State of the Desert

After the race, we finally got to see Phoenix.

First, we made our way over to Papago Park to visit the Desert Botanical Gardens. This is truly a great place. They have every kind of cactus possible on display, but it looks like they only took the best of the best. The cacti they have are so big, way bigger than you normally see if you were just walking out in the desert. We had lots of fun taking pictures and goofing off.

Next we drove the Camelback and Paradise Valley loop that I used to ride all the time. It was great to see it all again, but it made me miss it too. We thought about getting the bikes out and actually doing the ride, but after 2 more seconds of thinking about it decided no way, we already did our workout for the day!

We then went to Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe to sample some local brew. It was very refreshing. The ASU vs. UAT basketball game was on so the place was packed with, presumably, ASU fans.

Lastly, we walked along the Tempe Town Lake, to see the site of Ironman Arizona. We were trying to figure out where they came out of the water, but probably didn't walk far enough. We only saw the boat dock area, and unless they were paddle-wheeling around the lake, they probably did not come out of the water here.

Cheers!