DAY 25 - 28.9 Miles

Today we walked west on a street south of Phoenix that had sidewalks all the way. It was mostly one housing subdivision after another with a few shopping centers sprinkled in between. Then we drove north, made a Starbucks stop and took a guided tour of Taliesan West, Frank Lloyd Wright's summer home. We learned a lot about the man and his architecture and were able to walk around the grounds and the sculpture garden as well as go inside his living room, bedroom, bath, theater and more. There were students working on degrees, so we could only look in the dining and kitchen areas and watch them working on computers. After that visit we walked a little more on a road that was one huge shopping center after another before going to our friend Joanne's beautiful home in Scottsdale. She is a gourmet cook and made us a fabulous meal which we ate outside in her atrium on a gorgeous night. We talked until after 11 catching up. 

DAY 25 - 32 Miles

We said goodbye to Peggy and Arch, our fun hosts, after a delicious breakfast taco feast and drove to Biosphere 2 where we took a guided tour of this incredible place where a group of 4 men and 4 women lived in this enclosed structure for 2 years in the 1990s.  Checkout the photo that includes the history. (It's too late to write it all as we stayed up to watch election returns.).  We walked 32 miles before going to an old friend of Mary Kay's for the night. She made us a nice dinner, and we enjoyed her company for the evening. 

It's a good thing we are walking across the country and seeing the sights in case we decide to move to Canada after the election. 

DAY 24 - Grannies Go Sightseeing

After Peggy made us a great breakfast, we drove to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum west of Tucson. It is an indoor and outdoor combination zoo, botanical garden, natural history museum and aquarium. There were knowledgeable docents all around, and we learned a lot about the native animals and plants, especially the saguaro cactus. We saw a coyote, a Mexican wolf, beavers, otters, snakes, frogs, rock crystals, walked through a cave, and saw a huge variety of cacti. We spent almost 4 hours walking around and enjoying all the exhibits. Check out the tire cover we saw on a car in the parking lot. Quite appropriate for us. After that we drove to downtown Tucson and went to an artisan gallery/shopping area in a historic building before driving back to Peggy and Arch's house. We had a fun dinner of appetizers and desserts with them at a local restaurant. 

DAY 23 - 32.7 Miles

We walked to Payson today through the Tonto National Forest, one of the largest forests in the country, and it was so beautiful. It was a gorgeous day with no clouds, temps in the 60s, a lot of downhill, and huge shoulders on the road. The forest has lots of pine trees and the area looks like northern Wisconsin. After a stop at the Starbucks in Safeway, we drove to Tucson.  It was another beautiful drive through the forest, but we also saw a lot of Saguaro cactus, the state flower, drove by Roosevelt Lake, saw lots of red rocks and some mountains and stopped at the Tonto National Monument where we hiked up a trail to see cliff dwellings of the Salado Indians from the 13th and 14th centuries. The views were quite spectacular, and there was a huge variety of vegetation including many different cacti. 

We decided to go to Tucson so we could spend a couple of nights with Peggy and Arch in their new home. They were such gracious hosts, and we loved staying with them when we were in Houston, so when they invited us to Tucson, we went. They are such good sports to have us after being in their new house for only 2 weeks!!