West Coast Diary: For the love of Cacti (Day 5)

First morning in Arizona, so after breakfast we headed out with MSP&J to the hiking trail just up the road. This led us around the hills for about an hour, where we saw cactus after cactus after cactus. Apparently there were different types of them, but all I saw were different size prickly green things. At least we got the exercise...

We then drove around Scottsdale, looking at all the posh houses there, before ending up at a Chipotle for lunch. Olga's burrito was good, my taco wasn't. The kids were happy though, so approval all round.

We then headed off to Phoenix to take a whistle-stop tour in the car. Being the capital of the state, we were expecting a lot of badly run-down areas similar to Detroit, but apart from the wooden houses on the outskirts of the city, the city centre was pretty nice. There were lots of new skyscrapers, green parks and a tram system.

After seeing the areas of the downtown, we headed back home so that Olga and Sibylle could prepare a lasagna, whilst the men hung out in the outdoor hot tub with a few beers. Martin's work-friend Jorge (the token Mexican one needs when living here) came over and so there were many heads around the table tonight. We also discussed plans about the upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon where we were leaving for tomorrow.

Off to bed for an early start.