I had no idea there was so much to do in Phonix, AZ! Only a 7 hour drive from here, gorgeous 80+ degree weather at the end of November, and many more exciting things to do and see than we could possibly fit into our long weekend. I predict we will be going back the next time we have the chance.
We drove out on Thanksgiving day, knowing that meant no restaurants would be open so we brought lots of snacks. The drive is just beautiful, through desert and mountains. We ended up having a delicious dinner at our hotel in Scottsdale.
On Friday morning we went to the Desert Botanical Garden. What a great place! I never knew there were so many types of cactus, yucca, aloe, century plants, and desert wildflowers. The plants were well-labeled and nicely arranged. Stephen took so many great pictures that it's hard to choose a few. I think I'll do a separate post called "Plants that will creep Katie out." Watch for it.
The saguaro cactus are my favorite. Some are more than 20 feet tall, and most don't have that classic form you see in cartoons. The birds make holes in them to nest. I couldn't get enough of them!
After the gardens, we went to the Penske Racing Museum which is in the middle of a row of Roger Penske's luxury car dealerships. The museum was very well-done but I think we got a bigger kick out of walking around the used car lot. You can get a 12-year-old Ferrari for the rock bottom price of ninety thousand dollars. That is, if you can pass up the great deals on a Maserati, Bently, Lamborghini, Jaguar, etc.
As we were wandering around, I pointed at a Ferrari and asked why it had flat paint. Stephen said, "Because having a lot of money doesn't mean you have taste." A short time later I exclaimed, "Ooh, purple!" and pointed at a grape-colored Dodge Charger, proving that I have neither money nor taste.
This Corvette replica (on a modern Corvette chassis) pulled up and one of the sales reps came running out to greet the driver, who looked an awful lot like Roger Penske. Not sure, but...
On Saturday morning, Stephen had to do some work for work -- a rewrite on part of the grant he's been working on. So I took my book out by the pool. That wasn't too hard to take.
When he was finished we headed for the Musical Instrument Museum. Now THIS is a great place! There are videos everywhere, and you wear headphones that pick up the sound from whichever one you're standing near. Often the video features the very instrument you're looking at. There was a special World Drumming exhibit which was perfect for me, since I just took a class in world drumming last summer. One of the galleries is all interactive with instruments to play. I would have spent forever in that room figuring out all the scales, but there was much more to see and hear.
 |
| really big drum |
 |
| pentatonic |
 |
| diatonic |
 |
| preservation lab |
 |
| "player" trumpet |
 |
| Native American musics |
 |
| building a Steinway |
 |
| harmonicas |
 |
| building Martin guitars |
We had lunch at the Allegro Cafe in the museum. We could have easily spent 2 days in this museum. Stephen enjoyed it as much as I did, but he spent more time at the instrument building exhibits while I listened to lots of music. The upstairs galleries were organized by region, so all of North America was together. That alone absorbed me for at least an hour. I ended up breezing through most of the rest of the world at the end of our time because my brain was full!
We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Martin car museum, which is a private collection. It was a very well-curated museum with informative signage and a couple of retired car guys as docents who were eager to answer questions or just shoot the breeze about cars, which Stephen happily did.
Stephen said this Deusenberg was "glorious."
After the car museum we were ready for dinner. We drove to the "old town" section of Scottsdale (really nothing in the Phoenix area is old -- it's a very modern city) and went to a funky little Mexican restaurant where we had a very nice meal.
On Sunday we got a fairly early start and took a different scenic route home. I hung out the window taking pictures of the spectacular scenery.
What a great trip!
The saguaro cactus are my favorite. Some are more than 20 feet tall, and most don't have that classic form you see in cartoons. The birds make holes in them to nest. I couldn't get enough of them!
We had lunch at the Allegro Cafe in the museum. We could have easily spent 2 days in this museum. Stephen enjoyed it as much as I did, but he spent more time at the instrument building exhibits while I listened to lots of music. The upstairs galleries were organized by region, so all of North America was together. That alone absorbed me for at least an hour. I ended up breezing through most of the rest of the world at the end of our time because my brain was full!
On Sunday we got a fairly early start and took a different scenic route home. I hung out the window taking pictures of the spectacular scenery.
