| The 2012 tour starts with
us flying from London Heathrow to Phoenix. We had left home the previous
week but went to a wedding along the way. Phoenix welcomed us with a dust
storm which delayed our landing slightly. |  |
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The following day we were further welcomed with rain, about an inch and a
half, which considering that Phoenix only gets about seven inches a year, we
felt was a little excessive. |
| We went for a walk down
by Tempe Lake. The footbridge is over a rubber inflatable dam which controls
the flow along the Salt River and creates a lake for recreational use. |  |
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It also attracts wildlife like this egret, which is no doubt after the fish.
If you look carefully in the bottom left of the previous picture, you can
just see it. I'm pleased with the zoom on my new camera. |
| The other side of the dam
the river bed is quite marshy with only limited water flow. |  |
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The bridge is remarkably stable despite the seemingly flimsy construction. |
| Much older and much more
substantial is the girder bridge carrying the railway. This style of bridge
is very common for both road and rail. |  |
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There was an event commemorating 9/11 where they had planted 3000+ American
flags and attached name tags to each for each of the people who died. |
| There are numerous walls
and commemorations of 9/11 in the US. It made a huge impact. I commented
that not everybody who died was American, there were for example 168
Britons. They hadn't thought of that. |  |
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The lake is right under the flight path into Phoenix airport and the planes
cross quite low. There are two parallel runways and planes frequently land
in pairs. There are heated discussions about a third runway. |
| In Scottsdale we
travelled out to a house that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for
his son David. There is great controversy because they want to flatten it
because the real estate is quite valuable. |  |
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The outside is quite striking but the inside apparently is not up to modern
standards. |
| The setting is very nice
which is why the plot is so sought after. The sun settles on Camelback
Mountain. Nightfall comes quickly in these latitudes. |  |
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The stormy weather leads to some spectacular skies as the late evening sun
catches the clouds. |
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