Arizona Trip

Myla & I headed to Phoenix for the weekend as she attended a business conference. This was my first time in Arizona. We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore. It was built in the late 1920s by Albert Chase McArthur, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright ended up dropping out of the project, but his influence dominates. The Wrigley family ended up owning and running the place, and it was the place to stay for heads of state, celebrities, etc. Many celebrities stayed there including Clark Gable to Marilyn Monroe to today's stars. On Saturday, I took a history tour which was a lot fun as we looked around and got a good tour. The picture on the left is the back of the hotel with little cottages and the Camelback Mts. in the background. On Saturday night, we had a nice meal at a restaurant called Methode Bistro which was in near by Scottsdale. The food was really good.

On Sunday, we headed to the Desert Botanical Gardens. (The picture below is from there.) It would have been much nicer if we went in spring where things are in bloom, but it was nice. I was blown away by the terrian. Myla said that it feels like another planet and it does. It seems like you landed on Mars. Also, everything felt so open, it seems you can't hide. For example, everywhere you go, you see airplanes coming into the airport. In Cleveland or other larger cities, you simply move to the other part of town and don't notice. It is not true here. After the Gardens, we went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was pretty good but we have seen better. There was so much to see so we will definately go back for a longer stay! --Bryan