We stayed at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, which was the nicest hotel
I've ever experienced. Cliff and Jeannette and several other friends were also staying
there, so we decided it was worth the splurge to hang out with them.
Our balcony looked out over the 27-hole golf course behind the hotel. Phoenix is
absurdly overpopulated with golf courses! Whoever thought it was a good idea to grow
manicured green grass in the Sonoran desert?
There are bears in this lobby. (The whole hotel was lavishly decorated with Native
American and Arizona themes, including cream-colored sandstone, fossilized wood, and
woven baskets).
I insisted that we go on a hike to see some desert flora and fauna. We didn't have
much time, so our "hike" turned out to be a stroll along a paved bike trail. But even
in less than an hour we saw quail, a jackrabbit, noisy grasshoppers, bird nests, fence
lizards, and a Gila spotted whiptail lizard. Not to mention some awesome saguaros
and acacias.
I was entranced by this gorgeous shrub, which is a common ornamental species around
Phoenix. I'd never seen it before, and the Phoenicians (?) I asked did not know what
it was called.
Internet research revealed the answer: it is Caesalpinia pulcherrima, colloquially known as Pride of
Barbados, Red Bird of Paradise, or Dwarf Poinciana. It is in fact closely related to
the Royal
Poinciana, a beloved tree in Queensland.
As mentioned above, most of my wedding pictures were on the disposable camera, but I
couldn't resist taking a few with my own camera. The wedding was a brief, informal,
and lovely ceremony by a fountain at Arizona State University, where Cliff and
Jeannette first met. Isn't this an amazing dress?
At the reception at Jeannette's parents house, the happy couple prepare to dig into
their cake. I took this picture from the backyard looking through the window.
Once the cake was eaten, some of us sat down to play the video game "Rock Band."
Here, Jeannette strums the guitar with determination. In the foreground is one of the
light-up acrylic glasses they provided as gifts for their guests.
Jeremy and me in front of the Westin, on our last morning in Phoenix. It was such
a lovely hotel. I took full advantage of the swimming pool! (The daytime temperatures
were 85° - 95° F, so a swimming pool was very welcome.)
I just can't get enough of those Dwarf Poincianas. (A gardener took this picture
for me.)
I was impressed by this flowerbed full of different colors of periwinkles. We have these at Cape Hillsborough (Mom
calls them "vincas"), but not in such an array of colors. White, magenta,
pink with magenta centers, and mauve with white centers. Now that's a
four-star hotel!
Aside from the wedding, and spending time with Jeremy, my favorite thing about
Phoenix was the grackles. They are large, noisy, gregarious blackbirds that make
funny warbling and rasping sounds. This one thinks that he is far more elegant than
the golf course sculpture in the background.
Palo verde trees are another hallmark of Phoenix. Their photosynthetic trunk and diminutive leaves are adaptations for surviving the rigors of the Arizona desert. I could have happily spent weeks more in Phoenix observing the desert life, but it was time to go home to the Bay Area!
We met up with Alex and Mary for lunch before we left Phoenix, but since our time
was so short, alas, there are no pictures of that part of the trip. Hopefully a return
to Arizona won't be too far in the future.
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Last updated September 16, 2008.