Phoenix & Area

Phoenix has some nostalgic overtones from early visiting 50+ years ago. Young and impressionable, it seemed large and exotic as I grew up near the wilderness of Oregon. Now, it really is large if not so exotic except that it sucks more water than the desert has to offer like an unwanted exotic plant. In this two-photo sequence you see some of the city where we got to see at far distance one of those dust storms blowing to heights well above any mountain ridges. Maybe not the full Hahoob (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011713/Phoenix-dust-storm-rolls-desert-Arizonas-monsoon-season-starts.html), but impressive for it's size.

The Rosson House offers another view of what the city once was, when an aspiring doc came to town and built this luxurious house. Now restored, it went through a down-scale life of small apartments after the physician made a hasty exit for the west coast soon after completion.

"Camping" on the edge of a city provides a variety of entertainments, visiting Taliesin, Rosson House, Buffalo Wing night with Country Music, Cactus League Baseball as well as the roads and trails of the more remote regions and little towns.

 Our day on the diamond was one of the first warm days in the Arizona sun and we lapped up that vitamin D before the cold set in again. The Rockies took the day 9 to 1.

Stages of Monarch Made Large

While Carole appears to be in the sequence of stages of the monarch butterfly, that is not a commentary on her or an attempt to create a new stage, just so you know. This was at the Audubon Society's reserve in Phoenix and where they have this building along the Salt River (Rio Salado Audubon Center). Their habitat restoration area along the river was much needed and is now attractive for a multitude of birds. Certainly worth a visit during migration season.