Time in AZ

Kate and I returned last Saturday from our week long jaunt in Arizona. We had a great time, visiting with my cousin Mandy and her husband Ryan, and then heading out into the wilds of northern Arizona for several days.

Mandy and Ryan fixed us a great steak dinner when we arrived on Friday evening. It was a cool night, however we did spend a little that night around the fire in the back yard, and their neighbor Layton joined us later in the evening.

The next day Mandy, Ryan, Kate and I headed out to see some Phoenix attractions. We saw the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix which neither Mandy or Ryan had seen before. Despite being a little out of season Kate and I appreciated it a lot since we are not used to the plant life of the southwest. Ryan shared his wealth of knowledge about the plants at every turn, it was though we had our own personal guide (first picture).

One of the interesting things about the park was in places it was tough to see where the park ended and the original desert began. Below you can see Kate snapping such a picture.

Mandy and Kate look out at the Phoenix landscape from a park overlook.
Kate grinding maize.

A wigwam.

After the park we headed to the area around Arizona State University in Tempe where we had a nice Mexican meal. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, and unfortunately Kate has the picture of this one.

After lunch we had some misadventures getting to the famous Biltmore hotel in Phoenix which was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. After getting a little lost in the exclusive neighborhood where it is at, an elderly woman followed us around because I guess she thought we were up to no good or something.... We did see the hotel as we drove by it, but by that point we were happy to get back to the main drag.

Next on the agenda was downtown Phoenix. We first went to Heritage Square where we toured the Rosson House pictured below. It was a nice tour and a very unique building. They were doing some strange "death theme" which I suppose was related to Halloween. The had decorated the home as though its owners were in mourning over a loss in the family.

After this we drove to see the capitol pictured below and the various monuments situated in a park in front of it. The city was very dead, and this area was primarily the "working city", and is un-lived in. We did see some street walkers.

At this point we were really tired. We returned with Mandy & Ryan to their house. They picked up some candy for the trick or treaters. We had pizza delivery for supper and later enjoyed some smores and drinks around the fire in the back yard.

In the next couple of days I'll post the pictures from the rest of our trip!