Thursday, July 6, 2017

April 18, 2017 - Phoenix, AZ

We had breakfast with Gary and Judith at First Watch restaurant on W. Happy Valley Road in Glendale, AZ.  Gary was in our bowling league when we all lived in Maryland. Back in late 1990's  I met Judith for the first time in New York during a bowling event.  We had not seen Gary and Judith for years and years, and it was good to see them again.  As always, there was never enough time to catch up on news, but we will see them again this coming winter.
After bidding Gary and Judith good bye we went to Scottsdale to check out Butterfly Wonderland.  However, we realized that it was going to be very crowded and maybe noisy (in spite of my deafness) with all the schoolkids shrieking on a field trip. There were like over 10 school buses.  10 X maybe 40 kids to each bus = around 400 kids! What did we do? Of course, we turned around and left, decided to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens on N. Galvin Parkway.

The Desert Botanical Gardens is a 140 acres botanical garden that displays over 50,000 plants from around the world. It was founded by the Aizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937 and was established at the present site in 1939.

The admission fee to visit the garden was $24.95 per person.  A map of the garden was given out when we walked in after paying the admission.

There were trailside exhibits and interpretive signs throughout the area.  There are color coded loops to follow: Desert Discovery Loop, Sonoran Desert Nature \loop, Plants & People of the Sonoran Desert Loop, Center for Desert Living and Desert Wildflower Loop.

We spent exploring almost all loops for over 4 hours. It was 10 am when we got here when it was not so hot, but the temperature had already hit over 90 degrees by the time we were done exploring.


We were hot and tired, but there was one more attraction we wanted to check out: Hall of Flame Musuem on East Van Buren Street near Phoenix Zoo. The admission fee for Seniors (62+) was $6. 

We were given a list of exhibits that are identified by numbers as you begin the tour. The museum has around 130 wheeled pieces and over 10,000 smaller objects related to firefighting. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
On way back home we stopped to check out Hole-in-the-Rock, a natural geological formation in Papago Park.  We were exhausted at the time and did not feel like taking a hike up.  Next winter it will be on our list for activities.

Phoenix Highway came up with interesting art scenes on retaining walls along Route 101.
 
 
 

~Edith

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