Take Off Your Rainbow Shades Part III: Mormons and Dursleys and Dudes! Oh My!
Today's activities ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Thankfully I got the ridiculous out of the way first.
I had some time to myself this morning. I wanted to spend some quality time outside during one of the more temperate parts of the day. I opted to go to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. I figured it was a nice reasonable distance from the hotel, and I'd heard good things about it.
First off, don't go to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens after going to the Sonora Desert Museum....it's a bit anti-climactic. Second off, it's always best to avoid places that are overrun with Muggles. As far as the eye could see were fat, white tourists loudly talking at each other on their cell phones. Think the Dursleys except with East Coast and Texan accents. "HEY DAVID!!! COME HERE AND LOOK AT THIS HUMMINGBIRD!!!" I kept having flashbacks to the scene in "The Triplets of Belleville" where the Statue of Liberty is portrayed as overweight and holding a Big Mac. If you replaced her torch with a cellphone....you'd have today's tourists.
Thankfully, I managed to find a corner here and there that wasn't quite so...infested. Despite all the exhibits, what I got the biggest charge out of watching was tiny little lizards running around. They reminded me a bit of the frogs I see when I'm walking with my mother in Sheboygan.
After lunch Anna, good Gryffindor that she is, rescued me from Muggle territory, and we drove up into the mountains. One thing I really got a charge out of is how rapidly the ecosystems changed as we ascended. For miles there were a gazillion Saguaro cacti everywhere. Then after a certain altitude...POOF! Absolutely none at all. Just the short little buggers that you see in flower shops.
A good chunk of the drive was during what movie makers call "the magic hour." That is the time right before sunset where the sky gets that golden glow. The lighting just added to the whole spectacular quality of the mountains and cliffs around us.
We also spent a little time at an artificial lake. Anna was bound and determined that she was going to show me a body of water before I went home. I found this amusing as I'd pretty much opted to come to Arizona as I was trying to escape water....particularly the frozen kind. Although it was a rare chance to see blue in the Arizona landscape. Other than the sky (and even that kind of has a golden quality to it...) you get lots of browns, oranges, reds, yellows and even greens....but very little blue.
Then we stopped briefly at a charming little dude ranch. It had horses, a dog rounding up said horses....and a genuine cowboy in very tight jeans. Whoopi-ti-yi-yo!
After a fabulous Tex-Mex meal for dinner, we headed off to the Mormon Temple. (Keep winding up at them on my trips west. Maybe the angel Moroni is looking out for me.) The Phoenix Mormon community puts on a huge elaborate Easter pageant. It includes a cast of hundreds of men, women and children....and live animals. When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, it's a REAL donkey. The audio was all pre-recorded.....which makes sense because miking a cast like that would have been a nightmare and a half. I was impressed by the production value of the pageant. I mean seriously, between this, the Osmonds and the Mormon Tabernacle choir...I'm starting to think that "Glee" should get a few Mormon advisors.
To avoid the crazy traffic afterwards, Anna and I snuck out early. She commented "I think you know how it ends..." And I chimed in "Yeah, I read the book."
I got just enough of a taste of Arizona to want more. Thankfully I will at least get to come back to the Southwest in October as a bridesmaid. I'm not sure if it's true love....but I sure am harboring a major crush on this part of the country. I think I may need to schedule a few more dates. :)
I had some time to myself this morning. I wanted to spend some quality time outside during one of the more temperate parts of the day. I opted to go to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. I figured it was a nice reasonable distance from the hotel, and I'd heard good things about it.
First off, don't go to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens after going to the Sonora Desert Museum....it's a bit anti-climactic. Second off, it's always best to avoid places that are overrun with Muggles. As far as the eye could see were fat, white tourists loudly talking at each other on their cell phones. Think the Dursleys except with East Coast and Texan accents. "HEY DAVID!!! COME HERE AND LOOK AT THIS HUMMINGBIRD!!!" I kept having flashbacks to the scene in "The Triplets of Belleville" where the Statue of Liberty is portrayed as overweight and holding a Big Mac. If you replaced her torch with a cellphone....you'd have today's tourists.
Thankfully, I managed to find a corner here and there that wasn't quite so...infested. Despite all the exhibits, what I got the biggest charge out of watching was tiny little lizards running around. They reminded me a bit of the frogs I see when I'm walking with my mother in Sheboygan.
After lunch Anna, good Gryffindor that she is, rescued me from Muggle territory, and we drove up into the mountains. One thing I really got a charge out of is how rapidly the ecosystems changed as we ascended. For miles there were a gazillion Saguaro cacti everywhere. Then after a certain altitude...POOF! Absolutely none at all. Just the short little buggers that you see in flower shops.
A good chunk of the drive was during what movie makers call "the magic hour." That is the time right before sunset where the sky gets that golden glow. The lighting just added to the whole spectacular quality of the mountains and cliffs around us.
We also spent a little time at an artificial lake. Anna was bound and determined that she was going to show me a body of water before I went home. I found this amusing as I'd pretty much opted to come to Arizona as I was trying to escape water....particularly the frozen kind. Although it was a rare chance to see blue in the Arizona landscape. Other than the sky (and even that kind of has a golden quality to it...) you get lots of browns, oranges, reds, yellows and even greens....but very little blue.
Then we stopped briefly at a charming little dude ranch. It had horses, a dog rounding up said horses....and a genuine cowboy in very tight jeans. Whoopi-ti-yi-yo!
After a fabulous Tex-Mex meal for dinner, we headed off to the Mormon Temple. (Keep winding up at them on my trips west. Maybe the angel Moroni is looking out for me.) The Phoenix Mormon community puts on a huge elaborate Easter pageant. It includes a cast of hundreds of men, women and children....and live animals. When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, it's a REAL donkey. The audio was all pre-recorded.....which makes sense because miking a cast like that would have been a nightmare and a half. I was impressed by the production value of the pageant. I mean seriously, between this, the Osmonds and the Mormon Tabernacle choir...I'm starting to think that "Glee" should get a few Mormon advisors.
To avoid the crazy traffic afterwards, Anna and I snuck out early. She commented "I think you know how it ends..." And I chimed in "Yeah, I read the book."
I got just enough of a taste of Arizona to want more. Thankfully I will at least get to come back to the Southwest in October as a bridesmaid. I'm not sure if it's true love....but I sure am harboring a major crush on this part of the country. I think I may need to schedule a few more dates. :)