Diane and Stephen's Excellent Albuquerque Adventure: December 2015

We got to Phoenix after dark which is a bummer because I love love love the saguaro cactus and the other desert features that are different from those in Albuquerque. But the hike was worth it, and I knew I'd see everything on Friday.
Stephen enjoys finding interesting places for us to stay, and he loves to surprise me. This time, when we pulled into the avenue to the hotel I said, "Hey, isn't this going to break the budget?" He replied that because it was off-season and he booked it at the last minute when they just wanted to fill the empty rooms, we were actually paying less than we had for last year's accommodations! He certainly did surprise me with this resort. I couldn't quite believe we were staying in such a place.

The view from our balcony

A desert garden with paths to walk.

The view from one of the pools.

Another pool.

There was a spa, which is not my thing, but also a very nice gym, a Starbucks, restaurants, and places to walk, sit, lounge, etc. There were lots of families with kids staying there, and even though the temperature barely reached 70, the kids enjoyed the pools in the afternoon. Not me! But I enjoyed the garden and the landscaping and the walks and the gym. We had excellent breakfasts at one of the hotel restaurants as well.

On Friday we went to the Heard Museum of American Indian Art and History. We were there for hours and I'm pretty sure we skipped some galleries. My favorite exhibit was a collection of art recently created by Native American children and teens. Prints of some of the pieces were for sale with the proceeds going to scholarships. Stephen bought me a print of my favorite work which I will hang somewhere in our house after I find a suitable frame.

Stephen really liked some of the quotes from members of various tribes such as this one:

I had to try to get all the tops spinning at the same time.

Stephen really liked the architecture and murals in this gallery.

For the remainder of Friday afternoon we walked around the downtown area. Phoenix is a huge city in terms of square miles. There are very few tall buildings and the city is sprawling. The traffic is not terrible like it is in California, but even when things looked close to each other on the map (to me, thinking of Albuquerque, I guess) they turned out to be 15 or 20 miles apart. The city is very modern and new and clean. Definitely a Western city. I noticed this when we first visited last year but this time I found out why everything looks so new when we visited a block called Heritage Square near the convention center with an original Victorian and some old bungalows containing exhibits about Phoenix. I learned that from the mid-to-late 20th century, the city was basically torn down and rebuilt. Very few original buildings are left except for the few that were saved and restored in Heritage Square.

I wanted Thai food Friday night and Stephen found a Thai-ish place that worked out very well. There doesn't seem to be a Phonix cuisine, and if there are as many authentic ethnic restaurants as there are in Albuquerque, we haven't found them. There are lots of chain restaurants. But Stephen manages to find good places to eat wherever we are. It's his superpower.

On Saturday I wanted to go for a hike. Papago park is next to the Desert Botanical Garden we visited last year. I promised Stephen a nearly flat, 2.5 mile trail. Of course, once we were on the trail I insisted on climbing up one of the buttes, making our hike NOT flat and NOT 2.5 miles. Good thing Stephen's a good sport!

I took the last three pictures and the next one with my phone. This is as far as Stephen went. He took pictures while I scrambled up the rest of the way.

Afterward, we went to lunch at the Botanical Garden, where this little fellow and his lady friends kept us well-entertained.

Saturday night we went to a cruise-in billed as "the largest weekly year-round car show in the country." Well, it WAS big and very diverse! I had gotten used to seeing the same cars at all of the Glens Falls area shows. This was very different. I also never went to a car show at night before. It was cool. After the car show we stopped and got excellent Indian take-out which we brought back to the hotel. We ended up eating dinner around 9 PM which is pretty late for us!

On Sunday morning we met another couple we know from Albuquerque for breakfast at the Black Bear Diner. I thought the chainsaw bear out front posing with the cactus was pretty funny. Quite a contrast to the Black Bear in New Hampshire...

We had planned to take a different route home and fit in another short hike. It was spectacular.

There I go, down the slippery trail. You can see the truck below. After that and a lot more driving, our Thanksgiving weekend was over. So much to be thankful for!

On our way to Phoenix on Thanksgiving day we stopped to hike in the El Malpais ("the badlands") park. The weather was sunny but windy and cool. We had planned to have a picnic on the sandstone bluffs, but ended up eating our picnic lunch in the truck after climbing around on the bluffs.

On the opposite side of the road from the bluffs is another beautiful view. This is what we looked at while eating lunch. I finished first and hopped out of the truck to take photos while Stephen ate his strawberry rhubarb pie. Not exactly the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but we were thankful!