A busy few days and no access again!

Wow, we have had an exciting few days. We arrived in Scottsdale for a visit with Barry and Cathy. It didn't take us too long to remember why we call them friends. In fact this whole trip so far is about seeing old friends and family.

We had an absolute ball with Barry and Cathy, spending time with them in their home and visiting new places in the Scottsdale area. It was a good thing we did have friends here as our air conditioner blower decided to go into failure mode on us in 90+ degree weather! We ended up spending an extra day there getting it repaired.

Off to the Botanical Garden our first evening and what a treasure it was. A pleasent walk with cactus and desert plants all around, mixed with wonderful conversation. Sometimes we tend to forget what a pleasant conversation can be worth to us.

This is Barry and Phil at the little RV park in Scottsdale. It was small but very nice.

And Cathy, Barry's wonderful wife and a dear giving friend.

Our next foray into the desert heat was to one of the coolest places we have ever been. The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix will be one of the high points of our trip. The museum is just what the title says, all musical instruments from around the world and the ages. At every display and country there was information about the exhibit as well as recordings/videos to listen to via headphones they provide. You could spend a week in this place.

Again we saw some great birds in Scottsdale, including:
Gila Woodpecker, Abert's Towhee, Inca Dove, White-Winged Dove, Nighthawk and both Black-Backed and Green-Backed Lesser Gooldfinch. While we don't have a lot of time to bird, we are both adding some life birds to our list as we go. Thank you to our special friends Barry and Cathy for taking such good care of us.

After Scottsdale it was off to Tucson, AZ and yet another friend Celia.

We spent a truly great day with Celia driving us around Tucson. First we went to the Tucson Tamale Factory and I had my first Green Corn Tamale!! Man that was so good we bought some frozen ones to help us finish the trip.

Then it was off to the International Wildlife Museum. I can't belive we got to go to two museums in one week! What a treat. This one is hard to describe simply because it defies description. Think heads, hides and horns for a moment. It was all of that and more. Mounted (taxidermied) species from all over the world were on display in great settings.

Another very informative and exciting place to visit if you ever make it to Tucson.

We left Tucson this morning and had a rather uneventful drive into Las Cruces, NM where we are all settled in for the night. Lydia is planning on posting all of our photo's on her Facebook page so you can see even more of where we have been and what we have done.

Thanks for reading and traveling along with us.

Phil & Lydia