Starting Point: Scottsdale, AZ
Ending Point: Los Angeles, CA
Distance Traveled: 400 Miles
After spending a few hours last night organizing and planning, I slept for five hours. Planning for the last day of the trip, I felt that I should plan at least one fun activity in addition to the 7 hour drive back to Los Angeles.
A brief search on Trip Advisor led me to decide on Tom’s Thumb Trail, a 4-mile hike through Joshua Tree-like rock formations on the outskirts of Scottsdale. I arrived at the trailhead at 6:15AM and quickly hiked with the hopes of completing the entire hike before the summer heat became too uncomfortable. Fortunately, it was a cloudy day and I was able to complete the hike at around 8AM, which made the heat and sun a non-factor.
Almost the entire trail provided scenic views of the mostly unbuilt valley with the scarcely populated outskirts of the Phoenix Metro area. The absence of the sun also helped provide a raw grey/blue view of the landscape without the reflection of the sun. The hike climbed from the trailhead to several large rock formations, which are frequented by rock climbers, although I can’t imagine the discomfort from just spending the day hanging out in the scorching desert heat.
Leaving Scottsdale and heading toward LA, I passed through several high-end areas where there were newly-constructed, beautiful car dealerships as wells as under-construction high-end multifamily, and other construction. The finishes of these buildings are very high-end and I wouldn’t be surprised if total construction and land costs for the multi-family properties are over $150/SF. The aerial below shows the car dealership/condominium area which is North Scottsdale. The demographics in this area most-likely over $100,000/year of average household income. There will probably continue to be much more new construction in this area in the short-term future.
On the way back, I passed by Brawley, the Salton Sea, and the greater Los Angeles area. As I neared home the odometer reached 10,000 miles. I’m extremely satisfied with the incredible experiences of the road trip and am looking to use the experiences to motivate/energize me to be more productive, experienced, and satisfied.
As I drove through my local neighborhood, I realized how un-cultured, cookie-cutter, and boring the Westwood area “west of the 405” is. The main roads are lined with 1-2 story boring retail shops housing un-passionate/un-inspiring mom and pop stores and the same old franchise stores. The streets were filled with traffic, workers on the never-ending “hamster wheel”, and weathered concrete and asphalt as far as I could see.
