Tempe, city of...palm trees? Cacti? Weird landscaping that looks like it belongs in Disney World? Yes, Tempe is all of those things and more. I've loved Tempe, largely because it is warm and sunny. And there are palm trees (though I don't think those are native). It's a little strange, however, in that same way that central-Florida towns are strange -- everything looks like it's built for the tourist population. Our hotel looks like the set for a collegiate production of Oklahoma, and the theatre itself looks like a structure from Epcot. Or a big birthday cake. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright design, but the locals call it Frank Lloyd Wrong.
The house is enormous -- you could easily land a small airplane in the orchestra. But the audiences have been very friendly, and the crew is great, and there's a frozen-yogurt-by-the-pound joint just a few blocks away.
I took a couple of trips to the desert while here in Tempe. Kim and I took a drive into South Mountain Park on Friday afternoon, which is the largest city park in the US -- 17,000 acres! There's something so foreign to me about the desert climate -- so different from the oaks and evergreens and grassy hills of the East Coast. The mountains are dark and craggy, there isn't any grass to speak of, and all the plants have thorns. I was fascinated by the cacti, also -- I've never seen any before outside of...well....Disney World, probably! I was determined to get a shot of myself beside one. When we drove into the park, we followed a road that wound all the way up to the peak. I kept thinking that when we got to the top, there would be a lot of photogenic, three-armed cacti sitting around, waiting for the tourists to take their photos. Alas, there were not. So, on the drive back down, I saw a likely candidate and quickly pulled over on the side of the road, convinced Kim to clamber down the rocky ledge on the side of the road, and ran over to my cactus to pose. It was so much huger than I thought it would be! Of course, I tried to touch the soft-looking green skin in between the layers of thorns and got pricked.
Sunday morning a bunch of us got up early enough to actually drive back out to the park and go horseback-riding. I always get excited when I get to go riding -- visions of myself bareback astride a black steed, galloping through the desert sand, hair blowing in the wind, the horse's tail billowing behind us. In reality it's never so glamorous -- one always ends up plodding along on some fat old brown sofa named D.J., whose nose is stuck in the butt of some other fat old pony in front of him, ridden by some fat old tourist from Michigan. So much for the billowing tail and my hair blowing in the wind. Nevertheless, Petrie and I had a lovely time walking along, just enjoying the scenery. Perhaps I'll have more luck with the horses in Dallas. Fingers crossed. Chin up. And off to Texas we go!
The house is enormous -- you could easily land a small airplane in the orchestra. But the audiences have been very friendly, and the crew is great, and there's a frozen-yogurt-by-the-pound joint just a few blocks away.
I took a couple of trips to the desert while here in Tempe. Kim and I took a drive into South Mountain Park on Friday afternoon, which is the largest city park in the US -- 17,000 acres! There's something so foreign to me about the desert climate -- so different from the oaks and evergreens and grassy hills of the East Coast. The mountains are dark and craggy, there isn't any grass to speak of, and all the plants have thorns. I was fascinated by the cacti, also -- I've never seen any before outside of...well....Disney World, probably! I was determined to get a shot of myself beside one. When we drove into the park, we followed a road that wound all the way up to the peak. I kept thinking that when we got to the top, there would be a lot of photogenic, three-armed cacti sitting around, waiting for the tourists to take their photos. Alas, there were not. So, on the drive back down, I saw a likely candidate and quickly pulled over on the side of the road, convinced Kim to clamber down the rocky ledge on the side of the road, and ran over to my cactus to pose. It was so much huger than I thought it would be! Of course, I tried to touch the soft-looking green skin in between the layers of thorns and got pricked.
Sunday morning a bunch of us got up early enough to actually drive back out to the park and go horseback-riding. I always get excited when I get to go riding -- visions of myself bareback astride a black steed, galloping through the desert sand, hair blowing in the wind, the horse's tail billowing behind us. In reality it's never so glamorous -- one always ends up plodding along on some fat old brown sofa named D.J., whose nose is stuck in the butt of some other fat old pony in front of him, ridden by some fat old tourist from Michigan. So much for the billowing tail and my hair blowing in the wind. Nevertheless, Petrie and I had a lovely time walking along, just enjoying the scenery. Perhaps I'll have more luck with the horses in Dallas. Fingers crossed. Chin up. And off to Texas we go!