(OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS’ FAVORITE PLACES TO EAT) APRIL 2013 Best Restaurants 2013 ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE LAKE POWELL A Portfolio by Gary Ladd — OSCAR WILDE “After a good dinner own relatives.” one can one’s forgive even anybody, “After PLUS: ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NM • GRANITE MOUNTAIN • HUMMINGBIRDS BURRO CREEK • WHITE HILLS GHOST TOWN • AND PIGEONS. YES, PIGEONS CONTENTS 04.13 Lake Powell Grand Canyon National Park Tuba City 2 EDITOR’S LETTER 3 CONTRIBUTORS 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 56 WHERE IS THIS? > > > Cameron Jerome Holbrook 5 THE JOURNAL 40 THE POWER OF LIFE 50 ACTIVE VOICE Prescott People, places and things from around the state, including a guy IN A VERY HOT PLACE Bobbie Holaday has spent more than three decades as an who buys and sells cockroaches and tarantulas; the Globetrotter advocate for wolves and wilderness areas. Through compro- A poignant dissertation on life, death and difficult renewal PHOENIX Lodge in Holbrook; band-tailed pigeons (yes, pigeons); and Tuba mise, compassion and unflinching determination, she’s been a in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a humbling place City, our hometown of the month. voice for those who have none. She’s also a living testament to where “a short walk can take you out of this century and into how much can be accomplished in life after the age of 65. Tucson a deep well of time.” Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 16 BEST RESTAURANTS 2013 BY ANNETTE McGIVNEY Ramsey Canyon AN ESSAY BY CHARLES BOWDEN There are many wonderful restaurants in Arizona, and every PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK DURAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY JACK DYKINGA • POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE April, we spotlight some of the best. This month, we’re at it again, 52 SCENIC DRIVE but instead of having an editorial board make the picks, we 46 LITTLE BIRDS Burro Creek Crossing Road: The payoff on this scenic drive is enlisted the help of 10 of our favorite food-loving photographers. Southeastern Arizona is considered the hummingbird capital the lush riparian habitat of Burro Creek, but the Joshua trees, BY NIKKI BUCHANAN of the United States. As many as 15 species can be found saguaros and endless vistas make it something special from PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL MARKOW there, making it a mecca, of sorts, for birds and bird-watchers GET MORE ONLINE the get-go. alike. However, recent fires, floods and freezing temperatures www.arizonahighways.com 28 SPRING WATER dramatically altered the little birds’ habitat, as well as their 54 HIKE OF THE MONTH In Arizona, springtime is subtle, and it doesn’t stir up the same population. Readers were worried, so we sent our writer south Visit our website for details on weekend getaways, fanfare it does in places like Syracuse, St. Paul and Spokane. Granite Mountain: The centerpiece of this hike is the mountain hiking, lodging, dining, photography workshops, to check it out. slideshows and more. There is a seasonal change, however. Especially in the high for which it’s named, but just as impressive are the surround- BY MATT JAFFE country, where spring snowmelt can alter the landscape. At Lake PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRUCE D. TAUBERT ing piles of 2-billion-year-old boulders the size of boxcars. www.arizonahighways.wordpress.com Powell, the visual effects are minimal, but come April, you can Check out our blog for regular posts on just rest assured that lake levels are on the rise, and the water is too about anything having to do with travel in Arizona, including Q&As with writers and pho- cold for skinny-dipping. tographers, special events, bonus photos, sneak A PORTFOLIO BY GARY LADD peeks at upcoming issues and more. www.facebook.com/azhighways Join our Facebook community to share your photographs, chat with other fans, enter trivia contests and receive up-to-the-minute informa- tion about what’s going on behind the scenes at Arizona Highways. Arizona Highways is on Instagram Follow us @arizonahighways to see our travel photos from around the state. ◗ Ocotillos reach skyward in front of a butte near Bagdad. | RICK GIASE CAMERA: NIKON D300; SHUTTER: 1/125 SEC; APERTURE: F/6.3; ISO: 125; FOCAL LENGTH: 28 MM FRONT COVER Pizzicletta, a Nea- politan pizzeria, draws rave reviews from Flagstaff locals and visitors. | PAUL MARKOW CAMERA: CANON EOS-1Ds MARK III; SHUTTER: 30 SEC; APERTURE: F/13; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 24 MM BACK COVER Boulders and a tree stump punc- tuate a sunset reflection in Lake Powell’s Fence Canyon. | GARY LADD CAMERA: TACHIHARA 4X5; FILM: VELVIA 100; SHUTTER: 1/4 SEC; APERTURE: F/18; ISO: 100; FOCAL LENGTH: 210 MM PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS AVAILABLE Prints of some photographs in this issue are available for purchase. To view options, visit www.arizona highwaysprints.com. For more information, call 866-962-1191. www.arizonahighways.com 1 editor’s letter contributors Gary LaDD Grazing Arizona APRIL 2013 VOL. 89, NO. 4 To most people, Lake Powell is 800-543-5432 www.arizonahighways.com a place to kick back on a house- he “Book of Big Ideas” isn’t a real nary Institute. He happening down there. boat or zip around on water PUBLISHER Win Holden book. It’s a reporter’s notebook knows great food, and As you’ll see, it’s an EDitoR Robert Stieve skis. Or a place of loss — a result T with those four words — book, his favorite restaurant essay about a place Managing EDitoR Kelly Vaughn Kramer of Glen Canyon Dam disrupting of, big, ideas — written on the cover. is the Cliff Dweller’s that just won’t die. It’s SENIOR associate EDitoR Kathy Ritchie the natural flow of the Colo- associate EDitoR Noah Austin It sits on my desk next to a pile of blue Lodge in Marble Can- the kind of place that rado River. But to landscape EDitoRIAL ADMinistRatoR Nikki Kimbel fine-point Sharpies, just waiting to snare yon. The first time Bobbie Holaday would PhotogRAPHY EDitoR Jeff Kida photographer Gary Ladd, Lake some of the things that rattle around my he ate there, he “was fight doggedly to pro- CReative DIRectoR Barbara Glynn Denney Powell is “a photographer’s brain. Things like new story concepts, shocked by the sophis- tect. ART DIRectoR Keith Whitney paradise,” as you’ll see in Spring Design PRODUCTION Assistant Diana Benzel-Rice Water, page 28. Ladd is drawn counter-intuitive alternatives for old tication of their food.” You might remember MAP DesigneR Kevin Kibsey standbys like the Grand Canyon, profile I’ve been there, too, Bobbie from our Feb- PRODUCTION DIRectoR Michael Bianchi to the beautiful, constantly subjects, cover themes, headlines and and I agree. Food that ruary issue. She was WEBMasteR Victoria J. Snow changing nature of the reservoir. Because the water level fluctuates, sometimes by 100 feet or random thoughts. good is the last thing referenced in the story DIRectoR OF Sales & MARKeting Kelly Mero more, “nobody has seen Lake Powell in all of its different expressions over the years, and all of CIRCUlation DIRectoR Nicole Bowman Not all of them make it into print, but you expect in the ARKOW To Hellsgate and Back — FINANCE DIRectoR Bob Allen its different arms,” he says. Ladd is a longtime contributor to Arizona Highways. He’s currently M some do, including this one: “photogs middle of nowhere. she’s the woman who InfoRMation TechnologY Cindy Bormanis working on a book about geology, with photos that focus on Glen Canyon National Recreation fave rests.” That’s how it was scribbled in That’s not the case PAUL gets credit for the cre- Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and the Grand Canyon. the notebook. This is how it sounded in at Indian Gardens Oak ation of Hellsgate Wil- CORpoRate OR TRADE Sales 602-712-2019 SponsoRSHIP Sales my head: For the April issue, instead of using Creek Market, which is run by Daniel derness. When I edited that piece a few REPResentation Erin Edelstein Hennen Publishing & an editorial board to pick the best restaurants, Garland. Anything with the Garland months ago, I wrote Bobbie’s name in the Marketing Group NIKKI BUCHANAN what if we reach out to some of our grizzled Family name on it evokes high expecta- Book, thinking she’d make a great profile. 480-664-0541 In 1984, Nikki Buchanan lived in Los Angeles and [email protected] photographers and ask them where they like to tions, and this little way station (Suzanne And she does. In Active Voice, you’ll learn dreamed of becoming a food writer. When she told LetteRS to the EDitoR [email protected] eat when they’re on the road? Mathia’s pick) doesn’t disappoint. Nei- more about this tenacious 90-year-old, 2039 W. Lewis Avenue one of her friends, “he just laughed and said, ‘Great, If you’ve ever met any grizzled photog- ther does Caffe Torino in Tucson. “The whose favorite restaurant, by the way, Phoenix, AZ 85009 fat chance of that,’ ” Buchanan says. But within a month, she heard an ad on the radio that Phoenix raphers, that might strike you as a con- food is fresh and simple,” Jack Dykinga is Poncho’s in South Phoenix. I’ve never GoveRNOR Janice K. Brewer tradiction. And it should. Most of them says. And just about everything on the been, but if Bobbie likes it, it must be DIRectoR, DepaRTMENT New Times was hiring a restaurant critic. She got the live on pb&j’s and prepackaged junk food menu is a family recipe from Italy, includ- something special. I should probably add OF TRANSPORtation John S. Halikowski position. Since then, she’s been wining and dining ARIZONA TRANSPORtation when they’re on assignment.