27th January 2009 - Phoenix and Scottsdale

Today was kind of a bizarre day.

Breakfast was interrupted, not in a rude way though, by the arrival of Brooke. How she fitted into the picture, I wasn't sure. However, she took us over to her mother's property, in one of the gated estates, the BEST gated estate I'm told, of Paradise Valley. (Clarification here, this area is obsessed with money. Every house has a celebrity, politician or just plain rich socialite attached - and well known to locals. They also oppose anything that brings scum into view!) So we went to see the goats. Then we met Mum. A busy socialite. She was frantic trying to sort her bookwork out. Also her printer wasn't working. Had a crack at fixing the printer - she needed new ink. Then advised her to give up on Quickbooks, as it is crap, and give MYOB a go. Then realised that MYOB is Australian. Not much help to her, but at least made her feel better about the Quickbooks difficulties she was having!

From there, we went to another gated estate to see Jennifer's house. Again, not sure how she fits into the picture! Lovely house, in lovely area. She wasn't home and access had to the estate had been (forgotten) to be given to the gatekeeper. So, "say something Australian" to me... "Chuck another shrimp on the barbie, maaaaate" and we had access! By this point, it was second nature to say that horrid sentence! The things we must do. Collected lemons and oranges from the tree, some were too high up, so up I scaled. The things I do on holidays. I don't climb trees. I gave that up when I was 5 and realised that being a rough and tumble tomboy was best left to the sister!! A drive through this estate, check out a few more flash and grossly overdone houses. Far too much money. Pulled into Dan Quayle's driveway. For those who that means nothing to, he was George Bush Senior's Vice President, and famous for a few things. One, he corrected a kid on the spelling of potato in a spelling bee. Two, and this is possibly his largest gaffe, is his criticism of Murphy Brown - yes, Candice Bergen's CHARACTER - for having a baby without a father. Not necessarily bad, but to many, it was!! Bad for him to criticise I mean!

So after that, we called in to see another house, not a gorgeous house, but a lovely view. Looked at a few more. It was at this point that the importance of the aforementioned Brooke became apparent. Her father had owned all the land that is now Paradise Valley, and had run a school on it. The school shut down, the land was sold off. The credit for vision for Paradise Valley is apparently all his.

We spent some more time in Scottsdale, wandered some shops in the Old Town. Also went to a ridiculously lavish shopping mall in Paradise Valley. The names of each escapes me and my notes don't include them. Absolutely ridiculous. I could never even dream of being rich enough to purchase anything in either area!

Also ate lunch in a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet house. Complete with msg. Yick!! lol. Cheap and nasty, contrasted with the rest!

Day drew to a close soon enough and we had some dinner. I can't remember now what we had. Oh yes I do, chicken and vegetables. Then it was time for me to pack my bags and head to the Greyhound station for my overnight bus to Los Angeles.

Time spent in Phoenix was wonderful. My hosts, Gloria and Gordon, faultless. The things I saw were not necessarily what every tourist would see, but they were an experience, one I'm ever so grateful for.

Overnight bus to LA, due to arrive 4am.