Phoenix, Arizona!!

We arrived Wed avo (Phoenix time), took one look at the maze of roads out of the huge airport, and decided against hiring a car for a couple of days. Phew! Mike was so for hiring a car at the airport! Anyway we got a shuttle van (an amazing service) and got to see a bit of the fascinating landscape.

We are of course, basking in glorious sunshine, cloudless blue skies and wind – what’s that?!! They don’t have wind, only breezes, which is why all their trees ( and cacti) are standing so straight! I must confess, tho’ that their cloudless evenings outside are a tad on the cool side.
We had dinner the next 2 nights at the hotel sitting outside in the courtyard with a large gas fireplace – very pleasant.

Talking about landscape- they love to shape their bushes. Walking around the area where we are staying (Deer Valley) the buildings, hotels shopping malls, apartment blocks, homes, are all varying shades of brown and lots of shaped bushes, unless it is a cactus or yukka type. Notice from the photos how flat it is, but with random hills which pop up on the horizon.

Thursday, Mike caught a taxi to work and I hiked MILES to a shopping centre (that was just around the corner and at the end of the next street!). When I got there the place was so huge you could hardly see the other side of the carpark and the thought of walking another half mile to get to other side wasn’t very appealing. So I bought a pair of more comfortable shoes, went to Wal-mart and bought a bottle of water and wandered home again. A 3- hour adventure!

Friday, I went in Mikes taxi to another even larger shopping centre, Desert Ridge, which amongst all the fashion shops, cafes etc had a large craft store. Jo-Ann's! This store is about the size of the Warehouse and all craft! After 6hours and a few heavy bags later I caught a taxi home.