Phoenix, and on to Yuma

by Jane

Phoenix was my last cat research stop so we had two nights there.

Here are some photos of the cat history collections I got to delve into - but there wasn't enough time to do more than peek and admire.

Drawers of papers

Boxes of papers

Boxes of photos

I am definitely going to have to come back to Phoenix to do more research!

* * * *

But I/we won't be staying at the same motel.  It's not that we didn't enjoy having K-Mart just through the parking lot.  That would be K-Mart with a huge area dedicated to Christmas:

One side of the Christmas annexe

Blue decorations

Oh! Can we take these home?

Purple ... I bought purple

I actually made three visits to the Christmas area, the last one including finding a small-ish box that was being thrown out that I could use to (hopefully) get my decorations home safely to New Zealand in my bag.

* * * *

Sunrise from the motel room

But back to the motel.  As if having the most miserable complimentary breakfast we'd encountered on our trip wasn't enough to object to, we also had the drama of a woman coming to the motel to catch her husband of seven years with his girlfriend.  Suffice to say it was not a quiet event and we know heaps more details than we really wanted to. ;o)

And then, on our way to breakfast on the second morning, we noticed a whole collection of police folk patrolling the second floor balcony.  Never mind.  Breakfast was more important.  They appeared to be gone when we went back to our rooms but as our drive wasn't a long one we had time to fill in before we left so were still in our rooms when the police came back.

I sent a text message to Dad:

Stay in your room until the police have put their guns away.

The text would have been slightly more useful if Dad hadn't left his phone behind at the previous motel and so, at the time, it was being couriered off to Pete's place in Laguna.

While we waited for the situation to resolve itself we read the reviews for the motel.  Hmm.  A number of them did mention the police.

* * * *

And then we hit the road to Yuma.  Lots of very, very arid landscape but when it was irrigated suddenly there were lush green crops.  Quite a contrast.

Sandy with great rocky hills/mountains

And the same on the other side of the car

Lots of wide open spaces

We stopped at the Space Age restaurant for lunch. (I am not shouting drill instructions at my Dad as Gary believes.  Just yawning.)

Off for lunch

And since the day's drive was such a short one we stopped a few other places so Gary could explore.  Doing the driving he doesn't always get a chance to have a good look at the landscape and this was certainly different from what we'd find in New Zealand.

Gary heads off to explore

Waves from the top of the hill

And heads down the other side

It was only when we got settled in the motel in Yuma and looked at his photos that he showed us this photo he took:

Warning sign

Gary, I have the feeling that jandals (flip-flops) are not entirely appropriate footwear for exploring in this part of the world.


Jane
in Yuma