Chandler and the San Macro Hotel (Sunday, July 1st, 2018)

When we woke up this morning, we wanted to check out the upstairs of the original hotel (the one that is supposedly haunted).  And as we strolled over, we took a few pictures of the hotel grounds.

This hotel was originally built by Dr. Alexander John "AJ" Chandler in 1912, he was also the founder of the city of Chandler, AZ.  This was his first coupe, a 1925 Dodge Brother's Coupe, which is now on display in the lobby of the hotel.

After a brief stop in the lobby, we headed up the stairs to check out the original rooms, and hopefully some ghosts.

Outside the theater.

As hard as we tried, we weren't able to find any ghosts.  Maybe they have all moved over to the speakeasy where it's much more lively (see my post from yesterday)!

We decided to take the long way home to see some country we haven't seen before. 

We stopped at a rest area just outside of Wickenburg in the Hassayampa wetlands where we had our lunch, left over San Antonio mac and cheese from last night.  The bbq flavor had mellowed over night, and the mac and cheese was much better today.

As we were enjoying our lunch at a picnic table, we were joined by this friendly lizard.  Maybe he likes mac and cheese too!

And this beautiful red bird kept flying around us.  He was gorgeous!

When we got home, we looked him up, and he is a Vermilion Fly Catcher.

When we finished our lunch, we continued on and decided to stop at a new community just north of Wickenburg, AZ called Wickenburg Ranch.  It is an active all ages planned community that we hear a lot about on the radio.

As we were waiting for a real estate agent, we enjoyed the views of the golf course.  According to the agent, it is the fourth best rated course in the US.

We enjoyed a full two hour tour of the grounds and a few houses in the community.  It is very beautiful and well thought out, and the houses are great, but it is in the middle of nowhere.  I don't think it would ever work for Steve and I.  

As we continued north on highway 93 (the Scenic Joshua Forest Road), we drove in to the most incredible Joshua Tree forest.  There were Joshua Trees everywhere.

It was a fun, scenic route home, and only added about four minutes to our drive.  So glad we took the opportunity to explore some new things in Chandler and on the 93 north.  It's always fun to see something new!