Arizona

Steve is quite the tour guide. I was able to spend a few days in AZ before I headed to Boston and France. He drove me around the whole valley and showed me everywhere he grew up, where he rode his bike, and many childhood stories. He also took me to Mill ave and ASU campus, the temple grounds, showed me the trailer parks and the big mansions, took me to all the "hot spot" restaurants, and one of my favorite places (i don't have pictures of) was Pro Rancho Market. Basically it is stepping into mexico. The whole grocery store is full of mexican foods and pastries. We indulged in some fresh and real mexican food with real juices. We got watermellon and some flower juice I had never heard of. We also loaded up on pastries. It was a dream come true, I felt like I was with my people. I got to speak some spanish and more exciting they had fruit from Brasil. I thought they only existed in Brasil but low and behold they they were sitting in the USA. I bought some and made Steve try them, he was not quite impressed but pretending for my sake I think. It reminded me of Brasil and the good days back on the member's ranches where they would let us pick fresh fruit of the trees and eat it! O so good.

I really like cactus. They are really big and everywhere. I also enjoyed the palm trees, they make me smile.

On Monday night we went to south mountain right as the sun was setting. So we checked out the whole entire valley while the sun set. It was a good view, you could see everything!

Steve took me to a fancy resort in Scottsdale. I loved it. So we decided to sit and take in the lovely atmosphere when some friends came close. There were ducks and other such animals just chillin' inside the resort. They were very friendly, but soon left after the realized we had no food for them.

Enjoying the resort.

Steve took me on a drive through north mesa where all the really big houses are. Interesting to me they are all surrounded by citrus trees, it may have been sunday, but I just had to try one of those citrus fruits, I was so curious to its flavor. So maybe I stole on the Sabbath, Steve tried to stop me, but I mad him take a picture instead. And, it was a pretty citrus-ey orange!

Of course we had to see the temple grounds. It is a pretty temple, I really enjoyed the tropical atmosphere, I can't get enough of those palm trees and cactus!!!

On Saturday Steve showed me the nature side of Arizona. You might think the desert to be ugly but I really enjoyed our drive. We ate at an old mining restaurant and saw lots of cactus. Steve taught me about the different kinds. His favorite are the jumping cactus. They "jump" off the main root. We went to a little town called tortilla flat. It reminded me of Grand Lake but on a smaller scale. We walked on the board walk and saw some interesting things. All the old people drive around in their expensive convertibles and there are some biker gangs which are entertaining to watch.

This is a look out over the Lake. I forgot the name. But, look how green it was! Who knew the desert was so pretty.