Story by Melanie Huonker

Surrounded by picturesque views, grazing cattle, and open fields, I found myself forgetting I was in Arizona. Gone were desert plains and cactuses, I was surrounded by vineyards.

Just 60 miles southeast of Tucson in the Sonoita and Elgin area is home to 10 different vineyards surrounded by scenic views of mountain ranges.

“They are starting to make some really good wines here,” said Cindy Carlson, a frequent visitor to the area. “The fact that it’s growing like it is [here] is very nice to see.”

• Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Check out the full slideshow and click the image above.

Florida's Sun-Sentinel has a feature on some of the more bizarre destinations around the world. It results in a collection of 46 beautiful areas around the globe that should be on anyone's bucket list. Included on their list are four here in Arizona. Not pictured here, but part of the slideshow: Antelope Canyon, in Page, Ariz., and the Petrified Forest National Park, also on the northern side of our state.

A few days after a scolding from the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau rolled out a new promotional campaign. Coincidence? I can't say, but as a special preview to their Facebook fans, they unveiled three ads today that focus on a relatively tired view of town.

Congratulations, Visitors Bureau. You've reinforced the idea that we don't have paved roads here. and that Tucsonans spend their days dodging cacti on horseback. Way to go.

While it also shows a somewhat cliched view of the area, maybe we should just use the recent National Geographic web video featuring Calexico. At least it showed Little Poca Cosa.

Travel writer Frances Figart came to Tucson to the All Souls Procession, and wrote an impressive piece about the experience.

Border issues notwithstanding, one of the most compelling aspects of Tucson, known to locals as the Old Pueblo, is that, unlike so many homogenized geographical regions in the Unites States, it retains a palpable and dynamic culture, an authentic sense of place! This is brought out in traditions like the Day of the Dead, where Mexicans and Americans come together for a communal celebration of both life and death. And it is also reflected in the Latino influenced musical traditions that have naturally emerged in border regions such as this one. Calexico — whose concerts now traditionally close out the annual Day of the Dead festivities — represents that blend of cultures and musical genres perhaps better than any other border band in the southwest. The concert they gave as the finale to the All Souls Procession at the historic Rialto Theatre, the locus of Tucson cultural history since 1920, benefited the non-profit organization Many Mouths One Stomach, a Tucson-based collective of artists, teachers and community activists who support “festal culture,” the fulfillment of human needs through public celebration, ceremony and ritual. The performance not only fused many world genres, especially those that inspire the southwest, but also brought together in celebration many cultures in one uplifted community spirit.

• Cricket on Flagstaff's Schultz Creek Trail

I was just telling y'all about how cool Flagstaff is the other day. Now Life magazine names it No. 5 on its list of underrated cities in the Western U.S.:

"People think Arizona is desert and cactus. Flagstaff is mountains and forests and clear skies," Tamony says. Here: "the world's coolest hotel, the Monte Vista."

So I don't really have time here to tell you about the awesomeness of last night's SXSW festival; it's my first visit to the musical madhouse and there's a whole day out there to experience.

But, luckily, NPR is here to save the day with lots of coverage, including recordings of the spectacular performances by Broken Bells, Spoon, Sharon Jones and the Walkmen at Stubb's Bar-B-Q last night. Check it all out here.

Give a listen to the Broken Bells here.

The audio slideshows are a fun watch for anyone who enjoys taking a walk onto any outdoorsy landscape.

(Photographs by John deDios)

Somewhere beyond a wall of health alerts and travel warnings, there is still a Rocky Point.

Our Rocky Point.

It seems pretentious to call Puerto Peñasco by its given name: The dusty little seaside escape for Arizonans was long ago gringo-ized, our closest refuge to quench a summer's thirst for water and dip a toe in the ocean.

We need Rocky Point. And it needs us.

Nowhere was this more evident than when my two brothers and I rolled into town last Thursday evening to load up on carne asada, pollo, carnitas and queso tacos from our favorite street stand on the way to the luxuries of a condo on Sandy Beach.

Recently, I went to the Motor Vehicle Division to get an Arizona driver's license, and, much to my surprise, it was a smooth and painless procedure. Even with my expired out-of-state license, I was in and out of there in about an hour, new license in hand. No test; no eye chart; just a little waiting. My heavily digitized signature looks more like "Darryl Krebbs" than "David Kish," but I couldn't be happier with my license photo. Again: surprising. There I am pictured with a nice big smile, ready to impress any future cop who may hold my fate in his or her hands.

Folks in Virginia no longer have that luxury: the luxury of smiling for a driver's license photo, that is. According to The Washington Post, new security technology requires potential drivers to maintain a "neutral expression" for the photo; no teeth may show. Virginians must pose as if they are having a mug shot taken.Their new state slogan may as well be: "Virginia is for Frustrated Lovers."

I never got a license in Virginia, but I have held licenses from five states, including Pennsylvania, where I somehow passed the road test in a 1963 Chevy Impala. I remember weaving between cones in that boat, and how the officer next to me wildly swayed back and forth in the sofa-sized bench seat. (I also remember the transmission falling out at my senior prom, and my uncle towing my date and I home with his gas-company truck! Damn that beautiful car!)

The California written exam was truly absurd; I nearly failed it. (Aren't tests always absurd when you nearly fail them?) Most of the questions were about child seats, and all of them were so extreme in their safety-obsession that it was really hard for a reasonable person to guess the right answer. For example, if the question were: When driving 45 mph on a wet road, what distance should you keep between you and the car in front of you? Then the answer, of course, would be E) At least two states. I managed to acquire that California license, which was good, because in California, driving is more of a duty than a privilege.

Shortly thereafter, L.A. High School gangsters stole a car, went for a joy ride and crashed in my front yard. When the cops came, my neighbors and I all clammed up. I remember thinking, that would have been a much more useful question: When gang members crash in your front yard, what should you do? A) Give the cops a detailed description including which way they ran. Or, B) Shut the hell up. Seriously, the safer answer is B!

From time to time, Erik Ryberg's Bike Lawyer blog has a new entry about his assistant, Lauren, who is now riding her bike across the country, heading east from Tucson. Of course, Lauren and her friend maintain a blog about their experience.

What I like most about the blog: the cool pictures they've taken of road kill they come across in their travels (like the picture above).

When we get in our cars and head out for a good road trip, the view of road kill is obviously different. Lauren's pictures have made me realize I've never really appreciated road kill before. Some pictures are of typical guts on the road, but most of them are interesting, beautiful and often tell a sad story about what cars leave behind on the big open road.

The photo above is one of my favorites, although our art director insists the picture was staged. I'd like to think it wasn't.