Time to pull out of Sedona and get to Phoenix. A short trip down the Mogollon Rim and off the Colorado Plateau and its cool weather. The lower elevation of Phoenix means hotter weather but it is October. Forecasts are for the 90's for highs. Not too bad as it is dry heat; much more tolerable than what we have in the south when its in the 90's.
As we drive we start seeing the Saguaro Cacti that are such a prominent part of the Phoenix and southern Arizona landscape. Some of these plants are very tall and it takes them decades to get this large. Missie got some good photos through the window.
Saguaro Cactus dominate the desert landscape around Phoenix
As you can see the desert is very green. The desert is very fertile and will grow beautiful plants IF it has water. This summer has been a good year due to the unusual number of hurricanes in the Pacific. Ordinarily hurricanes in the Pacific would not affect the west but this year several have skirted the west coast of Mexico and their remnants have created rain in the Arizona deserts.
When we lived in Arizona we got to be pretty good at identifying the different cacti. (Its really easy). Missie took some photos of different cactus plants below.
Barrel Cactus plants. I once sat on one of these. It hurt and brought blood. Libbo broke out laughing.
Prickly Pear Cactus. We see small ones like this around the south. In the southwest they get huge and bear fruit.
By far the worst cactus plant to stumble upon is a Choya cactus. These are nasty and act much like a porcupine. The needles stick in you and are hard to get out and are painful. I can't find a photo of one of these in the hundreds of photos Missie and I took.
We reached the park, Desert Shadows, by about noon. We took care of getting Missie's boarding pass ready for tomorrow and then we took Miss on a tour of Arizona State University and where we used to live. The campus is HUGE and has changed dramatically since Lib and I last visited Phoenix 10 years ago. The enrollment is over 68,000 making it the largest, or among the largest, universities in the U.S. Imagine Auburn and Alabama being combined and then add some. The buildings have filled in so much, it looks more like a skyrise city than a college campus now. Very little green area from the road. You have to walk inside in the mall areas to see the grass.
This is Grady Gammage Auditorium, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's last creations.
Sun Devil Stadium; In the early 70's, it was about the size of Denny Stadium when we were at Alabama..not very big. Things have changed.
Our home from 1970 to 1973. 1909 Farmer Avenue, Tempe, AZ
We took Missie by our old house which was only three blocks from ASU. It was a modest home but a palace for grad students. We had a nice fenced in backyard and our children, Bonnie and Scotty, loved playing in the yard chasing birds. Not to worry, I don't think a Scottie ever caught anything that flies. But its the chase that matters to a dog.
Several of the guys in the PhD program; me, Bruce Stern, Paul Solomon, and Bob Ford, found a need for regular exercise. It was a great stress reliever not to mention the other benefits. We gravitated to basketball and we would play hard for about an hour three days a week at a little park near our house. To this day, all I need to do is pick up the phone and say "Want to meet at Clark Park?" and each one of them would know immediately who was calling. Clark Park got us through a lot of tests!
Clark Park; One of the few things in Phoenix that hasn't changed that much!
We had lunch at Chipolte's on the ASU campus and I decided, since it was 3:30pm it would be a good idea to get back on the Interstate and get back to the RV Park before the traffic got bad. I had been warned that there are too many cars in Phoenix for the infrastructure to support. Wow! I was wrong! We started way too late! Missie can attest that the drive back was intense. Lane switching across what seemed like 8 lanes of bumper to bumber traffic; tunnels, and cars speeding then coming to complete stops. Finally, we made it back home but not before some 20-something pulled right out in front of Fiona while sliding across about three lanes. I had to brake hard and threw everything in Fiona forward but we didn't hit! Driving in Pensacola is like driving in Wyoming..no traffic.
Miss had the presence of mind to take a photo. Look at the traffic far ahead and you can see how many lanes there are and how crowded. We are all going over 70 just to keep in line. Note the car in front changing lanes.
It took us well over an hour to get back to the RV Park where I suggested that we have some wine. When I mentioned the Interstate traffic a local at the park replied: "Oh, we don't drive on the Interstates around here." But, as bad as it was, we both believe driving in Seattle was our worst driving experience. All the traffic in the area is squeezed down to a small geographical area between the Cascade Mountains to the east and Puget Sound to the west.
Soon the sun was setting and Missie got some great sunset photos.
Ol Sol beginning to go down
And..a beautiful sunset
Missie is a gifted photographer and is a great navigator. We are going to miss her traveling with us. Tomorrow we take her to Sky Harbor Airport for her flight back to Birmingham.
Old man and pretty girl toasting the sunset at Desert Shadows
Signing off!
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