I was, because it was now 105 degrees and it hadn’t peaked for the day. We got to see some incredible views when the cruise took us into the Sonora Desert.I heard the narrator talk about the Lost Dutchman State Park, but I was too busy looking for sheep and eagles, and didn’t catch what he was saying. When they said we were going to take a ten minute walk into the desert to have some desert plants pointed out, I was done. All I wanted was to find someplace where I could sit back and relax and forget about how hot it was, and how barren this area appeared. I just wanted to go home, and my friend agreed.