Enjoying spring anywhere: 3 simple ways

Cottonwood Playground

I know there are some places where people are still waiting for spring. Here in Phoenix, our spring is drawing to a close as temperatures keep creeping up, and we are savoring it while it lasts.

I made this list of simple ways we enjoy the season that you can adapt to wherever you are, whenever it arrives.

Creosote in bloom at South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ.

1. Take a hike and look for signs of spring. We like exploring trails at South Mountain – there are tons of them! As the wildflowers fade, the cactus starts to bloom, so there should be plenty of color in the Sonoran desert throughout the month of April.

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2. Go on a Picnic. Lots of parks have tables just waiting for you. We noticed a large picnic area at Estrella Mountain Regional Park. There’s also a great day-use area at Dead Horse Ranch State Park (I know! Terrible name but great camping and huge day-use area.) in Cottonwood, if you’re up for a drive – which brings us to #3…

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3. Take a drive (or bike ride) and see what you discover. We’re big fans of taking the side streets just to see where we end up.

What do you do to enjoy spring weather?

Southwest Maker Fest wrap up

 Southwest Maker Fest

So Southwest Maker Fest turned out to be eclectic and awesome. They had a street (or maybe it was two) in downtown Mesa blocked off for a live music stage and a whole variety of booths. In a matter of minutes, you could stroll by an open-source car, handmade flutes, geeks with 3D printers running, and an overalled man showing people how to weld.

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There were presentations and demonstrations going on throughout the day at nearby venues. I gave my travel journal talk at an art gallery/event space.

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Afterwards, I went to help out at the Gangplank booth for a bit. (Yep, I was one of the geeks at one of the 3D-printer-equipped booths.) I did my best to answer people’s questions about the collaborative workspace – but there’s really more going on there than I can keep up with.

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By the time I was done there, I was so tired and hungry. Phillip and I took a quick tour of the booths on our way out, but we weren’t able to engage as much as we would’ve liked.

I’ll have to learn to weld another day.

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All in all, it was a good start for Southwest Maker Fest and great to see a sampling of Phoenix’s diverse maker community come out of the woodwork and get together. I’m looking forward to the next event.

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If you weren’t able to be there this year, you can get on the list to be notified about next year’s event. I’ll also be presenting about travel journals again at Craft Hack in May (watch the Facebook page or sign up for the Travelcraft Journal newsletter for details).

Photo of my talk by Trish Gillam.

Postcards from Travelcraft Journal

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I know you’re really busy. And you probably don’t have time to read every Travelcraft Journal post.

So I thought I’d help you out and make a monthly summary of the highlights, plus some extra goodies that you’ll see there first. We’ll call it a newsletter. But really it’ll be more like a collection of little postcards.

The first one will include Travel Expo tickets and travel scrapbooking checklists. And it’s coming out this week!

So get in on the ground floor and sign up here…


Why Arizona? Because of March. Basically.

March is the reason people live in Arizona. Not the only reason. But it represents a pretty big one, because it tends to come with the kind of gorgeous weather we dream of during the inevitably scorching Phoenix summers.

Of course, I would write that sentence on the day we get a fluke spring dust storm. (We don’t really expect those until July or August.) But still. It was an hour or so blip in the middle of some really nice days.

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March also brings wildflowers. Some years more than others, but if we’ve had any rain at all, the desert gets more colorful.

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Because the weather is so good, things get busy. People come to visit. Events get scheduled. (Lots and lots of events. They were basically stacked on top of each other this past weekend.) Before you know it, you’re in some convention hall or shopping center or crowded restaurant wondering what you’re doing there and if you’ve missed all the nice weather. Or (in my case), you’re sitting outside writing a post about wildflowers and wondering if they’ve already finished their brief annual appearance.

So Monday I texted Phillip that I wanted to see if there were still wildflowers on South Mountain and should I pick him up after work to go check it out. He was up for it, so we slipped into the park just before they closed the entrance gate and hiked until we ran out of light for photos.

Creosote in bloom at South Mountain.

I’m happy to report that it’s not too late to spot some wildflowers in the desert.

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Also, the creosote bushes are yellow and fragrant, and hedgehog cactus is starting to bloom.

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If you’re here in Phoenix and you possibly can, get out this week – even for an hour – and soak it all in. And if you live somewhere else, you might consider visiting next March.

It’s a beautiful time to find a reason to be here or to remember the reasons you already are.

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For Your (Wildflower-Hunting) Information: I took all of these photos (except the top one of clouds after the dust storm) on 3/24/14 at South Mountain Park.

Maker Fest, BlogHer + blog news

Like I said, I have things to tell you guys!

Let’s start with things that have dates (especially the one coming up tomorrow) and move on to blog updates. Sound good? (No? Then just read in whatever order you want.)

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1. Southwest Maker Fest

Tomorrow is the first-ever Southwest Maker Fest! It’s a free one-day event in downtown Mesa with singing robots, quilts, and possibly a collaborative welding project. (I know! Intriguing yet terrifying! You should definitely go.) I’ll be doing a workshop on making travel journals at noon at OneOhOne gallery. (Full program.)

I’m told the Maker Fest will have lots of kid-friendly stuff – as well as dangerous stuff, which kids also like. spark! Mesa’s Festival of Creativity will be going on at the Mesa Arts Center through Sunday, and it’s also free, so you can stop over there too.

 

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2. BlogHer

Coming up this summer, I’ll be speaking at BlogHer. The conference I spoke at in October was BlogHer Pro, which is for people using their blogs for business. This one is the big conference – for all the bloggers. So…maybe even more terrifying than collaborative welding. (Saying yes often is.) But I’m in a break out session, so I keep telling myself there won’t be more people in the room than at Pro. Probably.

Me with my BlogHer Pro speaker badge

3. About Abouts

Also, I updated the About page, so now there are separate pages for About Travelcraft Journal and About Me. The About Me page is probably more information than you ever cared to know, but I needed somewhere to put all that. I’m finding myself in more and more situations where my graphic design business (Bold Avenue) and this blog (Travelcraft Journal – or TCJ for you insiders) are both relevant, so I needed a place to talk about different aspects of what I do and explain the connection. I might change this up later as I continue to spruce things up around here (it’s like blog spring cleaning!), but, for now, that’s what’s happening.

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4. Comments welcome!

I realized a plugin I was using to include social media comments was requiring a login and making it a pain to post a comment here. Sorry about that. That barrier is removed now, so comment away! (I mean, be respectful to others and not spammy. Other than that, comment away!)

OK, so that’s way more about me in one day than I’m comfortable with. What about you? Now that commenting is easier, tell me something you’re up to. Also, I’m working on an FAQ page, so let me know if you have any Qs.

 

Southwest Maker Fest logo via Southwest Maker Fest. (Surprise.)